China cancels 12,000 undergraduate degrees in arts, humanities and languages

China has launched a major reform of its higher education system in line with the era of artificial intelligence (AI). In order to make education more in line with the country's development goals and the needs of future industries, the country's universities are canceling more than 12,000 undergraduate degrees and introducing new technology-focused courses.

According to a report by the Chinese media South China Morning Post on Sunday (June 14), as a result of this massive change, more than 30 percent of China's degrees have been revised. Priority is being given to technology-based fields instead of arts, humanities and languages.

China is trying to establish global leadership in high-tech future industries. At the same time, the country is working to address the employment crisis for graduates. This new initiative is in line with this. Currently, millions of young people in the country are struggling to find jobs.

The state-run Xinhua news agency, citing the Ministry of Education, said that between 2021 and 2025, the country's higher education institutions canceled or suspended 12,200 undergraduate degree programs. At the same time, 10,200 new programs were launched. As a result, more than 30 percent of the country's programs have been changed.

The majority of the canceled degrees are related to arts, humanities, foreign languages ​​and management. These fields are increasingly viewed as outdated in China. The changes are being made at a time when the country's youth unemployment rate is more than 16 percent and the job market is rapidly changing due to artificial intelligence.

On the other hand, many of the newly launched courses are directly related to Beijing's economic development strategy. For example, nine universities have launched new majors in "embedded intelligence", which is in line with the national initiative to accelerate the application of next-generation AI technology in the real economy.

In recent years, universities have been under increasing pressure to adapt to the rapid changes in China's economy. Because, even though a record number of students graduate each year, many are finding that their degrees are not very helpful in getting jobs.