Crypto news

China's higher education system is undergoing a fundamental restructuring. Against the backdrop of the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and digital technologies, Chinese universities are massively freezing enrollment in humanities and some engineering specialties, while simultaneously opening dozens of new fields in AI, robotics, and "embodied intelligence."

The scale of the changes is impressive. According to data from the analytical center MyCOS, which covers 70 universities, enrollment has been suspended for 525 undergraduate programs. Moreover, the actual figure could be significantly higher—many universities simply have not disclosed their statistics. Marketing leads the number of closed programs, suspended in 16 educational institutions. It is followed by public administration (11 universities), logistics (10), and Internet of Things engineering (9). Language programs are also under pressure: Japanese has disappeared from eight universities, German from five, and translation studies has lost another five enrollment points.

The trend is not limited to the humanities block. In the engineering field, 32 computer programs, 23 mechanical programs, and 22 electronics and information technology programs have been suspended. This is not total elimination, but rather a "portfolio optimization": since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan, universities have launched 10,200 new programs while closing or freezing 12,200. There is a net reduction, but the emphasis has shifted toward future technologies.

China's Ministry of Education has already approved 38 entirely new specialties for the next academic year. The key trend is "Embodied Intelligence"—that is, physical AI systems: autonomous machines, humanoid robots. Nine leading universities have received the right to enroll students in this field. This is a direct continuation of the national AI+ Education strategy launched in April, which provides for the integration of AI at all stages of learning—from primary school to lifelong professional development.

My analysis: China is demonstrating a "hard" model of adapting education to technological challenges, where the humanities are sacrificed for the pragmatic goals of technological leadership. However, the risk here is obvious: the loss of a critical mass of specialists in languages, management, and interdisciplinary humanities knowledge could create an imbalance in the long term. In the crypto industry, for example, it is precisely the combination of technical and humanities education that often generates breakthrough solutions—from DeFi protocols to regulation. China seems to be betting on pure technology, but time will tell whether this becomes a "skew" in the system.