In recent years, universities have been accelerating the adjustment of their academic programs and majors. At a recent press conference themed “Dedication to Work and Responsibility” held by the Shandong Provincial Government Information Office, Li Na, Vice President of Shandong Normal University, explained that since 2017, the university has discontinued admissions for 25 undergraduate programs, including Human Resource Management and Radio and Television Studies, while adding 10 new undergraduate programs in fields urgently needed by the nation, such as Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity.
Li Na noted that Shandong Normal University has leveraged big data and artificial intelligence technologies to build an integrated monitoring platform linking “disciplines—majors—degree programs.” The university has established an evaluation system centered on quality, distinctiveness, contribution, and alignment, enabling real-time assessment of the fit between industry talent gaps and the university’s disciplinary development. This approach ensures that program adjustments are no longer based on experience or intuition. Building on this system, the university plans to establish a new Interdisciplinary Research Institute and a School of Communications and Electronic Engineering in 2025, and has applied to add majors urgently needed by the nation, such as Integrated Circuit Design and Integrated Systems, to precisely meet the talent demands of Shandong Province’s next-generation information technology industry.
Xing Shunfeng, Deputy Secretary of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee’s Education Working Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Party Leadership Group of the Provincial Department of Education, Deputy Director-General, and First-Level Inspector, explained that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the province added 267 new doctoral and master’s degree programs, 703 undergraduate majors, and 1,808 higher vocational majors. More than 80% of these address urgent societal needs, particularly filling gaps in doctoral programs across 16 key fields in Shandong, including integrated circuits, intelligent science, and low-altitude technology.
Currently, Chinese universities are intensively restructuring their schools, departments, and programs. In December 2025, the Ministry of Education’s website published an article titled “Sichuan University Advances Discipline Development Through ‘Four Focus Areas.’” The article noted that the university has intensified efforts to optimize the structure of its existing disciplines, focusing on pilot initiatives such as “accelerating the establishment of early warning and exit mechanisms for existing disciplines and programs.” It adopted a combined approach of “overall university planning and proactive college-level planning” to optimize the disciplinary structure, controlling the scale of first-level disciplines and reasonably reducing the scale of second-level disciplines. The university continues to optimize and adjust disciplines that remain weak in foundation and level despite long-term development, fail to precisely serve national strategic needs, or lack the capacity to supply innovative talent, while simultaneously expanding the scale of talent cultivation in science, engineering, and medicine. while moderately reducing the scale of talent cultivation in disciplines such as economics, management, and the arts, where the market is becoming saturated.
Since 2019, the number of first-level disciplines listed in Sichuan University’s catalog has been adjusted from 71 to 56, the number of second-level disciplines outside the catalog has been adjusted from 191 to 67, and the number of undergraduate majors has been optimized from 144 to 105. Based on these figures, Sichuan University has reduced its undergraduate enrollment majors by 39.
According to the undergraduate program structure updated and released by Jilin University in January of this year, the university currently offers a total of 141 undergraduate programs. Among these, 121 are open for undergraduate enrollment, while 19 programs have ceased accepting new students but still have enrolled students; one program (Biological Breeding Science) was newly added in 2025 and has not yet begun accepting students. Ding Changfa, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Xiamen University, analyzed that it is crucial for universities to adapt to the demands of economic and social development as well as future needs by introducing new majors while simultaneously phasing out those that no longer align with these developments. Through appropriate streamlining, limited resources can be genuinely directed toward majors urgently needed for national economic development and the cultivation of high-end, specialized talent, ensuring that funds are allocated where they are most needed rather than pursuing a “big and comprehensive” approach.
While a number of majors have been suspended or discontinued, a large number of new majors have been established. Research from the “2025 China College Graduate Employment Report,” compiled by the MyCOS Research Institute, found that between 2020 and 2024, the number of newly established majors in artificial intelligence (406), digital economy (295), intelligent manufacturing engineering (238), and big data management and application (208) exceeded 200; over 100 new programs were added in fields such as Smart Construction, Data Science and Big Data Technology, Robotics Engineering, Internet and New Media, Fintech, Cross-border E-commerce, Integrated Circuit Design and Integrated Systems, and Energy Storage Science and Engineering.
Since last year, major universities have successively established new colleges focused on cutting-edge fields such as embodied intelligence, artificial intelligence, integrated circuits, aerospace, life sciences, and future agriculture. For example, in January 2026, the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the establishment of the School of Interstellar Navigation. In August 2025, Southwest University of Science and Technology established the School of Aerospace; in February 2026, Hainan University’s School of Aerospace Intelligence was officially inaugurated. On December 10, 2025, Henan University held a kick-off meeting for the development of new engineering disciplines, outlining the progress plan and task assignments for the establishment of the university’s School of New Engineering. Henan University will establish nine new engineering colleges focused on the following areas: new energy and intelligent manufacturing; nanotechnology and advanced materials; synthetic biology and pharmaceutical engineering; smart chemical engineering and carbon neutrality; computer and software engineering; artificial intelligence and robotics; integrated circuits and micro-nano electronics; low-altitude technology and spatial information; and intelligent construction and smart transportation.
