Shandong University

Shandong University (SDU) was founded in 1901 and describes itself as a key comprehensive university. Its main campus is in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province in eastern China, and it also has a presence in the coastal city of Weihai. It is a very large institution, with its own published figures citing tens of thousands of full-time students and partnerships with more than two hundred institutions overseas. For an MBBS applicant, size matters in a specific way: a large comprehensive university tends to offer a broad library, research and student-services infrastructure that a stand-alone medical college may not.

The medical school, now known as Cheeloo College of Medicine, has a long history. The university says it traces back to the Medical School of Cheeloo University, founded in 1911, and describes more than a hundred years of training medical professionals. SDU began recruiting international students for an English-taught MBBS in 2002. According to its own admission material, data released by China's Ministry of Education in 2008 listed it as one of 25 universities accredited to enrol international students on the MBBS in English, which makes it one of the earlier names in the field rather than a recent entrant.

The MBBS is a six-year, English-taught programme, and graduates receive a Bachelor degree of Medicine. A 2022 SDU brochure reported more than 300 MBBS students on campus. The curriculum draws on an international model, and SDU's published material has said that lecturers on the programme are specially trained to teach international students.

A note on how to use this page. Every fee below comes from our fee sheet for China, 2026 September intake. Statements about the university come from SDU's published material, and we flag where figures are dated. This page cannot guarantee admission or promise a particular exam result. It lays out the structure, the real costs and the process so that your decision is made with open eyes.

What the university has published

SDU publishes an application guide for its MBBS each year. The 2022 version sets out a step-by-step online process: applicants apply online, check their admission status regularly, and, if accepted, receive a pre-admission notice and pay the admission fees before the due date. It also lists English-language requirements and says applicants may need to submit an English proficiency certificate. SDU's older admission notes have described an application window between March and June and a September start.

Because the exact English test and score, age limits and documents change from one intake to the next, please ask your counsellor for the current SDU MBBS brochure. We prepare and check your documents before submission, so that common problems such as missing translations or attestations do not cost you time.

NEET is still required for Indian students

Separate from what any Chinese university asks, Indian students who plan to practise in India after a foreign MBBS must hold a qualifying NEET UG score. This is a rule of India's National Medical Commission, and it applies no matter which country you choose. If you are still deciding between India and abroad, our NEET UG guide explains how the same score keeps both doors open.

The CSCA test — now mandatory

Our 2026 fee sheet carries a prominent reminder that the CSCA test is mandatory. The China Scholastic Competency Assessment is a standardised test organised by the China Scholarship Council for international students planning undergraduate study in China, and official notices make it a requirement for undergraduate applicants from the 2026/27 academic year. Its subjects are Professional Chinese, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. Applicants to medicine-related majors are generally expected to take Mathematics plus Chemistry or Physics, with the exact combination set by each university, and English-taught programmes are generally exempt from the Professional Chinese paper. From 2026 the test is offered five times a year, and registration is through the official website, www.csca.cn. Check SDU's brochure for its required subjects before you register.

Our 2026 fee sheet lists 44 universities in China, with tuition ranging from 21,000 RMB at the lowest to 60,000 RMB at the highest and a median of 35,000 RMB. Shandong University's 45,000 RMB is near the top: 37 universities list lower tuition, three (including SDU) are level at this figure, and only four list higher. Its 8,000 RMB hostel charge is also at the upper end; among universities with a single listed hostel figure, only five list more, at between 8,700 and 11,000 RMB.

The plain reading is that SDU is one of the most expensive options on the sheet, so a family choosing it should be doing so deliberately. What the fee buys is a long-established medical school with more than two decades of English-taught MBBS experience and a large comprehensive university around it. For some families that is worth the premium; for others, the same money is better spent on a mid-range university in a different city, or on a stronger financial buffer for the later years. Neither answer is wrong, but the decision should rest on the numbers rather than on reputation alone.

Every university on the sheet carries the same 15,000 RMB management or service charge, so the real differences come down to tuition and hostel. A practical habit that saves families a great deal of confusion is to ask every university or agent for the same four things in writing: the tuition figure and its billing period, the hostel figure and its billing period, exactly what the service charge covers, and the list of extras.

For planning, think of the cost in three layers: what you pay the university (tuition and hostel), what covers admission and visa services (the management or service charge), and the small recurring and one-off extras (insurance, residence permit, medical examination, books). Keeping those layers separate makes it much easier to compare SDU with any other university, in China or elsewhere, on equal terms.

Recognition is the first question every family should ask about any university abroad. We check a university's current standing against the National Medical Commission's records before recommending it, and we encourage every family to reconfirm this independently before paying any fee, because eligibility lists and rules are reviewed periodically. The NMC also sets conditions on how a foreign medical course must be structured, including its duration, medium of instruction and internship, and we review these against the university's published programme.

After the six-year programme, returning graduates prepare for India's licensing examination — currently the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), which is being phased into the National Exit Test (NExT). Passing it is what allows registration with the medical council and the right to practise in India. We guide returning students towards preparation resources, so the transition home is as organised as the departure abroad.

Graduates who wish to specialise can do so within China, in a third country, or by returning to India and competing through NEET PG once they hold valid registration. It helps to keep three ideas separate: recognition (whether the degree is acceptable to regulators), licensing (the exam that permits you to practise) and career planning (the kind of doctor you want to become). Most confusion about whether a foreign degree is valid comes from blending these together.