In Just One Year, 1,670 Undergraduate Programs Have Been Canceled as the Economic Downturn Impacts Higher Education

Chinese students participating in the Gaokao exam. (Photo by Getty Images)

【People News】Recently, news about China's 985 universities suspending undergraduate program admissions has gone viral online.

On February 16, Shandong University published a report titled 'Setting and Adjustment of Undergraduate Programs from September 2023 to August 2024', indicating that the university currently offers 126 undergraduate programs, with 99 programs open for enrollment. Among these, 27 programs, including Financial Engineering, have suspended admissions, while 10 programs, such as Calligraphy, have been canceled. Additionally, two new programs, Software Engineering and Sports Training, have been introduced.

In just one academic year, a 985 university has stopped enrolling students in 37 undergraduate programs, which is quite a significant move. It raises concerns about how many students from less privileged backgrounds were diligently preparing for a specific program, only to discover that the opportunity has vanished just as they were ready to apply. Is managing a university akin to running a street market? Today, if gloves aren't selling, will they switch to selling socks tomorrow? What is really happening here?

Among the 37 programs that have been suspended or canceled at Shandong University, it is somewhat understandable that less popular programs, such as World History, Cultural Relics and Museum Studies, and Cultural Industry Management, are being phased out. Programs that are often seen as versatile, like Marketing, Tourism Management, E-commerce, and Public Administration, can also be justified. However, it raises the question: why has Shandong University chosen to suspend admissions for popular programs such as Electronic Information Engineering, Internet of Things Engineering, Electronic Information Science and Technology, and Vehicle Engineering?

A quick search online reveals startling information. It appears that Shandong University is not alone in this situation; Sichuan University is also making similar moves. In 2024, Sichuan University plans to eliminate 31 undergraduate programs, including Music, Performance, Animation, Insurance, and Broadcasting and Television. In August 2024, Shandong Normal University announced its intention to discontinue 13 undergraduate programs, including Portuguese. China University of Petroleum will cease enrollment in 9 programs, including Law. Xiangtan University plans to cut 7 programs, while Northwest A&F University intends to eliminate 3 programs. By 2025, Anhui Medical University will stop enrolling in 13 undergraduate programs...

The recent actions taken by Shandong University are not arbitrary; they are following directives. Shandong University is implementing national policies and is considered a model institution, diligently working to adapt. According to reports from mainland media, universities across the country have been experiencing an unprecedented overhaul of their academic programs in recent years.

In 2023, the Ministry of Education, along with four other departments, issued the 'Adjustment and Optimization Reform Plan for the Setting of Disciplines and Majors in General Higher Education.' On July 23, 2024, the Ministry of Education released the 'Notice on Carrying Out the Setting of Undergraduate Majors in General Higher Education for 2024,' directing universities nationwide to intensify adjustments to their undergraduate programs, with a focus on optimizing the professional structure and talent training framework to align with the new development landscape.

As a result, we have witnessed a leap-forward adjustment movement of undergraduate majors in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) universities in recent years. According to Wu Yan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education, there are currently 1,308 undergraduate institutions across the country, offering undergraduate majors that encompass 12 categories, 93 professional types, and 816 different majors. The total number of undergraduate major locations nationwide stands at 62,000. Since the 18th National Congress, 21,000 new major locations have been established, while 12,000 locations for majors deemed unsuitable for economic and social development have been canceled or suspended.

With a total of 62,000 undergraduate major locations, the net change over the past 12 years amounts to 33,000, which represents more than half of the total distribution of majors. It takes ten years to grow trees and a hundred years to cultivate people; is higher education really akin to running a restaurant? Even if it were, specialty and signature dishes cannot simply be removed or changed at will.

Even more astonishingly, in 2023, universities across the country added 1,673 new major locations while simultaneously canceling 1,670, reflecting an unprecedented level of adjustment. The Ministry of Education asserts that the newly added majors are all critical to national strategies, while those that were canceled do not align with economic and social development needs. This situation is truly surreal and can be likened to running a restaurant. From January to September 2024, approximately 3.02 million new restaurants opened nationwide, while about 2.96 million closed. Does this indicate that the catering industry is flourishing and evolving with the times, or does it reveal a significant economic downturn, with the catering sector struggling to survive?

The adjustment of higher education and professional programs is not a straightforward task that can be quickly resolved or yield immediate results. It is deeply intertwined with trends in social and economic development, as well as major national policy directions. This includes the country's industrial layout and the status of regional economic development. These factors directly impact various issues related to the employment outcomes of university graduates, the structure of job positions, and social employment rates, all of which are crucial for people's livelihoods and social stability. On an external level, this involves the structure of labor market demand and the direction of talent needs; on an internal level, it pertains to the educational direction of universities, the layout of disciplines, and the structure of programs. This encompasses a complex array of factors, including the establishment of relevant departments, faculty strength, the quality of student recruitment, course quality, teaching resources (both hardware and software), and the core interests of subject and professional educators. Any change in one area can significantly affect the entire system. Higher education has a history of development spanning hundreds of years globally, and the stability and continuity of professional construction are essential for ensuring the quality of education and talent. The Communist Party's approach to education resembles treating it like a street vendor or a restaurant, which is indeed a rarity on a global scale.

This rapid, leap-forward style of professional adjustment and the swift development of higher education have been superficially addressed by the Ministry of Education of the Communist Party, which has reduced the issue to just three points of adaptability. The Ministry asserts that dynamic adjustments to undergraduate programs are intended to enhance the alignment of program construction with the urgent needs of national strategies, improve the adaptability of professional construction in universities—especially local ones—to regional development, and ensure that undergraduate programs align with the comprehensive development of students.

What lofty rhetoric! The reality is not merely about improving adaptability; it is that the economy is struggling, employment is at risk, and the chill of economic downturn has reached the ivory tower. Party officials can no longer remain passive and have begun to stir the pot once again.

Firstly, the economy is declining, leading to immediate unemployment for university graduates. For several consecutive years, the number of university graduates has reached tens of millions. In 2025, the number of higher education graduates is expected to be 12.22 million, while in 2024 it is projected at 11.79 million, in 2023 at 11.58 million, and in 2022 it was 10.76 million.

The unemployment rate for individuals aged 16-24 has been steadily increasing from 2018 to 2023. By June 2023, the survey unemployment rate for this age group hit a historic high of 21.3%. In response, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) altered the rules by excluding the number of enrolled university students from the denominator of the youth unemployment rate. Despite this adjustment, the unemployment rate has continued to hover between 15% and 19%.

Professor Zhang Dandan from Peking University revealed that the youth unemployment rate stands at 46.5%. The CCP has placed the blame for university graduates' joblessness squarely on the young people themselves. Party media have criticized graduates for clinging to the outdated ideals of Kong Yiji and have even encouraged them to engage in garbage collection after graduation.

Secondly, the CCP's policies are highly unstable, changing frequently and governing the country as if flipping pancakes. Higher education is considered the foundation of the CCP's strategy to become a technological powerhouse, and it must be constantly adjusted in line with Xi Jinping's governance approach.

Thirdly, since the Chinese Communist Party (Zhongguo Gongchandang) has witnessed these changes, there has been a complete lack of academic freedom in Chinese universities, and freedom of speech is even more non-existent. Following the expansion of university enrollment in 1999, issues such as academic corruption, academic fraud, the commercialization of education, and a focus on short-term gains have intensified. The adjustments in academic programs are fundamentally disconnected from genuine discipline development; instead, they serve as a pretext for reshuffling the existing interest structures under the guise of academic progress. At present, the economic downturn faced by the Chinese Communist Party is a consequence of the political system hitting a dead end, and the results of the drastic adjustments in academic programs are bound to lead to a failed initiative. △

(Originally published by People News)