(Yicai Global) June 20 -- Clinical medicine is the most searched for subject and searches for aerospace are the fastest growing, as China’s high school graduates, who will receive the results of their national college entrance exams, start their university applications, according to Chinese search engine Baidu.

Education, economics, and computer studies are also very popular subjects, Beijing-based Baidu said. Six of the 10 most searched for majors are engineering, electrical engineering and automation, artificial intelligence, computer science, electronic information engineering, mechanical design and manufacturing and automation and software engineering, it added.

Aerospace engineering, agricultural engineering, data science and Big Data remain well-liked choices, same as last year, it said. But there has been a big jump in less favored majors such as drama, film, Kazakh language and energy economics from 2022.

A record number of high school students took the college entrance exams this year at 12.9 million and most of them are choosing their majors based on personal preference, Baidu said. Other factors, in order of priority, are popularity of the subjects, career prospects, opportunities for further study and suggestions from others.

Parents, though, do not think it is wise for their children to be deciding their area of specialization based mainly on their personal interests, as it might mean they elect a subject that is not in demand and they end up without a job.

Jobs in high-end manufacturing fields are increasing as China’s manufacturing industry continues to develop rapidly, according to the 2023 college student employment report by online recruitment platform Zhaopin.

Nearly 60 percent of engineering graduates found employment this year, 6.5 percentage points higher than the average, while 41.3 percent of graduates in the humanities and social sciences found work, 9.1 percentage points below the average, Beijing-based Zhaopin said.

Society needs people trained in the humanities and social sciences, not just scientists and engineers, Yao Kai from the Global Scientific and Innovation Talent Development Research Center at Fudan University told Yicai Global. And students of the humanities and social sciences also take general courses in science and engineering.

Students should choose their majors depending on the industries needed by the country, on their own career and personal growth goals as well as on the cities where they want to be based, Yao said.

Editor: Kim Taylor