Ministry of Education: Support universities to lay out majors such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence

Recently, the Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education stated its support for universities to lay out majors such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and AI. The Higher Education Department of the Ministry of Education recently released a notice on the establishment of undergraduate majors in ordinary higher education institutions in 2024, which proposes to increase the adjustment of undergraduate majors and focus on optimizing the professional structure and talent training structure that are compatible with the new development pattern.

The Notice clearly supports universities to lay out relevant majors in key fields such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, life and health, energy, green and low-carbon, foreign-related rule of law, international communication, international organizations, and financial technology, and to cultivate national strategic talents and urgently needed talents in a targeted manner. Support universities to deepen the construction of new engineering, new medicine, new agriculture, and new humanities, transform existing majors, cultivate emerging interdisciplinary majors, and create characteristic and advantageous professional clusters.

Integrated circuits are the cornerstone of the development of the electronic information industry, and have extremely important strategic significance for enhancing national comprehensive strength and ensuring national security. Artificial intelligence (AI), as an important driving force for a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, has already exploded in popularity worldwide.

In order to further promote the development of integrated circuits and artificial intelligence industries, major universities have established new colleges to provide advanced talents for the country.

In terms of integrated circuits, Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng has previously stated that the Ministry of Education will cultivate a number of major scientific and technological projects around strategic, fundamental, and leading industries such as integrated circuits, industrial mother machines, instruments, and biomedicine, concentrate efforts on scientific research and further solve the problem of core technology bottlenecks.

In order to cultivate high-precision talents in the industry and solve the bottleneck problem of core technology, many well-known universities in China have successively established integrated circuit colleges in recent years, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Sun Yat sen University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Guangdong University of Technology, Shandong University, Anhui University, Jiangsu University, Zhejiang University, South China University of Technology, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, and Hunan University Semiconductor College (Integrated Circuit College).

In terms of artificial intelligence, more than 10 artificial intelligence colleges have been established in China since the beginning of this year, such as the School of Artificial Intelligence at Hunan University of Science and Technology, the School of Artificial Intelligence at Guangzhou University, the School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at the University of Science and Technology of China, the School of Artificial Intelligence at Harbin Institute of Technology, the School of Artificial Intelligence at Tsinghua University, the School of Artificial Intelligence at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the School of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, the School of Artificial Intelligence at Beijing Forestry University, and the School of Artificial Intelligence at Shandong University. Among them, Yao Qizhi, a world famous computer scientist, Turing Prize winner and academician of the CAS Member, served as the first president of the School of Artificial Intelligence of Tsinghua University.

In fact, in recent years, many colleges and universities in China have established AI colleges, research institutes or cross research centers, such as the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing University, Peking University, etc. It is worth mentioning that strong universities such as Xi'an Jiaotong University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology have also established artificial intelligence colleges.