Physical therapy in China does not yet have formal recognition at a government level.
A further two Chinese physical therapy programmes have recieved WCPT education accreditation. This means there are now four programmes in China with recognition after the first and second were accredited in 2013.
The WCPT accreditation allows programmes to be reviewed against guidelines accepted by all member organisations. The accreditation service was started in 2011 to assess entry-level physical therapy education programmes that aspire towards global standards. This year WCPT accreditations were also awarded to Bachelor’s level programmes at Beirut Arab University in Lebanon, University Teknologi MAMA in Malaysia, and the Universidad Europea de Madrid in Spain.
Physical therapy in China is still in the early stages of development. The profile and importance of the profession has increased significantly since the 1008 Beijing Olympics. Hopefully momentum will continue to expand the profession and this will be a big step towards physical therapy being recognised at a national level in China.