Chinese Universities Add 38 New Departments, Including Business AI, in Response to Official Strategic Needs
China's Ministry of Education has announced the addition of 38 new undergraduate majors across universities, including Business AI and Brain-Computer Science and Technology, to meet national strategic demands. This move aims to foster talent in emerging and future industries, with support for 9 universities to establish new embodied intelligence programs, promoting the deep integration of AI with the real economy for high-quality development.
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- 📰 Published: April 28, 2026 at 18:39
- 🔍 Collected: April 28, 2026 at 19:02 (22 min after Published)
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Central News Agency (CNA) reporter Liao Wenqi, Taipei, 28th - In response to China's national strategic needs, the Ministry of Education has added 38 new undergraduate majors to ordinary universities, including energy science and engineering, brain-computer science and technology, and business artificial intelligence (AI). It also supports 9 universities in establishing new embodied intelligence departments.
According to a report by People's Daily Online, the Ministry of Education today released the "Catalog of Undergraduate Majors in General Higher Education Institutions (2026)," adding 38 new types of undergraduate majors in general higher education institutions (universities).
The report indicates that to precisely align with national strategic needs, new departments such as energy science and engineering, and deep-earth science and engineering have been added; to serve the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, new departments like transportation energy integration engineering and agricultural robotics have been added; to promote the innovative development of emerging and future industries, new departments such as biomanufacturing and brain-computer science and technology have been added; based on expanding and improving the quality of the service industry, new departments like digital culture and tourism and business AI have been added; focusing on building new forms of smart economy, new departments such as digital trade and digital finance have been added.
In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Education also announced further improvement of the extraordinary mechanism for strategically urgent professional settings, supporting 9 universities including Harbin Institute of Technology and Beihang University to establish new embodied intelligence departments, promoting the deep integration of new-generation AI with the real economy, to drive "high-quality development" of the economy and society.
According to reports, Chinese university majors currently cover 13 categories and 883 types of departments. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021 to 2025), the adjustment scale of university majors continued to expand, with a cumulative adjustment ratio exceeding 30%. This year, the national university major adjustment ratio exceeded 10% for the first time.
The Economic Observer reported on the 24th that in recent years, the suspension and cancellation of university majors have become a norm in the development of Chinese universities. In March this year, Communication University of China canceled 16 undergraduate majors, including translation and photography. In January, 19 majors from Jilin University, including credit management, electronic information engineering, and biomedical engineering, were listed for discontinuation. Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics also suspended and canceled 10 majors, including management and literature, in 2025.
According to a report by People's Daily Online, the Ministry of Education today released the "Catalog of Undergraduate Majors in General Higher Education Institutions (2026)," adding 38 new types of undergraduate majors in general higher education institutions (universities).
The report indicates that to precisely align with national strategic needs, new departments such as energy science and engineering, and deep-earth science and engineering have been added; to serve the optimization and upgrading of traditional industries, new departments like transportation energy integration engineering and agricultural robotics have been added; to promote the innovative development of emerging and future industries, new departments such as biomanufacturing and brain-computer science and technology have been added; based on expanding and improving the quality of the service industry, new departments like digital culture and tourism and business AI have been added; focusing on building new forms of smart economy, new departments such as digital trade and digital finance have been added.
In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Education also announced further improvement of the extraordinary mechanism for strategically urgent professional settings, supporting 9 universities including Harbin Institute of Technology and Beihang University to establish new embodied intelligence departments, promoting the deep integration of new-generation AI with the real economy, to drive "high-quality development" of the economy and society.
According to reports, Chinese university majors currently cover 13 categories and 883 types of departments. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021 to 2025), the adjustment scale of university majors continued to expand, with a cumulative adjustment ratio exceeding 30%. This year, the national university major adjustment ratio exceeded 10% for the first time.
The Economic Observer reported on the 24th that in recent years, the suspension and cancellation of university majors have become a norm in the development of Chinese universities. In March this year, Communication University of China canceled 16 undergraduate majors, including translation and photography. In January, 19 majors from Jilin University, including credit management, electronic information engineering, and biomedical engineering, were listed for discontinuation. Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics also suspended and canceled 10 majors, including management and literature, in 2025.