When reading about how China has become a world power in robotics, batteries and EVs in just two generations, the major changes made in the education sector are among the factors given. More than 20 years ago, China increased its focus on STEM with the best students being recruited to join math, engineering and science programs compared to the world at that time, which was chasing the IT industry. As a result, two years ago, almost half of the world's top artificial intelligence (AI) researchers were from China.
To face the AI era, China is cutting more than 12,200 university degree programs between 2021-2025, according to a report by the South China Morning Post. Then, more than 10,00 new programs were introduced to restructure the education system to meet the needs of AI, robotics, semiconductors, advanced technology manufacturing, digital technology and big data.
As a result, programs that are no longer considered relevant to the future job market such as arts, humanities, foreign languages and management have been cut. China sees the job market of the next 20 years as very different from the traditional university structure used today.
While other countries are still debating the impact of AI, China has already begun training millions of students in new fields by including it in the school curriculum. Understanding AI will be included in teacher qualification exams. China’s future teachers will need to understand and use AI as part of their teaching certification process.
In China’s education plan, AI will be used to support the entire teaching process
such as task management, automatic grading, answering student questions, and AI-based tutoring. In addition, AI will assess teaching style and effectiveness to help teachers improve the quality of delivery.
China’s previous strategy proved to be accurate and they are now a global technology and manufacturing powerhouse. Only time will tell whether the new strategy with its emphasis on AI will yield the same results in the future.
