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domestic universities are undergoing a new round of major professional adjustments.

in march this year, the ministry of education announced the results of the registration and approval of undergraduate majors in ordinary colleges and universities in 2023. the addition, cancellation and adjustment of undergraduate majors involved a total of 3,389 major locations, the largest scale in history. looking back three or four years ago, the number of major locations adjusted by colleges and universities increased year by year, but it never exceeded the 3,000 mark.

in march 2023, the ministry of education and five other departments issued the "reform plan for adjustment and optimization of discipline and major settings in ordinary higher education" (hereinafter referred to as the "reform plan"), proposing that by 2025, about 20% of the disciplines and majors of colleges and universities will be optimized and adjusted, a number of new disciplines and majors will be established to adapt to new technologies, new industries, new business forms and new models, and disciplines and majors that are not suitable for economic and social development will be eliminated.

the "decision of the central committee of the communist party of china on further comprehensively deepening reforms and promoting chinese-style modernization" reviewed and adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th central committee of the communist party of china proposed that we should promote the reform of universities in a classified manner, establish a discipline adjustment mechanism and talent training model driven by scientific and technological development and national strategic needs, and make an extraordinary layout of urgently needed disciplines and majors.

how do you view this round of professional adjustments? is the rush to increase or decrease majors reasonable? how do you view the administrative guidance of local governments on the adjustment of college majors? recently, wu daguang, dean of the higher education research institute of lanzhou university and deputy director of the higher education professional setting and teaching guidance committee of the ministry of education, accepted an exclusive interview with china newsweek on related issues.

wu daguang. photo/provided by the interviewee

"cut" majors is the inevitable result of a large number of "increases"

china newsweek: what is the background of this round of major adjustments in colleges and universities across the country? what are the characteristics of this round of adjustments?

wu daguang:my country's college majors have entered a new round of adjustment. according to public data from the ministry of education, since the 18th national congress of the communist party of china, as of 2022, a total of 265 new majors have been included in the undergraduate major catalog, 17,000 new undergraduate majors have been added, and 10,000 majors have been cancelled or stopped. the "reform plan" proposes that by 2025, about 20% of the disciplines and majors of colleges and universities will be optimized and adjusted, which shows that the country has begun to really take action and exert its strength. after the plan was released, it immediately triggered a wave of adjustments to college majors. since 2024, it has been reported that many colleges and universities have announced the cancellation or suspension of some undergraduate majors, involving hundreds of majors. not long ago, sichuan university announced the cancellation of 31 majors, which caused a sensation. the intensity, frequency and number of this round of professional adjustments are unprecedented.

in fact, before the ministry of education took action, some universities had already made adjustments to their majors from the bottom up, taking measures such as suspending enrollment, recruiting students in alternate years, and controlling the total number of students by "increasing one and reducing one" since 2016 and 2017. for example, in order to optimize the structure of disciplines and majors, sun yat-sen university adjusted or suspended enrollment in 39 undergraduate majors in 2016 and 2017, which attracted widespread attention from the society at that time. xiamen university implemented the policy of "increasing one and reducing one" during that period.

today, colleges and universities are "cutting" majors, which is actually the inevitable result of the large number of "additions" in the past. after the reform and opening up, there were roughly three peak stages in the addition of majors. the first was the merger of colleges and universities in the 1990s, which led to a surge in the number of majors in many colleges and universities, and there was a certain degree of duplication. many comprehensive universities with too many majors today are the product of the merger of colleges and universities at that time. second, after the expansion of enrollment was launched in 1998, many colleges and universities quickly added majors in a short period of time to absorb the large number of students brought by the expansion. third, in the past 20 years, more and more local undergraduate colleges have been newly built, including some "junior college to undergraduate" colleges and independent colleges. in order to achieve "de-junior collegeization" and expand the scale of schools as soon as possible, many schools quickly launched new majors without conditions. today, administrators of colleges and universities of different types and levels have gradually realized that the existing majors are too many and too detailed, and some of them are no longer appropriate.

"china newsweek": for universities themselves, what is the main driving force behind the adjustment of majors?

wu daguang:at present, the comprehensive reform of my country's colleges and universities has entered a deep water zone. the first two key issues that need to be urgently resolved are the cultivation of top innovative talents and the construction of first-class disciplines. both of these issues cannot be avoided by optimizing and adjusting majors.

the experience of talent cultivation in world-class universities tells us that top innovative talents have never grown up in a single discipline or major. promoting interdisciplinarity is an effective way to cultivate top innovative talents. in this round of discipline and major adjustments, we have begun to try to set up majors that reflect interdisciplinary integration in the catalog, which will provide strong support for the cultivation of top innovative talents in the future.

since the founding of the people's republic of china, most universities in my country have generally had majors before disciplines. today, under the background of emphasizing the construction of "first-class disciplines", it is "one hand to run disciplines, the other hand to run majors". regardless of which comes first or later, majors are inevitable. professional construction is aimed at talent cultivation, and discipline construction should also aim at talent cultivation, especially top innovative talents. therefore, we must recognize the strategic significance of optimizing and adjusting disciplines and majors.

it is an indisputable fact that the professional adjustment of colleges and universities always lags behind the economic development and industrial structure adjustment. the future society is an uncertain society. no one can foresee what industries will rise in the future like a fortune teller, and it is difficult to clearly foresee the life cycle and development path of a profession and discipline. perhaps the emergence of a basic research or technology may give birth to a new discipline or profession. if we still use the past professions to adapt to today's era, it is like trying to find a sword by carving a boat. therefore, colleges and universities must take the initiative to establish an adjustment mechanism that adapts to economic changes. the optimization and adjustment of the layout of disciplines and majors in my country's colleges and universities has reached a historical turning point where we have to "change" and think about "how to change".

a campus job fair at zhengzhou university on may 24, 2024. photo/visual china

many professional adjustments are "old wine in new bottles"

"china newsweek": today, how big is the gap between the professional settings of universities and the rapidly iterating needs of industrial sectors?

wu daguang:recently, i just visited qingdao port vocational and technical college, a higher vocational college founded by a state-owned enterprise. the teacher of the school told me that at present, the proportion of unmanned terminals in the entire shandong port group has reached nearly 70%, and the group is accelerating the intelligent transformation of all terminals. in a few years, the drivers of cranes, forklifts, shovels, and transporters will all go into the engine room, and these vehicles will also become unmanned. the production mode of future ports is completely different from the past and present, which is the progress of science and technology. correspondingly, the talent training programs, training goals, professional construction, laboratory construction, and even teaching materials construction related to ports are completely different from the past.

shandong port is not an isolated case. there are similar cases in almost every industry or field. this means that the old professions are already out of touch with the reality of enterprises. whether the professions are suitable is no longer so important. furthermore, the knowledge structure, curriculum system, textbook content, teacher level, and even laboratory disconnection are very common. however, being aware of this problem is different from actually promoting reform. reform is very difficult.

china newsweek: we have seen that many universities have added many "trendy" majors in response to the new round of scientific and technological revolution, such as artificial intelligence, intelligent construction, and other "intelligent +" new engineering majors. how do you view this phenomenon? what issues are worth reflecting on?

wu daguang:at present, most of these new engineering majors that some universities have added in a rush lack solid, extensive and accurate market research. many universities still run majors based on the resources they already have, rather than based on real market and industry needs. this naturally leads to some questions. even if new majors are established, will the knowledge structure of teachers in these majors keep up? are the textbooks, teaching methods and training programs automatically updated? the answer is obviously no. in other words, the addition of new majors does not mean that the standards and levels of talent training will immediately be synchronized with scientific and technological development and industrial innovation. correspondingly, many old majors seem to have been abolished, but in fact, the teachers of these old majors are still "left behind" and use old knowledge to teach students in new majors. in the final analysis, it's all "old wine in new bottles."

some historical lessons in the past have shown that the addition of majors has not brought about changes in the knowledge system and course content, and the updating of textbooks has been lagging behind, resulting in the phenomenon of "closed-door training". moreover, the previous professional settings in my country are often greatly affected by resource allocation. in fact, the more resources are allocated, the easier it is for the major to solidify and narrow, thus being out of touch with market demand. over time, professional transformation becomes increasingly difficult and can only be revoked in the end. therefore, the current professional adjustment is the result of market "reverse pressure" and an opportunity to shake up the reform of talent training models in my country's colleges and universities. the next step is to truly break through the barriers of professional disconnection from the market.

photo/visual china

curriculum reform is the fundamental solution

"china newsweek": how should colleges and universities break out of the rigidification of their majors? what are the core obstacles?

wu daguang:major is not just a concept or symbol, it is the cornerstone for universities to realize the "three major functions" and the foundation of various organizations and systems in universities. universities need to establish a self-adjustment mechanism, actively promote professional transformation through course content updates, promote professional upgrades through knowledge system reorganization, and promote interdisciplinary studies through course resource sharing, so that the "new" of new majors is truly worthy of the name. in the future, the focus of professional optimization and adjustment should be to de-emphasize majors and strengthen courses. adjusting the professional catalog is a "symptomatic treatment", while curriculum reform is the fundamental solution.

professional adjustment is a challenge to the governance capacity of colleges and universities. at present, one of the biggest obstacles to reform comes from teachers, especially those with traditional and strong majors. because the adjustment of disciplines and majors in colleges and universities, on the surface, is to adjust the "disciplines" and "majors", as well as the curriculum structure, knowledge system and textbook updates, but in fact it is to adjust the "interests" of teachers. most teachers in colleges and universities today have received professional education, have strong professional genes and inertia, and have formed solidified professional thinking and path dependence. it is difficult to transform in a short period of time. even when facing students in new majors, many teachers can only teach old knowledge.

many of today's disciplines and majors were planted in the early 1950s. this is a historical treasure, but it is also a foreshadowing of the current adjustment "pain". when i was studying for my master's and doctoral degrees, i found that some college canteens were named according to their majors, including physics canteens, chemistry canteens, economics canteens... many colleges and universities are now college-based. on the surface, they are colleges, but in fact they are run by departments or majors. it can be said that our generation of university teachers are both products or "experimental products" of professional education and "semi-finished products" of professional education.

looking at the present from a historical perspective, in today’s universities in my country, the profession has become a relatively solidified chain. teachers, students, parents, government, enterprises, and resource allocation are all part of this chain. the professional thinking of university teachers is becoming more and more solidified, and gradually forming an inherent concept: talent training must allocate resources based on professions, disciplines, and colleges and departments. having a profession means "having a household registration." this is essentially a kind of departmental ownership.

it is precisely because this idea is deeply rooted that there has been a common misunderstanding in colleges and universities over the years: seeing which industry is important, they will establish a corresponding major or college. however, in the world's first-class universities, the "ebb and flow" of majors is relatively rare. they do not rely on the establishment of new majors or colleges to track scientific and technological innovation, but take problem solving as the starting point. when facing the needs of an emerging industry, there are two main approaches. one is the cross-border "cooperation model" of multiple colleges, which expands organizational boundaries and disciplinary boundaries, forms a new academic community with an embedded structure, and realizes the integration of all aspects of talent training and scientific research. the second is that a single college integrates internal resources to "transform" disciplines or majors, and updates teaching content and curriculum systems in line with the times by integrating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and big data, "feeding back" talent training.

recently, many universities have relaxed restrictions on changing majors. this seems to be a progress, but in fact, they are still stuck in the "major". what should be done is to relax the curriculum and give students more autonomy in choosing courses. therefore, we need to see the deeper logic behind the adjustment of majors: the adjustment of disciplines and majors in universities is not a simple matter of "increase" or "decrease", but a systematic transformation of the entire talent training model of universities in an organized way in response to social needs. in other words, transformation is the fundamental, and the adjustment of majors is just a cut.

beware of “strong planning” management

china newsweek: in this round of professional adjustment, there is another prominent phenomenon: from the central government to the local governments, administrative guidance on professional adjustment in colleges and universities is being strengthened. many provinces have issued professional adjustment documents that are aligned with the central government, and have implemented professional management through rigid measures such as "add one and reduce two" (adding one provincially controlled major means eliminating two majors) and "ordering majors with a graduation placement rate of less than 50% for two consecutive years to stop recruiting". how do you view this phenomenon?

wu daguang:it is a common phenomenon that colleges and universities have too many and outdated disciplines and majors, but this does not mean that all colleges and universities should follow the same "prescription". major adjustments cannot be "one size fits all" through administrative orders.

i think that not all universities in all regions need to deliberately cut majors to achieve the goal of reducing by 20%. different types of universities need to be distinguished here. research universities can downplay majors and focus on curriculum system reform and teacher transformation. but for some local universities, professional education is still needed to "match" local industrial needs, especially some low-end industrial structures. because compared with developed western countries, china's current industrial structure is highly complex and diversified, with both high-end technology industries and traditional labor-intensive industries, reflecting the coexistence of high technology and tradition.

the establishment and adjustment of majors in my country have long been led by the national education authorities. under the policy management of "strong planning", the government has been strengthening the normative management function of discipline and professional catalogs. in recent years, although efforts have been made to reform, normative management is still the main means and feature. the advantage of this approach is that the country has a more accurate grasp of the world's scientific and technological frontiers, the main economic battlefield, and major national needs, but it is also necessary to pay attention to the shortcomings of the rapid changes in the market and the observation of the local economy.

the country now emphasizes the "trinity of education, technology and talent". the real "trinity" often happens from the bottom up, and it is difficult to do it from the top down. when i went to anhui for research, i found that hefei city is building ten emerging industries. the government requires colleges and universities to follow up. some schools have begun to set up majors related to the ten industries and strengthen school-enterprise cooperation with new industries. but when i asked the school how they cooperated specifically, the school said that there was no actual cooperation. at present, there is only the name of "new major", which can also be said to be "sticking a label".

local governments should realize that if universities want to support a certain industry, they need to solve a series of problems such as teachers, laboratories, training bases and employment, which cannot be accomplished by an administrative order. in the end, it still depends on whether the disciplines and professional characteristics of universities have practical integration points with the industry. therefore, the new round of professional adjustments needs to comprehensively consider the national and regional attributes of professional settings, and gradually achieve a deep integration of professional education and social needs.

after more than 20 years of efforts, china has completed the transition from mass higher education to universal higher education. according to the data from the ministry of education, my country's gross enrollment rate in higher education has exceeded 60%, and the number of people receiving higher education has reached 250 million, ranking fifth in the national population ranking. at present, my country does not lack "people" receiving higher education, but "talents". in response to the challenges of the new era, we must clearly realize that many historical "legacy" problems still exist, such as the homogeneity of colleges and majors, and the convergence of higher education evaluation systems. the reasons are multifaceted, and the often criticized "one-size-fits-all" is a major reason. today, we must prevent excessive planning and management and attach importance to diversified development. otherwise, colleges and universities may lose their due vitality and adaptability. future higher education reforms, from top to bottom, need to be sensitive to market changes and social needs.

published in the 1154th issue of china newsweek magazine on september 2, 2024

magazine title: wu daguang: professional adjustment has reached a turning point where it has to "change"