Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
From the heart of Beijing to the edges of the global stage, you're at Roundtable.
I'm Niu Honglin.
If you were heading to college today, what would you study?
Computer science?
Finance?
Engineering?
Now imagine choosing between things like agricultural robotics, low altitude economy management or even brain computer technology.
These aren't niche experiments.
They are legit majors here in China and are part of a larger shift in how universities are preparing students for a rapidly changing world.
For today's show, I'm joined by Fei Fei and Xing Yu.
Now pull up a chair and join the conversation.
Around the world, there's a growing pressure on education systems to answer a difficult question.
How do you prepare students for jobs that don't fully exist yet?
China's latest move, launching 38 new majors, tried to directly answer that question and tie to strategic industries.
That offers possible answer align education not just with knowledge, but with national priorities, technological frontiers and future demand.
So what will these cutting-edge degrees mean for the global workforce over the next decade?
And if you were heading to campus today, which of these pioneering new paths would you choose?
Actually, this is not the first time we do something about the majors.
By saying doing something.
China has been adding new majors every couple of years and saying goodbye to some majors, including my very own.
Yeah, I think the second year I graduated my major.
No, no, no, no, no.
The second year, the grade under my grade was the last grade of my major.
So while I was still studying my major, it ceased to exist in my college.
That's a fun experience.
It's a fun experience.
And your major was?
Environment Resources and the Management of Urban and Rural Planning.
Okay, bye-bye.
Yeah, we said bye-bye to that.
And besides that, there's also the merge of different majors.
So a lot of things are happening.
What's the significance of this round of adjustment?
Yeah, the latest news is that China has introduced 38 new undergraduate degrees that are in line with the country's scientific and technological innovation and industrial development needs.
So, based on the latest catalog, we have added new interdisciplinary category for the first time, including 11 existing majors like future robotics and cross engineering, and also four new ones such as embodied intelligence and brain, computer science and technology.
So all of these changes to better meet the needs of this fast developing society and also industrial needs, and also to cultivate better versatile talents.
And also the scope of this time's new addition to the major list is also something noticeable.
For example, the latest version of the catalog features more than 800 degrees in 13 categories.
That means a ratio of more than 10% for the first time.
And that means well.
For the past couple of years, as Hongli mentioned, the Ministry of Education has been trying to keep up with all the changes in the job market.
I think in the past,
The ministry only would update this major catalog every 10 years.
But over the past recent years, they've been moving to an annual updates.
So you can see that, first of all, how fast the industrial upgrading is happening on the real world.
And on the other hand, the educational system is trying to keep pace with developments.
But it's Definitely very hard to prepare for something that you don't know, what you don't understand fully.
And it doesn't really exist just yet.
Right.
For example, I feel like I've just heard the keyword embodied intelligence.
Yeah. just this year or earlier last year.
And with this keyword emerging in the society or in the academic world, a new major is already here.
So are we sure this is a good idea?
What are taught if you're learning embodied intelligence, for example.
What are some details?
Are we ready, really ready to design classes, courses for this major?
Yeah, for embodied intelligence, I should first explain this term, maybe.
It refers to an AI with a body, whether it's a pair of eyes or hands or legs or a body like a robot, but with AI's deep learning system or ability.
And with this embodied intelligence, we have seen a lot of applications already, like a robot with, like self-driving cars or home cleaning robots.
They are very smart and they can do a lot of physical tasks instead of just replying to your messages or just do the thinking and uh was analyzing, or without action.
Yes, they do.
They do uh kind of duty actions for these human beings.
And now, if we look at this major, they're already nine top-tier universities across china.
They are authorized and supported by the Ministry of Education to launch this program.
Well, that makes me thinking that, when we are talking about college majors, first of all is, Apart from the expertise of these nine leading tech and science colleges can offer, what's also important is about the curriculum design, like what you actually are trying to teach to these undergraduates.
I mean, they're around their 20s.
You can't teach them about basic theories and also about the practical skills that they can use, for example in self-driving that Xinyu mentioned.
And so I went to Zhejiang University.
That's one of the list that's opened this new embodied intelligence major.
And they said they will combine artificial intelligence, robotics with computer science, aerospace.
So students will study technologies like this, like in intelligent agents or robot navigation or perception, and then also gaining hands-on experience in areas such as robotics, such as autonomous driving, or advanced technology in health, in supporting health care, or smart manufacturing.
So you can see First of all, it's more complicated to open up a new major in a university.
And then, second of all, how to make sure the skills you taught to students can be applied to the real world.
And then third of all, as Hongling mentioned, Are we sure about this new majors?
I mean, what if it's sort of phasing out in about five years in the business world?
What does that mean to our, you know, college major catalog?
And that means that also translates into the annual updates from the ministry as well, just to keeping up with the fast changing pace of the current world.
But what's interesting about major designing and adding is that we can't be 100% sure.
We don't really know whether or not this change would 100% go to the right direction.
We cannot be 100 sure that 100 of the graduates from that major would go to the industries related to that major.
And that is why most major design are based on, I mean, the direction is based on, of course, the direction of the development of the country, of the society and the industries.
But the details, the curriculum designs, are based on each universities.
Which means if, even if you are studying embodied intelligence, as long as you're studying it, you're majoring in it in different universities, the curriculum, the actual courses would be a little bit different and the universities would also talk to industry, different companies in the industry in the region, so that they can design certain kind of internships, certain kind of case studies for you to solve the real problems in the real world that happened in the real region.
They allocate, the universities allocate in so that on one hand, you know you're not only studying the theories, because you're already having a connection with the companies, with the manufacturers in your area.
And, on the other hand, since all of these majors in different universities can be a little bit different, it's also, in my opinion, a positive experiment.
That is, maybe one university didn't do a good enough job.
They only scored 80 in designing this new major, but it's still fine because there are 10 or 9 more universities trying out in different fields, areas or in different directions.
And that also goes to bring computer science and technology, which also made highlights in these years.
I think our very own organization have been reporting on a brain technology interface.
Brain computer interface technology related story.
And that is also closely related to the brain computer science and technology major.
Yeah basically, brain computer science and technology means to let your brain talk to the computer directly, like whatever you think.
And then the computer will catch that thought and then turns that or translates that into words or into action.
So it sounds really cool.
But what I've also witnessed is the emergence of interdisciplinary degrees, like launched just this year.
For this brain computer science technology major.
You can see that it incorporates medicine, computer science electronics mechanics, material science, all of these different majors all together to cultivate talents that can be like work in this field.
And it's written into the government work report this year as well as a future industry to be cultivated.
Students will systematically master the full technology chain of brain, computer interface and also they will be provided a wide range of electives, like different courses enabled, enable them to build a solid theoretical foundation and also develop practical skills to solve these complex real world problems.
Well, thinking about all the textbooks these students will need to study?
I mean they cover medicine.
They cover computer science, electronics and maybe even more physics, chemical chemistry I'm not sure biotech.
So it's been a very I think will be one of the very challenging majors out there but also, at the same time, can be very rewarding.
Because when I saw by the news of China's giving out commercial approval to one of the first such implants technology here in China, I saw a case of a hospital in Shanghai collaborating with a tech company to develop this technology.
Brings computer technology, which is help with somebody with very limited mobility to be able to type, to be able to play chess, video games and talk with their families and also control his own wheelchairs and move around.
It's a very touching promotional video.
It's a promotional video of this technology, of this corporation, but also very touching to watch that person being able to finally communicate with his family, not just by blinking his eyes, but actually typing out words that his family members can understand.
So that's why, I think, one of the reasons why the work report included this kind of technology, and that also made me thinking about all the other new majors being added this time, for example, when it comes to agricultural robotics.
That's also kind of new, but I know it can be confusing to some of the listeners out there, like the robots that can be used in agriculture fields.
We've already have a lot of the machines on the fields now, but why are we opening up another major in this regard?
I talked to one of these experts working on developing a robot for banana picking that currently most of the banana picking around the world is done by farmers in mostly developing countries, by hands, and can be very dangerous because you need to first of all working in very hot weather for a long time, you need to work with very sharp knives and often the times they get hurt a lot.
And in developing countries, you know they have limited resources when it comes to medical care, when it comes to other things.
And they are trying to develop robotic hands so that these farmers no longer need to cut the banana trees, bananas themselves, but these machines can come in to help.
And I think that's also another touching moment when I trust, you know talk to these scientists is that they're trying to solve the problems that most of us have no idea exist and that we have no idea.
You know, the bananas we eat on the supermarket is handpicked and hand carved by a lot of farmers, for example, in the Philippines or in other countries.
Well, at the same time, they're trying to solve that making their life easier, making our life easier, making our bananas more delicious and more high efficient.
I don't think they can do that.
They're only harvesting.
But I get your point.
It's a fascinating idea thinking that around the world so many small problems are being solved by technology, but in really different ways.
And in order to solve that one problem, for example, when it comes to banana picking, maybe you need your robots to be vigilant enough so you do not squeeze the bananas.
We do not want to bruise on the banana we eat.
But at the same time in, for example, Yunnan province, in Guizhou province, I know robots are being used to pick tea.
When it comes to tea picking.
It's a different type of versatile.
It's a different type of vulnerability we need to be cared about.
The robots need to be cared about.
But all these technologies one.
You link the technology with a real world problem.
Most occasions you can find a solution.
You just need to identify the problems first.
And that is why, by adding these new majors, we are offering the world more talent to be able to solve these real world problems.
Any particular major that got your attention?
For me.
I've looked through the list of the new majors and what got me interested is the one called urban renewal.
It means, as the cities grow older and become outdated, there are There are going to be a lot more problems happening to these old neighborhoods.
So urban renewal means to fix those problems and to upgrade those facilities, infrastructures.
And for me, if I could just choose once again my own major, probably I would choose the urban renewal one.
So that maybe in the future I could help the city become smarter and also more livable.
That's interesting.
And a lot of these majors actually covers a lot of disciplines, traditional disciplines that we have in mind.
For example, when it comes to urban renewal, I think maybe a lot of their courses will cover urban planning but also, at the same time, could also cover something about communication because, when it comes to urban renewal, one of the key factor in play is to communicate with the neighborhood, with the community, to make sure that what you design, what you have in mind, are really meeting their demands.
And so another I think would be very interesting is the nuclear medicine engineering.
I was like, That's a major?
Nuclear medicine?
Yeah, nuclear medicine.
How's that going to work?
Radioactive?
Yeah.
In fact, this kind of radioactive technology can be used in, first of all, developing new medicines, can also help with developing more advanced equipment, for example in scanning or in treating tumor, in treating cancer.
So you never know.
It's a Also.
By learning these new majors, I think I'm learning new things about what's happening on the world as well.
Yes, and you mentioned the fact that well Xin, you mentioned it as well that there are many intersections, disciplinary majors here.
And we know different universities here in the country, especially the very developed ones, have tried different ways.
They have merged different majors already in the second year.
For example, you don't have to choose your major in the first year, but in the second year you can choose to kind of like creating your own major by combining those two and different types of plans.
So in this case, we are Very officially adding new majors.
So what do you think would be the perks of such move or with this drastic change in major setting?
What are something that we're missing, that we're not have, we haven't discussed yet that are driving this new change.
Well, I think first of all, we touched on this, right?
On previous episodes?
And also previously in this discussion, is about this gap between what's been taught in schools and what's been you know, the jobs that we can get.
For example, when Honglin talked about her major environmental resources not there anymore.
I can sense that is one of the thing, that one of the thing, one of the steps that your college is trying to do is trying to see you know what's happening in the real world and make changes, and to this major
Maybe your major didn't work out but maybe there are some other majors that are working out pretty fine, because engineering, when it comes to environments, when it comes to engineering, that's also one of the hot topics in recent years and also, i think, starts to thinking about my own major.
You know english literature.
That's a fun major and i've made one of the major that a lot of people believe would be facing out of the educational system very soon because of the ai technology.
But you never know.
You know right now a lot of our major the students coming from our major is helping with tech companies developing large language models in AI companies.
And because we know about the linguistics, we know about the contextual structure of how people communicate.
And so you never know about the future development.
I think it's more about a step-by-step effort that you sort of need to keep coming back and to see whether there are new adjustments you need to make to keep up with the world.
Yeah, and this just got me thinking.
You mentioned to keep up with the fast developing society, like for three times.
So when we, as like students who have just completed their college entrance examinations, they're going to apply for the majors for the universities?
And how should they choose?
Should they choose the majors they have like bright future prospects, or the majors, the ones that they have genuine interest in?
Well, that's a tricky question.
It depends.
It totally depends.
And when we talk about universities, try to keep up with the changes in the society, in the industries.
That's one side of the story.
Another side would be that many universities, or the designers of these, majors in, for example, Ministry of Education.
Yes, they are thinking about how to help the young graduates find a job, secure a place in the industry.
But at the same time they're also thinking about we have been being the role of adjusting ourselves to make sure we meet the needs of the industry.
But at the same time, maybe we should also try to fill the role of those who are guiding how the industry is developing too.
Because if we have enough young talent, knowing the kind of knowledge in different majors, that they can be inspired to create new things, to think about the kind of problems or to find ways to solve the kind of problems that have been existing in the traditional industry for quite a long time, maybe they can change the trajectory of the development of different industries and different companies.
And that role is if not more important than only coping with the changing world.
So do you think these new majors would support traditional industries and even national resource security?
Do you think it's a necessary enough move to make these kind of changes all the time, and nowadays even annually, if not every couple of years?
Yeah definitely, like we've talked about farming, so in the traditional sense it's all about human labor, but nowadays the country is pushing for the development of agricultural modernization And we have seen the automation and all kinds of smart devices being put into play in the field of agriculture.
So all of these measures, like agricultural robotics, they're designed to bring this automation and smart technology to the farms so that we can free the hands of these farmers and to save human labor.
And meanwhile, we can also improve the productivity and efficiency of farming.
So it's a win-win.
And also, I think Honglin touched on something very important.
When we're talking about these kind of majors, they're, of course, both the Ministry of Education and also the universities themselves.
They're trying to teach as many skills to the students as possible.
And these skills should be linked to the real world problems as much as possible at the same time.
You never know.
You can never keep up with the real world changes all the time, especially when it comes to a big, big system like an educational system.
But I think what you can teach and stay with the students is about spotting a problem and trying to solve that problem.
And I think that can translate to all these different kind of majors either being added to this catalog this year or last year or maybe in the future.
They are spotting one of the problems, like the agricultural robots that we talked about, and also another major like deep underground engineering.
They are also training students to spot one of the problems that we have, for example, in our national resource security when it comes to deep sea mining, when it comes to mining underground for more critical minerals to other resources.
And we are having a lot, a lot of challenges along the way, both technological wise and also in real impracticality.
So who are going to be there to spot one small screw in one of the big machines out there?
Who are going to be there to solve these problems?
You can't rely only on teachers and scientists and experts telling you you know what this is the problem.
Try to save.
Solve that problem by step one two, three.
But maybe you are the ones posing these questions and giving out answers and that's more valuable and that's one of the skills can actually stay with you no matter how the industry changes.
There are so many aspects.
Major is one thing, and also there are many different types of competitions in universities that you can attend.
You can propose your own question and your answer to that question.
There are different types of internships provided by Chinese universities.
You can either work in a major company or even in a lab trying to learn about the real world problems.
And here, when it comes to education, so many paths are out there.
All we need to do is, like you said, find your passion.
Maybe, at the same time, be a little bit practical.
If you want to, or if you really really love the major, you can just go for it.
You never know whether or not this major might open, to open some new doors for you to a whole new world.
Yeah, at least we have more options here, right?
Yes, and if you like this topic and if you are at the crossroads of choosing a major but do not know what to do, you can always, always send an email to us, to roundtablepodcasts at qqcom, and probably we can give you our two cents.
