Kathy Wang is a second-year graduate student in computer science. Having loved languages for more than 10 years and studied them for four years as an undergraduate, the now 26-year-old decided two years ago to further her education in a completely different field to improve her job prospects.

"Of course, it is not enough to learn three languages nowadays; you have to learn a fourth language—computer language," Wang laughed.

Wang described herself as "natural with language." She passed levels 4 and 6 of the College English Test, a national standardized English proficiency test for college students administered by the Ministry of Education (MOE), with satisfactory grades. She scored in the top 20 percent in her own major, Japanese, and can speak some basic Korean.

"I entered college with a real passion and tenacity for language. I was good at English in high school, and I was always interested in Japanese anime and pop music from the Republic of Korea. I only majored in Japanese, but I actually worked hard to study the three languages," she said. "But when I graduated, I was faced with unsatisfactory job offers—offering much lower salaries than those of my high school classmates who had majored in computer science. So I took a gap year to apply for a master's in the latter."

And Wang's not alone in this regard.

In March, the hashtag "majors in arts and humanities transferring to computer science is becoming a trend" ranked seventh in the trending topics list on Weibo, China's popular microblogging platform, with recent art graduates sharing their feelings online.

No vacancy? 

According to the official website of the MOE, "arts and humanities" is a broad category in China that covers eight disciplines, including philosophy, economics, law, education, literature (language subjects included), history, management and art.

A report published by Zhaopin.com, one of China's leading online recruitment platforms, revealed the difference in the job market for majors in arts and humanities, and science. In 2022, the job contract signing rate for surveyed science and engineering graduates was 29.5 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively, while that of majors in arts and humanities was 12.4 percent.

In addition, the average salary of students with a degree in an arts subject is about 1,000-2,000 yuan ($136.92-273.84) monthly lower than that of science majors.

In stark contrast to the latter's complaints of "no ideal jobs" and "low salaries," science majors are well-fed and well-off. According to a report published by Mycos, a third-party consulting agency focusing on education, the average monthly salary of computer science majors is currently 6,863 yuan ($959.5); science majors relevant to electronic science and technology, automation and artificial intelligence have achieved at least a 19-percent increase in starting salary compared to five years ago.

And the National Bureau of Statistics reported that the chemical industry and mechanics are now among the top five majors with the fastest salary increase.

Faced with the uninviting situation for those holding degrees in arts and humanities, many students are looking for ways to add some science background by double majoring, taking electives, switching majors, and, as in Wang's case, choosing another major to continue their studies.

In response, several universities have opened up new programs for students. Zhejiang University, one of the top 10 universities in China, recently announced a double bachelor's degree program that combines arts and humainties with science subjects. Students will receive a bachelor's degree in arts and humanities and a bachelor's degree in science. In the brochure, this program is said to "meet the needs of enterprises" and "cultivate students' knowledge and skills in many promising fields," featuring courses such as business English, business management, regressive analysis and Python programming language fundamentals.

Some parents are anxious to push their children to embark on such "combined majors." "I tried to persuade my child to take on a second major, but she just won't take my advice," 47-year-old Lin Na, whose daughter's major is sociology, told Beijing Review.

"I'm worried that she might not be able to land a job and right now, she still has two years to complete a science major. If she realizes she won't be able to find employment in her last year at university, it will be too late."

To the rescue 

"Although employment issues are basically related to the economy, we also need to think about the current education system," said Chen Zhiwen, Editor in Chief of Eol.cn, a comprehensive education website, at a conference on the enrollment and employment of college students and graduates. "Like supply-side structural reform in the economy, there should also be supply-side reform in education," Chen added.

Universities are being asked to take on more responsibility. A survey of students majoring in arts and humanities conducted by Fuzhou University found that only 25.11 percent of respondents had a "fairly clear plan" for their future career

development.

"My school could have done more," an employee of Chinese tech giant Tencent who preferred to be known only by his surname Zhou, and who majored in human resources in college, told Beijing Review. "I took the career plan training course in my third year of college. It was a one-semester course, and I only learned theory—nothing practical, no resources. I wouldn't call this systematic training. Next thing I knew, I was six months away from graduation and my teacher was pushing me every day to get a job."

Companies are also called on to provide more opportunities for arts major students who have science skills. "I have two friends who gained extracurricular experience in computer science as undergraduates. They won awards, took extra classes and interned in the field for more than 10 months," Wang said. "But when it comes to recruitment, things are different. The tech companies they applied to are diploma-oriented, not giving them the chance to prove their computational skills. Their resumes, filled with practical experience, didn't even get them past the first selection round." 

As a result, they are currently both pursuing master's degrees in computer science—with Wang.

A dying breed? 

With the declining employment rate of arts and humanities graduates, many universities have begun to gradually reduce the enrollment of related programs, or even discontinue offering underperforming degrees.

Earlier this year, the MOE released a document to revoke 925 undergraduate majors from 333 universities nationwide, including arts majors like public management, information management and systems, marketing, social work, administrative management, Japanese and education.

But some experts believe that these majors should be adjusted rather than abolished just because of the current employment situation.

Yu Wanli, a professor of history at the School of Humanities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, believes that the fundamental reason of the employment problem is not "too many enrollments" or "too many majors" in arts and humanities subjects. "Instead, it is about how to properly teach and study these majors," Yu said.

Zhao Ziyi, a sophomore in Arabic at Beijing Foreign Studies University, the No.1 language university in China, told Beijing Review that he does not regret his choice of major. "I'm interning at China Global Television Network. I translate subtitles for documentaries; it takes me about three days per episode," he said. "I have always been a big fan of language learning, even though studying a language is no longer as profitable as it was 10 years ago."

Zhao added that he is willing to learn how to produce promotional documentaries if translating doesn't get him a good job. But he will not abandon his major. 

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

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