By Hadiza Abdulkadir
China has removed or suspended more than 12,000 university degree programs as part of a sweeping reform aimed at aligning higher education with the country’s economic and technological priorities.
According to data from China’s Ministry of Education, universities revoked or suspended about 12,200 undergraduate programs between 2021 and 2025 while introducing roughly 10,200 new ones. The changes affected more than 30 per cent of university programs nationwide. The cuts were concentrated in arts, humanities, foreign languages, and management-related disciplines.
Programs such as English literature, product design, and public administration were among those affected as universities reviewed courses deemed obsolete or less closely aligned with current labour-market needs.
The reforms come as China seeks to address a graduate employment challenge and strengthen its position in advanced technology industries. Officials and university administrators have increasingly emphasised programs that are seen as supporting national development goals and emerging sectors.
To replace the discontinued programs, universities introduced thousands of new degree offerings focused on advanced technologies and strategic industries. New majors include embodied intelligence, semiconductor engineering, and brain-computer interface technologies, among other fields linked to artificial intelligence and high-tech manufacturing.
The overhaul reflects Beijing’s broader ambition to build a highly skilled workforce capable of supporting innovation, technological self-reliance, and long-term economic growth. Supporters argue the reforms will improve graduate employability, while critics warn that reducing opportunities in the humanities could weaken intellectual diversity and critical inquiry within universities.
As China continues to reshape its higher education system, the reforms are likely to attract close attention from policymakers and educators around the world who are grappling with similar questions about the future of work and the role of universities in a technology-driven economy.