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. While that college closed its doors in the late 1980s, many of its TCM teaching staff jointly established SITCM as the first – and still the only – institute in Australia fully focused on TCM education. They preserved the four-year Diploma of TCM, allowing NSW College of Natural Therapies students to smoothly complete their studies at SITCM and enabling new students to take their first step in a TCM career.

Throughout the 1990s, graduates of China’s leading TCM universities joined SITCM and refined its curriculum to reflect global best practice.

The Diploma of TCM became an Advanced Diploma of TCM in 2005 and a Bachelor of TCM degree in 2012, maintaining a four-year duration. The Bachelor program is fully accredited by Australia’s higher education regulator and health regulator. SITCM also offers accredited courses in remedial massage, TCM remedial massage and first aid and is located in Sydney’s Chinatown, owned by TCM practitioners.