The topic of expanding and streamlining undergraduate programs in Chinese universities has remained a hot issue in recent years. Earlier news of several universities discontinuing certain majors sparked discussion, while the recent addition of 38 new majors to the "Undergraduate Program Catalog for Regular Higher Education Institutions (2026 Edition)" has also drawn significant attention. Experts indicate that the simultaneous actions of adding, removing, accelerating, and decelerating program offerings reflect structural optimization driven by national strategy, societal development, and industrial transformation. This signals that China's higher education is accelerating its shift from scale expansion to quality and efficiency improvement, and from passive adaptation to active leadership.
Beyond adding new majors, the updated catalog also includes, for the first time under the "Interdisciplinary" category, 11 existing programs such as Future Robotics and 4 newly established ones like Brain-Computer Science and Technology. The undergraduate program catalog now encompasses 13 disciplinary categories, 92 program classes, and 883 specific majors. This more scientific and comprehensive catalog system results from the ongoing deepening of adjustments to undergraduate programs in Chinese universities. Statistics show that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Chinese universities added approximately 10,200 new undergraduate program offerings, while discontinuing or suspending enrollment in about 12,200 others. The scale of program adjustments has continued to increase, with a cumulative adjustment ratio exceeding 30%.
In recent years, Chinese authorities have issued numerous documents calling for the establishment of new disciplines and majors adapted to new technologies, industries, business forms, and models, while phasing out those unsuited to economic and social development. A university official stated that adding and removing majors is not merely a quantitative change but represents a precise alignment between the supply side of talent cultivation in higher education and the demand side of economic and social development. It is also a crucial measure in coordinating reforms for the integrated development of education, technology, and talent mechanisms.
Across the country, regions are adjusting their academic programs based on local conditions. For instance, one institution collaborated with another to establish a new major in "Ice and Snow Dance Performance." An official from the provincial education department highlighted that optimizing program adjustments is not about simply following trends but is based on provincial realities and emphasizes distinctive characteristics. In another major municipality, the adjustment rate for undergraduate program structures reached 32.5% last year. An official from the municipal education commission explained that efforts are focused on both optimizing existing programs and improving the quality of new additions, significantly enhancing the alignment between program offerings and regional development.
The adjustment of program offerings involves not just changes in quantity but also in pace. To address national strategic needs, a "green channel" has been established for the rapid deployment of urgently needed majors. Concurrently, an annual release mechanism for guiding lists of priority and deferred development programs at the provincial level is being continuously refined, along with the publication of lists of in-demand majors and program alerts.
The essence of the "urgent" and "deferred" approaches is to follow the principles of higher education, promoting intrinsic coordination between program structures and national strategies and societal needs. This differential pace enhances the agility of university resources in meeting the nation's urgent talent needs while ensuring the scientific and sustainable optimization of program structures and their intrinsic development. It helps build a higher education program setting ecosystem characterized by macro-control and dynamic adjustment.
The outline for the "15th Five-Year Plan" proposes improving the mechanism for adjusting higher education disciplines and majors. It is believed that the strategy of "adding and removing, accelerating and decelerating" program adjustments will effectively enhance the foresight and adaptability of higher education. This will help secure advantages in technological competition and future development, injecting stronger momentum into high-quality economic and social growth.
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