China’s university students in fierce battle for majors with best job prospects
Many are relying on outdated advice from parents who found it easier to transfer to their preferred disciplines after enrolment
John Fan, an undergraduate at an elite university in Xian in central China, was thrilled when his transfer was confirmed from mechanical engineering to his preferred major of computer science.
Fan is one of the hundreds of thousands of students in China who scramble to change majors in their first year at university, either in the hope of improved job prospects after graduation or because of a lack of interest in their assigned discipline.
“I chose [my university] only after I found out that there was an opportunity to transfer to the computer science major,” Fan said, adding that he was interested in the subject and the job prospects are “good”.
Competition for computer science and other popular majors has become particularly fierce in recent years, with an expansion in university placements followed by a downturn in economic growth, coupled with a sluggish job market.
According to Fan, many of his fellow first-year mechanical engineering classmates wanted to change their majors, but only those with the best grades were successful.
“Out of 480 students, about half wanted to change but only two were successful in transferring to computer science, mainly because of their grades,” said Fan, who eventually ranked second in his major.
