Our Story

The Sydney Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SITCM) has a 35-year history of providing traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) education.

In 1980, the NSW College of Natural Therapies began delivering Australia’s first comprehensive TCM qualification – a four-year Diploma of TCM that covered both Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. Unfortunately, the college had to close its doors in 1987.

Following the closure, the Sydney College of Natural Therapies and Traditional Chinese Medicine was swiftly established to allow the students who had been enrolled in courses at the NSW College of Natural Therapies – including the Diploma of TCM – to complete their studies. Most of the former college’s teaching staff moved across to the new college, and the course catalogue was largely unchanged. However, funding dried up in 1989 and that college was also forced to close its doors.

The TCM teaching staff within the Sydney College of Natural Therapies and Traditional Chinese Medicine resolved to keep the flame of TCM education in Australia alive by establishing an institute dedicated solely to its growth. Thus SITCM opened its doors in 1989, immediately becoming the custodian of Australia’s oldest comprehensive TCM qualification in the Diploma of TCM.