Funded teacher and directed medical programs exchange educational support for at least six years of specified service

Tuition and accommodation are funded, with a living allowance. The trade-off is restricted job choice during the agreed service period, generally six years, with repayment, contractual penalties, and integrity records for breach.

The 2024 integrated undergraduate–postgraduate teacher education measures replaced the 2018 version. Article 2 funds tuition, accommodation, and living assistance centrally. Article 3 prioritizes prefecture-level and lower areas outside provincial capitals in central and western China and generally prohibits assignment to the main urban districts of directly administered municipalities, separately planned cities, or provincial capitals, with exceptions for the five autonomous regions, land-border provinces, Hainan, Guizhou, and Qinghai. Article 9 generally directs graduates to designated prefectures in their home province for at least six years of primary or secondary teaching. Those placed in urban schools must spend at least one year in rural compulsory-education schools. Article 13 makes breach subject to the agreement, with records shared through the national credit information platform and placed in personnel files. Before fulfilling the obligation, participants may not teach outside the designated prefecture or be recruited to other public-service posts; relevant credit is repaired after fulfillment. Article 6 permits those found unsuitable for teaching after admission to repay public education costs and transfer to a non-teaching subject within the first year. Under Article 14, failure to obtain the required education master's academic and degree credentials and teaching qualification within the prescribed study period is treated as breach, requiring repayment and contractual penalties. Article 21 directs localities to provide needed school staffing within existing public-institution establishment totals. The rural directed medical program requires an agreement with the training school and designated county health and human resources authorities after admission but before the offer letter, committing to six years in the designated rural primary-care institution. After reporting for employment, graduates complete three years of standardized general-practice residency training while maintaining their original personnel and wage relationships. Breach records enter personnel files and inform integrity assessments for public medical recruitment, residency admission, and postgraduate admission. Malicious breach is publicly listed through Credit China and subject to joint sanctions. Training periods affected by breach do not count toward service, and county health authorities may pursue unpaid refunds and penalties through legal proceedings.

The 2024 teacher program links undergraduate study to an education master's; descriptions of direct teaching after the bachelor's may reflect the repealed 2018 scheme. Previously signed agreements follow their original terms. Established staffing does not mean no recruitment process: local authorities arrange dedicated school recruitment within existing staffing totals, with mutual selection. Directed medical graduates may choose other work once service is complete. Breach records can be resolved through completing at least six years under the original agreement or in another approved rural primary-care institution in the province; previously repaid fees and penalties are not refunded. The three-year residency is a substantial training commitment, but should not automatically be added outside the six-year service period to claim nine years: determine how it counts under the applicable agreement. Provinces also run their own funded teacher and directed medical programs, whose annual admissions documents set their conditions.

General Office of the State Council (2024). Notice forwarding the integrated undergraduate–postgraduate publicly funded teacher education measures for ministry-affiliated normal universities, Guobanfa [2024] No. 27, Articles 2, 3, 6, 9, 13, 14, and 21. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202406/content_6957261.htm; National Health Commission, Central Staffing Office, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2019). Notice on employment placement and fulfillment management for rural directed tuition-free medical graduates. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2019-11/13/content_5451684.htm