On October 9, in the 90th anniversary celebration, Nanjing Medical University welcomed the first cohort of international students who studied and lived at the university between 1975 and 1977.

Dr. Haji Mwita Haji from Zanzibar, Tanzania said that he came to study at Jiangsu New Medical College (the predecessor of Nanjing Medical University) in 1975. Speaking fluent Chinese, he noted that while teachers and classmates have aged, the friendships have remained unchanged over nearly 50 years.  Out of the original 14 international students, five are still alive today and returned to the university for the visit, accompanied by the son of one of their fellow alumni.

The university’s vice president Feng Feng recalled that, during a 2023 visit to China, Aboud Suleiman Jumbe, Principal Secretary of the Zanzibar Ministry of Tourism and Heritage contacted the university to see where his late father had once lived. Jumbe mentioned that his father was a distinguished doctor who developed many of his professional ideas from the education he received in China.

For the university, the arrival of these students nearly five decades ago marked the beginning of Chinese medical education's internationalization.

Feng Zhenqing became the first dean of the university's School of International Education in 2005. He explained that the university now enrolls international students from more than 70 countries, offering education at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral levels while contributing significantly to global healthcare. For example, Haji once held positions such as president of Mnazi Mmoja Hospital and director of another health science college in Zanzibar.

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