artificial intelligence and big data enter the market, and chinese universities adjust their professional settings
2024-09-25
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reference news reported on september 23 according to a report on the singapore straits times website on september 19, since 2023, chinese universities have begun to cancel existing majors and add new majors in response to beijing's call to adapt disciplines to national technological and strategic needs.
official data released by the ministry of education in march showed that in the latest approval, 1,670 majors were revoked and 1,673 new majors were added.
according to media reports, in 2024, at least 19 chinese universities applied to cancel or suspend admissions to 99 majors.
the chinese government announced a higher education reform plan in 2023, requiring universities to better serve national strategies and promote regional economic, social and industrial development.
under the plan, universities will open new majors that are in line with new technologies and emerging industries, replacing outdated majors that are considered to have no contribution to economic and social development. the goal is to optimize and adjust the distribution of about 20% of the disciplines and majors of colleges and universities by 2025.
in response to this requirement, many chinese universities have abolished traditionally popular majors such as civil engineering and promoted the development of emerging technology majors such as artificial intelligence and big data.
tianjin university in august launched china's first major in brain-computer interface, focusing on a technology that allows the brain to communicate directly with external devices.
another new major launched this year is intelligent vision engineering at harbin institute of technology in northeast china, which teaches skills applicable to fields such as aerospace, precision manufacturing and artificial intelligence.
yu shiwang, co-founder of a guangzhou-based consulting firm that provides higher education and career-related advice to students and parents, told the newspaper that some majors have only been fine-tuned to keep up with the times, not fundamentally.
"for example, mechanical design engineering might now be called smart manufacturing," he said. "parents see words like 'smart' or 'artificial intelligence' and think it's a better option for their children's future employment, but the foundation of the course is largely the same."
xiong bingqi, dean of the beijing-based 21st century education research institute, warned that while the opening of ai-related majors is in line with the rapid development of this field, the quality of these new majors may be lacking.
"even if a major is considered unpopular, if it is a distinctive professional course of the school and cultivates talents necessary for society, the school should continue to offer it," xiong bingqi said.
the "xiaoqiang communication" team of the school of journalism at chongqing university conducted a data analysis of the majors that were cancelled from 2018 to 2022 and found that engineering ranked first with a share of about 31%, becoming the subject type with the largest number of cancellations, followed by management, which was about 18%. it was followed by science and art, which were close to 15% and 14% respectively.
in addition to keeping up with the nation, the study also suggests that low enrollment rates and job prospects are also factors colleges consider when deciding which majors to drop.
on september 20, students from tianjin university attended a lecture on "introduction to artificial intelligence". this is a general education course offered by tianjin university to all undergraduates. about 4,000 students attended the lecture simultaneously in more than 30 smart classrooms. (xinhua news agency)
