Objective To investigate the changing trend of government assigned overseas study in a tertiary hospital in Shanghai in the past ten years. Methods Through the hospital information system, the basic information of government assigned overseas study of Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine between 2001 and 2010 was collected, and the data of 388 cases of government assigned overseas study were obtained. The cases were divided into 2001-2005 group (n=224) and 2006-2010 group (n=164) based on the time abroad, and the overseas duration, objective, funding, professional title, administrative duty, education background and destinations were compared between groups. Results The number of government assigned overseas study increased year by year between 2001 and 2007, and decreased significantly after 2008. Among the 388 cases, the overseas duration was longer than 3 months in 73.20%, the objective was training in 92.52%, 43.81% held a medium professional title, 80.93% had no administrative duty, 39.95% had a master degree, the destination was North America in 39.43%, and 53.20% were funded by the other parties. Compared with 2001-2005 group, the percent of cases with administrative duty was significantly lower, that with doctor degree was significantly higher, that with bachelor degree was significantly lower, that with Asia as destination was significantly lower and that with North America as destination was significantly higher in 2006-2010 group (P＜0.05 or P＜0.01). There was no significant difference in overseas duration, objective and professional title distribution between two groups (P＞0.05). Funding by nation and the other parties decreased year by year, while the number of funding by Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine was the biggest, though the sum was limited. Conclusion The hospital should enhance the support on the midterm and longterm programs of overseas training, scientific cooperation and doctoral education in famous universities. The hospital should also expand the funding resources of overseas study. The policy and financial support is important for the development of government assigned overseas study.