(Yicai Global) April 12 -- Chinese universities have been dropping majors seen as offering lesser employment prospects for graduates, such as management of public services, as they focus more on new areas such as artificial intelligence.

Between 2015 and 2021, 90 universities cut courses in management of public services, and 76 axed clothing design courses, Yicai Global learned. They were dropped because they did not adapt to changes in social needs, according to analysts.

Graduates in public services have had to find government jobs as there have been few other options, leading to intense competition in the admission exams. And China has also had less need for clothing designers as the domestic industry now focuses more on the high-end segments and there is an excess of qualified graduates, said Ding Changfa, an associate professor of the economics at Xiamen University.

Meanwhile, universities have been adding majors such as data science, AI, robotics, and smart manufacturing engineering. These majors have, to some extent, replaced the skills developed by the courses that are no longer offered. For example, AI can contribute to certain processes of clothing design, reducing the need for the number of designers.

China is adjusting the majors on offer, an official from the education ministry’s department of higher education said recently. Universities are offering degrees in 66,000 majors, 17,000 more than in 2012, and almost 10,000 majors have been cut, the ministry said. By 2025, about 20 percent of existing majors will be revamped, with those not suited to socio-economic development needs being withdrawn and replaced by more relevant majors.

Editors: Zhang Yushuo, Tom Litting