China Restructures Higher Education: 12,000 University Degree Programs Cut in Massive AI Push

China has announced the cancellation of approximately 12,000 special degree programs at universities across the country as part of an overhaul of degree programs to enhance degree quality and enhance higher education’s ability to keep up with technological and labor-market changes due to artificial intelligence. 

The shift is a sign of Beijing's two objectives: stricterning academic standards and reengineering the talent supply line for quickly changing industry requirements.

Many of the programmes that were already in place had low participation rates, were duplicated or were not relevant to the economic priorities, Chinese authorities report. The need for students with robust digital, data-science, engineering, and cross-disciplinary problem-solving skills has grown rapidly, thanks to the rapid advances in AI and automation.

How AI is reshaping curricula?

This phase out has to be handled with responsibility by the universities. The students who have enrolled in these programs should be provided with options to transfer related to major, completion options or shifted to other universities as suitable. According to the officials, there will not be any expulsion and the completion of degrees for the present students will be safeguarded. For future students there will be a decrease in choices offered by the universities but a sharper focus on them.

The canceling of courses the reform advocates for changes in the curriculum to incorporate AI literacy, data analytics, and a cross-disciplinary approach. But there might also be skills gaps that would need re-training or courses to fill the skills gap. More training would become longer, more reskilling programs from the employers would take place, and more internships and collaboration between industry and university are expected to happen to give the students practical experience.