China closes 12,000 university majors due to AI

Chinese universities are carrying out one of the largest higher education reforms in recent years, massively revising the list of academic programs in favor of specialties related to artificial intelligence.

Southern China Morning Post reports.

According to data from the Ministry of Education of the PRC, from 2021 to 2025, about 12,200 bachelor's programs were closed or temporarily suspended in China. During the same period, universities opened about 10,200 new programs. In total, the changes affected more than 30% of educational programs at Chinese universities.

The most significant cuts affected humanities disciplines, arts, foreign languages, and management. These areas are increasingly viewed as oversaturated with specialists and less in demand amid the active implementation of automation technologies and AI.

An additional impetus for the reform was the situation on the labor market. According to Chinese authorities, the youth unemployment rate exceeds 16%, which increases pressure on the education system.

The freed-up space is being taken by new specialties focused on strategic technological industries. In particular, a number of universities have already launched programs in so-called "embodied intelligence" — a field related to the integration of AI into robotics, industry, and engineering complexes.

Source: Gazeta.ru