Xuzhou Medical University began undergraduate education for foreign students in 2005. In 2011, the university entered the list of universities of the Ministry of Education to recruit undergraduate students majoring in clinical medicine (taught in English), and established the School of International Education to coordinate the recruitment, teaching, management, internship and graduation of international students. In 2012, international students will be enrolled for master's degree, and in 2014, international students will be enrolled for doctoral degree. In 2016, the undergraduate nursing program (taught in English) was added, and in the same year, the school became a "Jiangsu Education School for overseas Students" in Jiangsu Province. In 2020, the university will join the Jiangsu British University Alliance, and in 2021, it will join the Jiangsu Korean University Alliance, which has profound school-running potential. In 2024, the undergraduate department of Oral Medicine will be added (taught in English).

As of September 2024, the university has 409 international students, including 256 undergraduates and 153 postgraduates. They come from 41 countries, including Russia, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Japan, Philippines, Turkmenistan, Papua New Guinea, Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Liberia, Zambia and Tanzania.