As artificial intelligence reshapes the global economy, Chinese universities are rapidly redrawing the landscape of what is worth studying.

In recent months, Chinese universities have actively cut foreign language and translation programs and launched new majors in “embodied intelligence” and “low-altitude economy.”

A survey published in May tracked 70 Chinese universities that announced changes to their upcoming programs, and found sweeping cuts in language-related curricula: Eight in Japanese, five in German, and five in translation studies. 

“Foreign-language majors were among the fastest-growing university programs in China for years,” MyCOS, a Chinese educational consulting firm, said in the report. “But changing global dynamics and the rapid rise of AI translation tools are forcing these disciplines to rethink how they train students.”

These changes reveal how China’s higher education sector is attempting to prepare students for an AI-driven future. They come at a time when global university education is under growing pressure to prove its relevance in a world where AI can increasingly write, code, translate, and analyze information.

Universities cope with AI

The trend is not unique to China. Universities around the world are exploring ways to redesign their language programs, Shaohua Fang, a postdoctoral fellow in applied linguistics at Purdue University, told Rest of World.

“AI’s fast-paced development certainly has affected students’ willingness to pursue language majors, as the career paths traditionally associated with these degrees — such as translation and language teaching — are increasingly being challenged,” Fang, incoming assistant professor of Linguistics and Psychology at Montclair State University, said.

Unlike in the U.S., where universities largely determine their own academic offerings, Chinese universities require government approval. 

“In China, the response is more centralized and top-down,” Yingyi Ma, a sociology professor at Syracuse University who studies higher education systems in China and the U.S., told Rest of World. “AI is being built into national education planning and new majors. In the U.S., the response is more decentralized. Individual universities, schools, departments, and faculty variability is huge.”

In April, China’s Ministry of Education approved nine universities to begin enrolling students in “embodied intelligence” — the Chinese term for physical AI technologies such as autonomous machines and humanoid robots.

The ministry approved a total of 38 new majors for the upcoming academic year, the majority of which focus on tech or digitalization.

New programs include AI-related subjects in commercial AI, data intelligence, and areas such as low-altitude economy and management, semiconductor equipment engineering, and rare-earth science and engineering.

The new disciplines are intended to support the country’s strategic industries, upgrade traditional sectors, and strengthen talent pipelines for future economic growth, according to the ministry’s official statement.

The current restructuring in China follows earlier waves of curriculum adjustment tied to the government’s development goals.

Between 2020 and 2024, e-commerce-related disciplines were among the most heavily reduced majors across China’s top universities, according to MyCOS, reflecting the cooling of China’s internet economy after years of rapid expansion led by companies such as Alibaba and JD.com.

In 2025, marketing programs saw the largest number of cuts, with 16 programs eliminated across 70 universities. These reductions were driven by changing labor-market demands and efforts to correct previous overexpansion, MyCOS said.

AI at U.S. universities

American schools, too, have been keeping up with the rise of AI.

AI master’s programs nearly doubled between 2022 and 2026, according to educational and career resource platform Programmes.com. The website said 304 U.S. institutions currently offer AI degrees, which include 193 bachelor’s degree programs.

“This reveals a deeper and more fundamental difference between the two societies,” Ma told Rest of World.

“[China’s] advantage is speed and scale in cultivating talent in specific fields. The risk is overcorrection and overcrowding: Some fields may be undervalued before their long-term importance is fully understood,” she said. 

“The U.S. advantage is pluralism. Because the system is decentralized, it allows more experimentation, more institutional diversity, and more bottom-up innovation. But the weakness is fragmentation and inequality,” said Ma. “In the AI era, that unevenness becomes a serious national talent problem and a new source of inequality.” Despite the increase in AI-related degrees, tech and business heavyweights in the U.S. have argued that AI may actually increase the value of humanities graduates.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has described an English major as possibly the most successful major, as it is the programming language of AI. Robert Goldstein, chief operating officer of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, said last year the company places greater emphasis on graduates who have studied history, English, and other humanities disciplines.

Chinese universities are also trying to keep humanities and arts disciplines relevant, but place emphasis on the inclusion of AI in their programs.

The Communication University of China, one of the country’s leading arts and media institutions, has cut five majors, including photography, comics, and visual communication design, and added new AI-infused programs such as “Intelligent Imaging Art.”

The same process is playing out inside language classrooms.

Ao Manyun teaches a six-decade-old course called “Swahili Translation: Theory and Practice” at the Communication University. She said students questioned her on whether human translation remains worthwhile when AI tools can perform translation tasks instantly.

In response, the course has been redesigned.

“The goal is no longer simply to teach students how to translate,” Manyun said in an interview with the Chinese state-run newspaper People’s Daily. “It is to cultivate their skills to direct and manage AI translators in carrying out complex translation tasks and define and evaluate translation quality.”

Fang, whose research focuses on AI’s impact on foreign language learning, is optimistic that language courses will still have a place in university curricula.

“For students who are highly motivated to specialize in a language, or are looking to go into a career where the language would be a main pillar, it is clear that AI will not be able to replace them, and learning the language from AI alone won’t be enough to replace what university education provides them,” Fang said.