With the emergence of advanced artificial intelligence systems and related solutions in China’s education system, entire areas of professional training are beginning to be unnecessarily closed. But at the same time, new majors began to emerge.
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The Central Academy of Fine Arts has eliminated illustration, photography and translation courses because these majors no longer make financial sense. Fashion design courses canceled: Universities believe the future of creative activity lies in the close collaboration of humans and machines. The changes are part of a government campaign to reorient students into areas such as chip manufacturing, robotics and artificial intelligence, which are seen as crucial to the country’s future. From 2021 to 2025, Chinese universities have closed or suspended enrollment in 12,200 undergraduate majors and opened approximately 10,200 new majors. The reform affects more than 30% of university majors across the country, with arts, humanities and language majors seeing the largest cuts.
Among the language majors in 70 universities, 5 translation majors, 8 Japanese majors, and 5 German majors were cut. It is believed that such courses may soon disappear entirely, although reformers fail to notice that in cutting courses, other skills relevant to the translation profession, such as communication and critical thinking, are being ignored. Artificial intelligence can make translation accuracy nearly perfect, but machines are not always able to convey the personal touch that has always been an integral part of translation.
Communication University of China has closed five majors including visual communication design, comics, and photography. “Today everyone can create their own content and film their own films”According to university administration. However, these majors have not been completely eliminated, but have been incorporated into other disciplines: photography has been integrated into film and television programs. In the field of film and animation, not only old majors are closing, but new majors are opening, such as industrial engineers and animators working with artificial intelligence. An industry expert said that if the development of a character or scene previously took about a month, with the help of AI, the entire project can be ready at the same time.
Majors such as smart image processing, smart audio-visual design, smart design and creative design are being opened. Hybrid courses combining arts education with artificial intelligence training are being rolled out, and some degree courses in the field are being cancelled. For students, traditional qualifications may increasingly require technical skills involving the use of automated creative systems.
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