Impact of AI Translation Leads Chinese Universities to Cut or Suspend Foreign Language Programs

Impacted by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) translation tools, several universities in China are eliminating or suspending admissions for foreign language-related departments. Some foreign language institutes are undergoing interdisciplinary transformation, adding majors like AI and big data, or cultivating 'composite talent' with both foreign language skills and professional expertise. According to a report by Yicai, China's Ministry of Education recently announced the registration and approval results for undergraduate majors for the 2025 academic year, with some provinces also releasing details on newly added and eliminated majors from last year. Among them, universities in Jiangsu province added 151 new undergraduate majors while eliminating 55, including Japanese and Korean. Mycos Research Institute, a Chinese higher education data research firm, compiled a list of suspended majors from 70 universities, involving 525 undergraduate programs. Language-related majors saw significant adjustments, with eight universities suspending their Japanese programs, and German and Translation programs also seeing a relatively high number of suspensions. The report notes that foreign language majors were once a focus of enrollment expansion, but with changes in the international communication environment and the rapid growth of AI translation tools, the talent cultivation model for traditional language majors has begun to transform. In 2023, the University of Science and Technology of China became the first '985 Project' university to eliminate its English major. In 2024, Beijing Language and Culture University stopped admissions for several master's programs in translation for less common languages like Russian, Spanish, and Japanese. Shanghai University of Finance and Economics has suspended 12 majors, including English, and East China Normal University announced the suspension of 24 majors, including German and Translation. The report quotes Ding Changfa, an associate professor in the Department of Economics at Xiamen University, who analyzed that with the development of AI, its impact on many fields is significant, with foreign language majors being particularly affected. He suggested that humanities programs need to accelerate their transformation by introducing science and engineering faculty or related courses, combining existing humanities strengths with science and engineering. Mycos Research Institute found that some foreign language universities are now adding fields like data science, AI, electronic information, and big data. For example, Sichuan International Studies University has added undergraduate majors in Area Studies, Data Science and Big Data Technology, and Cross-Border E-commerce. Guangxi University of Foreign Languages also recently added an engineering undergraduate major in 'Electronic Information Materials'. The report states that in recent years, many Chinese universities' foreign language colleges or universities have been creating integrated majors, actively cultivating composite talent with both professional foreign language abilities and specialized skills. For instance, Shanghai International Studies University established the Institute for Language Sciences in December 2024, an interdisciplinary research institution integrating data science, brain science, and linguistics. Mycos Research Institute points out that the traditional boundaries where foreign language schools taught languages and engineering schools taught technology are rapidly blurring in the AI era.