Rector Paulo Cesar Montagner began on Tuesday (7) discussions to consolidate a partnership between Unicamp and the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM, in English), one of the most prestigious institutions in the world for teaching traditional Chinese medicine.
According to the Vice-Rector of BUCM, Wang Ting, the university is interested in establishing collaborations with Unicamp in areas ranging from joint research in herbal medicines and the study of plants to strengthening the Confucius Institute, which has been operating at Unicamp since 2015 and is dedicated to teaching the Mandarin language, as well as promoting academic and cultural cooperation.
“Traditional Chinese medicine is recognized worldwide, and this approach can be very important for us,” Montagner said at the end of the meeting. “They have extensive experience, a very long history in this area, and this type of collaboration will certainly be very good for Unicamp,” he added.
Wang said that BUCM wants to establish deep and lasting collaborations. He showed particular interest in research on Brazilian plants, especially from the Amazon region, and in the development of phytotherapeutic medicines – which are medicines obtained from active plant-based raw materials. He added that Chinese professors may come to Unicamp to teach courses.
Professor Gustavo Tenório Cunha, from the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Unicamp, said that the collaboration with BUCM could be very important. According to him, Brazilian specialists will be able to learn more about BUCM's Chinese approach to the analysis of Brazilian plants.
Heloisa Claro, advisor for international affairs at the Executive Directorate of International Relations (Deri) of Unicamp, says that an agreement between the two universities was signed in December 2025, and the visit marks the beginning of a new stage in this partnership.
“We are in the phase of populating this agreement with cooperation and strategic actions,” she said. “We will begin to discuss possible synergies in research areas and align future plans for mobility actions – for faculty and students. In other words, now is the time to make this agreement a functional instrument,” she explained.
Claro points out that the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) already adopts Chinese medicine – the exclusive focus of BUCM – as a “complementary integrative practice” in serving the population, alongside procedures such as acupuncture, herbal medicine, homeopathy, and Reiki. “Here at Unicamp, we have several research lines that already work with the practices of traditional Chinese medicine integrated into the SUS,” says the professor. “And this will certainly be a very productive field of research for us to advance.”
The meeting also included the presence of the Rector's Chief of Staff, Osvaldir Taranto, and the Unicamp international cooperation technician, Felipe Ribeiro Sampaio. The Chinese delegation included, in addition to Vice-Rector Wang Ting, the Vice-Director of the Department of International Exchange and Cooperation at BUCM, Wang Xueqian, the Director of the University's School of Chinese Materia Medica, Fu Qian, and the Vice-Director of the BCUM School of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Tuina, Bai Peng (moxibustion is a therapy based on the application of heat, and tuina is a type of therapeutic massage).
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