China’s Universities Cut 12,000 ‘Obsolete’ Degrees Amid Race To Embrace AI Era

 China’s universities cut 12,000 ‘obsolete’ degrees amid race to embrace AI era.

The sweeping overhaul has affected over 30 per cent of China’s degree programmes, with arts and languages ditched in favour of tech-focused fields

China’s universities are undertaking a massive reshuffling of their academic offerings as part of a drive to better align higher education with the nation’s development goals – culling thousands of so-called obsolete degrees in favour of new, tech-focused programmes.

The sweeping campaign comes as China races to become a global leader in a slew of hi-tech “future industries” and solve a severe graduate jobs crisis, which has left millions of young people struggling to find work.

Between 2021 and 2025, China’s higher education institutions revoked or suspended 12,200 undergraduate degree programmes while introducing 10,200 new ones, meaning that more than 30 per cent of the nation’s university programmes underwent adjustments, according to Ministry of Education data cited by Xinhua.