Manuscript received January 17, 2026; accepted February 10, 2026; published March 25, 2026.

Abstract—Against the background of the Belt and Road Initiative and the continuous deepening of China's opening-up in higher education, the scale of medical education for international students in China has continued to expand, and international medical students have become an important component of the internationalization of China's medical education and international cooperation in public health. Influenced by differences in cultural background, educational systems, and language environments, international medical students in China face numerous challenges in professional skills learning, participation in clinical practice, and cross-cultural adaptation, highlighting the urgent need to establish scientific, systematic, and targeted training mechanisms. Based on the highly practice-oriented, highly standardized, and strongly humanistic characteristics of medical education, this study reviews policies and related research on the education of international medical students in China and, combined with institutional practices in medical education, analyzes the current status of professional skills training and cross-cultural adaptation among international medical students, systematically summarizing key problems in the existing training process, including insufficiently targeted training objectives and programs, limited alignment between curricula and practical teaching, and inadequacies in cross-cultural support systems. On this basis, a competency-oriented training mechanism is proposed to promote the coordinated development of professional skills and cross-cultural competence by optimizing medical talent training pathways, deepening curriculum and instructional reform, strengthening the integration of clinical practice and medical humanities education, and improving teaching management and emotional support systems, thereby enhancing the professional competence and cross-cultural competence of international medical students in China. This study aims to provide theoretical reference and practical insights for universities to improve training systems for international medical students and to enhance the quality of the internationalization of medical education in China.
 
Keywords—international students in China, medical education, professional skills training, cross-cultural adaptation, training mechanism