Master of Acupuncture Curriculum Overview
Degrees offered
- Master of Acupuncture (M.Ac. or MAc)
Program length
- Completion time for Master of Acupuncture typically 8 trimesters, 2 2/3 years
Program schedule, credits, and contact hours
- Full-time day program, classes held Monday through Friday
- Master of Acupuncture: 118 trimester credits and more than 2,300 contact hours
Program admission
- Review acupuncture and Chinese medicine admission requirements
- New students admitted in January, May, and September
For students who want to complete their undergraduate degree we also offer:
Curriculum Organization
Master of Acupuncture
The curriculum for the Master of Acupuncture program provides comprehensive education and training in the following areas:
- Cultural and philosophical foundations of traditional Chinese medicine
- Traditional Chinese medical concepts (physiology, pathology, diagnostics, point location and point energetics)
- Acupuncture treatment principles and practical skills
- Tui Na
- Related studies, including introductory Chinese language skills, ethics and practice management
- Qi Development
- Nutrition
- Biomedical clinical sciences to a level required for competence in contemporary practice of acupuncture and Chinese medicine
- Clinical internship
Clinical Requirements
- A minimum of 150 hours of observation/assistantship are required
- 525 hours of supervised clinical practice to fulfill your master’s in acupuncture
Course Sequences
Classroom training sequences
- Acupuncture and Basic Theory (Trimesters 1-8): Learn basic Chinese medical principles in your lecture classes while building hands-on skills in point location, needling, accessory techniques, and tui na in your methods classes.
- Bioscience (Trimesters 1-9): Learn medical principles that are directly relevant to acupuncture or Chinese medicine practice through lecture and lab classes.
Clinical training sequences
- Clinical Observation (Trimesters 1-6): Consolidate your learning as you witness the principles you learned in class applied in a real-life treatment setting.
- Phase I Clinical Internship (Trimesters 5-6): Perform treatments on staff and students in the University Health Service and begin to hone your Chinese medical diagnostic and treatment skills.
- Phase II Clinical Internship (Trimesters 7-8 or 9 depending on program): Begin treatment of the public at one or more of our clinical internship sites and develop increasing independence as a Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostician and practitioner.
Northwestern Health Sciences University reserves the right to change or discontinue academic programs at the University’s discretion.