Students for the SAR's first degree in Chinese medicine are about to start their ground-breaking course at Hong Kong Baptist University. Course leader Dr Leung Wing-nang said prospects for graduates of the five-year, full-time course would be 'promising' and 'in line with the Government's determination to advance the status of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong'. 'We anticipate that Hong Kong will establish a statutory framework for the practice of traditional Chinese medicine in Hong Kong,' he said. Dr Leung said he believed a registration system for Chinese medicine practitioners would be set up in about two years along with a centralised local exam system. By the summer of 2003, the graduates would be able to attend qualifying examinations in Hong Kong and the mainland and practise on either side of the border. He was confident Chinese medicine would attract some people who usually consulted doctors practising Western medicine. Dr Leung said he believed within 50 years divisions between Western and Chinese medicine would fade and doctors would commonly use both traditions. The Chinese medicine degree will also cover some Western medicine. Students will learn basic Western clinical science and diagnosis using X-rays and blood tests as well as basic surgery. Students are required to be bilingual, with at least a 'D' in Chinese and English at A-level. Baptist University is offering the course under its School of Science.