China Introduces 38 New University Majors, Including Rare Earths and Brain-Computer Technology

China's Ministry of Education has introduced 38 new majors in higher education institutions in response to the changing needs of national strategies and the pursuit of high-quality development. On Tuesday, the ministry announced an update to the catalog of undergraduate majors in general universities, adding programs such as Rare Earth Elements Science and Engineering, as well as Deep Earth Science and Engineering.

To support the optimization and modernization of traditional industries, new majors were included, such as Transportation-Energy Integration and Agricultural Robotics. To foster innovation and the growth of emerging industries, the ministry introduced Biomanufacturing, Embodied Intelligence, as well as Brain-Computer Science and Technology. Attention to building new forms of the intelligent economy was reflected in the addition of Digital Trade and Digital Finance. Meanwhile, to enhance the capacity and quality of the service sector, programs such as Digital Culture and Tourism, as well as Business Artificial Intelligence, were launched.

Li Chaozhong, Dean of the Rare Earth Elements Faculty at Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, explained that the Rare Earth Elements Science and Engineering major is the world's first program covering the entire production chain in this field. According to him, through systematic and professional undergraduate training, the university hopes to cultivate interdisciplinary and well-rounded technical specialists.

Beijing International Studies University, known as BISU, launched a new major combining culture and tourism with digital intelligence. Liu Ning, Dean of the Faculty of Tourism Sciences at BISU, noted that digital culture and tourism aligns with the trend of digital and intelligent transformation in the culture and tourism industry. This program meets industry demands in such areas as AI-driven transformation, cultural tourism product design, and online platform management. It aims to train versatile professionals equipped with a "creativity plus scenario" mindset and an "AI plus culture and tourism" approach.

To date, the catalog of undergraduate majors in China's general universities includes 883 majors across 13 academic disciplines.