China recently unveiled its first university dedicated entirely to rehabilitation studies. Located in the eastern coastal city of Qingdao, Rehabilitation University aims to address the growing demand for rehabilitation professionals in a rapidly aging society and spearhead advances in the field.

Unveiled on Saturday, Rehabilitation University was founded by Shandong's provincial government with support from the Ministry of Education, the China Disabled Persons' Federation and the National Health Commission. It comprises five colleges and three affiliated hospitals.

The university plans to enroll its first batch of 300 undergraduate students across five majors: rehabilitation physical therapy; rehabilitation occupational therapy; clinical medicine; biomedical engineering; and bioinformatics.

"We have established cooperation with top-tier colleges, research institutes and leading rehabilitation companies to jointly nurture talent," said Wang Zhongyan, head of the university's development and planning department.

For instance, students majoring in rehabilitation occupational therapy — a branch of medicine that helps people regain or enhance function and independence in daily living skills — will spend their freshman year on the campus in Qingdao and undergo training and internships for the remaining three years at China Rehabilitation Research Center in Beijing, Wang said.

Zhang Yiru, who recently took the national college entrance exam in Weifang, Shandong, said she had been keeping a close eye on the establishment of the university and was excited to learn that it will begin enrollment this year.

"I visited the campus with my parents a few days ago and was satisfied with its environment, infrastructure and faculty," she said. "I am most interested in the occupational therapy major and find the arrangement of one year in Qingdao and three years in Beijing appealing.

"I initially thought of rehabilitation only as helping people with disabilities, but later learned that the sector involves a variety of research in neurology, orthopedics and the development of medical equipment. Our society is now in need of rehabilitation professionals, and I think entering the industry is very meaningful."

Official data shows that China has about 85 million people with disabilities, 44 million seniors with self-care disabilities and 300 million people living with chronic illnesses. By next year, the number of elderly people is expected to reach 430 million.

"The international standard is to have at least 30 rehabilitation professionals per 100,000 population, and China aims to increase the ratio to 12 per 100,000 by 2025," Wang said. "But the rate only stands at 3.1 at present.

"The establishment of the university will play an important role in cultivating more top talent in rehabilitation, promoting health and the well-being of the public and proactively helping the nation tackle an aging society."

By the end of 2020, over 230 universities and colleges across the nation had set up programs related to rehabilitation.

The idea of a university solely focusing on rehabilitation studies was first proposed by the China Disabled Persons' Federation in 2015. In June 2019, the Ministry of Education approved the building of the university in Qingdao and construction of the campus began in March 2020.