study in Xi'an
The eastern end of the Silk Road and one of China's historic capitals — now a serious engineering and medical city at tier-2 prices.
Xi'an was the capital of several Chinese dynasties and is the country's best-known historical city, but for a student the relevant fact is different: it is a major centre for engineering, aerospace and electronics, with a research base that predates the coastal boom.
Xi'an Jiaotong University runs one of the longest-established English-taught MBBS programmes in China, with a substantial international cohort that has included Nepali students for many years.
Costs sit in the tier-2 range, well below Beijing and Shanghai. The city is drier and more continental than the Yangtze cities, and like other tier-2 centres it has no municipal graduate work scheme.
A major national research university and a specialist electronics institution.
Xi'an Jiaotong University
Engineering, energy and management, with a medical school running a long-established English MBBS.Xidian University
Electronics, telecommunications and information engineering; a specialist technical university.Xi'an is a tier-2 city on cost, comparable with Wuhan and well below the coastal capitals. For engineering and medicine specifically it offers established programmes at that lower level.
Against the other cities we cover in China, Xi'an is one of the cheaper. That is our reading of this country’s own spread, not a published index.
Indicative tuition for an English-taught MBBS in China is roughly CNY 25,000–45,000 a year — set per university, not by the city.
The practical texture of the place — what a week actually looks like.
Climate
Continental — cold, dry winters and hot summers, with less humidity than the Yangtze cities. Air quality is a winter issue.
Getting around
An expanding metro and a compact walled centre. More manageable in scale than Beijing or Shanghai.
Housing
University dormitories are the norm and are inexpensive. Ask the international office for the published rate.
Working
The national restriction applies — approval plus an Exit-Entry endorsement, and not a funding plan.
Language
Little English outside the universities. For medical students, clinical rotations are conducted in Chinese.
The city itself
Genuinely one of the most interesting places to live in China — city walls, the Muslim Quarter, and the Terracotta Army an hour away.
Before any of the above matters: a Chinese MBBS only leads to practice in Nepal if the university is on the Nepal Medical Council's recognised list and you pass its licensing examination
Xi'an's long-running English MBBS is a genuine draw, and an established programme with two decades of international graduates is a better signal than a new one. But 'established' is not the same as 'recognised', and the two are decided by different bodies. Confirm the university appears on the Nepal Medical Council's current list for your intake, then compare Xi'an against the other options that pass the same test.
Xi'an is one of 4 cities we cover in China. Tap any pin to compare — the city you pick moves your total cost more than almost any other choice you make.