38 New Undergraduate Majors in China: How Higher Education Is Reshaping Itself for the Future

Key Points

China’s Ministry of Education released a new catalog adding 38 new undergraduate majors for the 2026 Gaokao cycle, signaling a strategic reshaping of its higher education landscape.
For the first time, an “Interdisciplinary Studies” category was introduced, containing 15 new majors that combine multiple disciplines, emphasizing the shift towards versatile specialists.
New majors like Embodied AI, Low-Altitude Economy and Management, and Brain-Computer Science and Technology reflect China’s focus on national strategic needs and interdisciplinary innovation.
The changes are driven by a national strategy to align university programs with strategic national and regional demands, moving from “we train whatever we can” to “we train whatever the region needs.”
The “14th Five-Year Plan” saw a significant restructuring, with universities adding 10,200 undergraduate major points and cutting 12,200 others, indicating a massive and intentional overhaul of programs.

Overview of Major Program Restructuring (14th Five-Year Plan)
Action Taken	Number of Major Points
Newly Added Majors	10,200
Phased Out/Cut Majors	12,200
Total Adjustments	22,400

China’s Ministry of Education (Jiaoyu Bu 教育部) just dropped something major.

They released the “Catalog of Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Institutions of Higher Education (2026 Edition),” and it includes 38 brand new undergraduate majors that universities can start recruiting for in the 2026 National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao 高考) cycle.

But here’s what’s interesting: this isn’t just adding random programs to the mix.

This is a strategic reshuffling of China’s higher education landscape—one that signals where the country’s priorities are shifting and what skills they think will actually matter in the coming years.

Let’s break down what’s happening, why it matters, and what these changes tell us about the future of tech, innovation, and talent development in China.

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What Are These 38 New Majors? (And Why Should You Care)

Strategic New Major Highlights

Embodied AI (Thinking robots)
Low-Altitude Economy (Drone tech)
Brain-Computer Science (Neurotechnology)
Marine Intelligence (Ocean tech)

The new program lineup reads like a wish list straight out of China’s five-year development plans:

Embodied AI (thinking robots that can actually understand the physical world)
Low-Altitude Economy and Management (drone tech, regional aviation, and everything in between)
Marine Intelligence (ocean-based tech and innovation)
Unmanned Technology (autonomous systems across industries)
Brain-Computer Science and Technology (the cutting edge of neurotechnology)
Language Science (computational linguistics meets human communication)
Legal English (compound foreign-related legal talent)

Notice a pattern?

Every single one of these majors sits at the intersection of urgent national need and interdisciplinary innovation.

The Interdisciplinary Turn: 15 New Fields Under One Umbrella

This year marks a watershed moment for Chinese higher education.

For the first time, the 2026 catalog includes an entire category dedicated to “Interdisciplinary Studies”—and right out of the gate, it’s adding 15 new majors that combine multiple disciplines into one program.

This is deliberate.

Chinese universities are recognizing that the most valuable graduates won’t be siloed specialists—they’ll be people who can think across domains and connect dots that nobody else can see.

Real-World Example: Embodied Intelligence at Harbin Institute of Technology

Take Harbin Institute of Technology (Haerbin Gongye Daxue 哈尔滨工业大学), one of China’s top technical universities.

They’re rolling out an Embodied Intelligence major that uses what they call a “Theory-Technology-Practice” integrated cultivation model.

According to Jin Jing (金晶), a doctoral supervisor in Control Science and Engineering and head of the program:

The goal is to train high-end technical talents who possess basic theories and engineering methods in complex decision-making within embodied AI, while maintaining systemic thinking and cross-disciplinary innovation capabilities.

Translation: they’re not just teaching AI theory.

They’re training people to build systems that actually work in the real world—systems that can think, learn, and adapt in physical environments.

Liberal Arts Gets the Innovation Treatment Too

It’s not just engineering schools making waves.

Beijing Language and Culture University (Beijing Yuyan Daxue 北京语言大学) created a new Language Science major that blends:

Language knowledge
Experimental technology
Engineering tools

Meanwhile, China University of Political Science and Law (Zhongguo Zhengfa Daxue 中国政法大学) launched a Legal English major designed to produce lawyers who are bilingual powerhouses—fluent in both language and legal frameworks needed for international work.

As Zhang Nanxing (张男星), Director of the Institute of Higher Education at the National Institute of Education Sciences (Zhongguo Jiaoyu Kexue Yanjiuyuan 中国教育科学研究院), puts it:

The 38 new majors bring more than just a numerical increase; they represent a further optimization of the professional structure.

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Why Is China Making These Changes? The Strategic Thinking Behind It

To understand what’s really going on, you need to see the bigger picture.

During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, universities across China added 10,200 undergraduate major points and cut 12,200 others.

That’s not incremental change—that’s a massive restructuring.

And it’s intentional.

Experts argue that this isn’t about arbitrarily shuffling programs around.

Instead, professional adjustment is pushing universities away from the “small logic” of self-interest toward the “large logic” of serving national development.

In other words: universities are being reoriented to ask “What does the country need?” instead of “What are we comfortable teaching?”

Pillar #1: Serving Strategic National Needs

China’s central government has identified certain sectors as critical for future competitiveness.

To move the needle on these areas, they’re creating a “green channel” that allows universities to launch majors in strategically important fields—like Low-Altitude Technology and Engineering—much faster than the normal approval process.

Shandong University (Shandong Daxue 山东大学) is a textbook example.

Vice President Cao Xianqiang (曹现强) explains their strategy:

The school adheres to the guidance of national strategy and urgent social needs. Surrounding key areas, we have implemented an unconventional layout for liberal arts majors and high-intensity investment, concentrating superior resources to add urgently needed majors.

Shandong added programs like International Organizations and Global Governance to align talent production with where Beijing thinks China needs to compete.

Pillar #2: Matching Supply to Regional Demand

Here’s something that often gets overlooked: not all of China is the same.

Different regions have different economic priorities.

So universities are starting to think regionally.

Cheng Shuang (程爽), Deputy Director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Education (Heilongjiang Sheng Jiaoyu Ting 黑龙江省教育厅), sums it up:

Major settings cannot rely on inertia or experience; the ‘baton’ must be handed over to industrial demand, social demand, and development trends.

In Heilongjiang specifically, universities are backing the region’s “ice and snow economy” by adding majors like:

Ice and Snow Dance Performance
Ice and Snow Cultural Creativity
Ice and Snow Sports Tourism

It’s the same playbook at Anhui University (Anhui Daxue 安徽大学).

Nearly 80% of their 92 undergraduate majors directly serve the province’s top ten emerging industries.

According to Cai Jingmin (蔡敬民), Director of the Institute of Higher Education at Anhui University:

The development logic of local universities must be deeply integrated with socio-economic development, shifting from the traditional ‘we train whatever we can’ to ‘we train whatever the region needs.’

Pillar #3: Protecting Livelihoods and Quality of Life

Not every new major is about cutting-edge tech or economic dominance.

Some are about making life better for people right now.

Henan Polytechnic University (Henan Ligong Daxue 河南理工大学) added a Tai Chi major to serve national health initiatives.

Northeast Forestry University (Dongbei Linye Daxue 东北林业大学) created a Smart Landscape Creation major to support high-quality urban and rural habitat development.

This reflects something important: these new majors are closely tied to everyday human flourishing—from public health to environmental sustainability to cultural richness.

Zhang Nanxing notes that these programs “reflect the close connection between university operations and regional innovation, urban development, and individual happiness.”

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How Will This Actually Improve Talent Quality? The Mechanics of Change

Okay, so China is reshuffling majors.

But does this actually produce better graduates?

Experts say yes—but only if universities use this opportunity strategically.

Strategy #1: Deepen Industry-Education Integration

New majors should trigger better program design and stronger connections to the real world.

Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (Chongqing Shi Jiaoyu Weiyuanhui 重庆市教育委员会) is doing exactly this.

Deputy Director Jiang Yunfang (蒋云芳) explains:

We have formed a group of characteristic professional clusters featuring industry-education integration, effectively promoting the deep integration of the education, talent, industry, and innovation chains.

Translation: they’re making sure that what students learn in the classroom connects directly to what employers actually need.

Strategy #2: Create a Data-Driven Matching System

Universities can’t just guess what industries need.

Cheng Shuang describes a more sophisticated approach:

We analyze the demand for talents in key industries of the province, calculating ‘demand indices’ and ‘supply indices’ for each major. This allows universities to see clearly which fields lack people and where supply is saturated.

This is basically supply-and-demand economics applied to higher education.

If there’s a shortage of marine engineers but an oversupply of business majors, universities get hard data to make better decisions about where to invest resources.

Strategy #3: Build Integrated Pathways From Major to Job

The ultimate goal is what Wang Yuyin (王玉银), Party Secretary of the School of Civil Engineering at Harbin Institute of Technology, calls an “integrated linkage mechanism” that connects:

Major selection
Talent training quality
Employment outcomes

Education departments and universities must establish an integrated linkage mechanism for major setting, talent training, and job output to achieve precise matching between talent cultivation and market demand, continuously broadening high-quality employment spaces for graduates.

The idea: by connecting these three pieces, universities can create systems where students don’t just graduate—they graduate into genuine career opportunities that match their training.

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