Summary

Large numbers of Chinese higher education institutions will teach new programmes in data science, artificial intelligence and other related subjects from September 2019. According to a recently-released summary of newly approved degree programmes more than 200 institutions will add bachelor’s degree courses in data science & big data, over 100 will create new robotics engineering programmes, and 96 institutions will add courses in intelligence science & technology, smart manufacturing and artificial intelligence.

Overall China’s universities will add 2,528 bachelor’s degree programmes across 697 subjects. The leading broad field of study is engineering (including computer science), followed by business & administration and the creative arts.

A summary of the top 10 subjects in terms of newly approved programmes (including subjects tied for 10^th place) is given below. This data refers to domestic bachelor’s degree programmes at Chinese universities and does not include Sino-foreign joint programmes.

Another recent announcement also addresses disciplines taught by domestic universities. After initially setting out a work plan to designate 20,000 programmes at Chinese universities as “first class” courses, the Ministry of Education has now published a breakdown of the subject areas for the 10,000 programmes which will receive this designation at the national level; a further 10,000 programmes will be identified by provincial-level education authorities.

The top broad subject area will be Engineering, with 3,367 programmes in this area to be identified as “first class”, followed by Business & Administration with 1,623 programmes. The top three narrower subject areas will be Business Management, Foreign Languages & Literature and Computing respectively.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, British Council International Education Services

The breakdown of new programmes clearly illustrates the importance placed on developing Chinese talent in the fields of artificial intelligence, data science and intelligent manufacturing technologies. In another relevant recent announcement the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the National Statistical Bureau announced that they would add new employment categories to their statistical definitions including AI Engineer and Big Data Engineer as well as other job titles such as Internet of Things Engineer and Cloud Computing Engineer.

The Chinese government sees these fields as critical to the country’s success in the coming decades and is strongly supporting their development in both academia and industry. The country has set a goal to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 while the Ministry of Education has set out a plan to make China’s universities “the world’s major AI innovation centres” by the same year.

The ongoing focus placed on AI development creates opportunities for cooperation with UK universities and research institutions. The MoE has called for more international joint research across all areas of AI, from fundamental research to technological applications, and many Chinese universities are open to partnerships at a range of different levels.

Sources

Ministry of Education issues results of bachelor's degree programmes approved in 2018 (in Chinese): http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A08/moe_1034/s4930/201903/t20190329_376012.html

Ministry of Education announcement on subject area breakdown of the "Dual 10,000 Plan" (in Chinese): http://www.moe.gov.cn/srcsite/A08/s7056/201904/t20190409_377216.html