Chinese universities boost, broaden AI courses amid tech boom

BEIJING -- A course on large language models and generative AI at China's elite Tsinghua University in Beijing has become very popular this new semester. One student even described it on social media as being "crazier than the Spring Festival travel rush."

A classroom hosting this course was packed beyond capacity, with doorways, aisles, steps and even the space immediately outside filled with eager learners, some of whom stood for the entire two-hour session just to be part of it.

This frenzy came after Tsinghua's launch of a program for all graduate students to boost AI skills, part of a broader national push to cultivate talent in cutting-edge fields amid rapid technological advancements.

AI, notably, is no longer confined to science and engineering -- it has become a general education subject for students across disciplines.

"The integration of AI into university general education signifies that it has evolved into a universal technology for learning, researching and working," said Wu Fei, director of the Institute of Artificial Intelligence of Zhejiang University in East China. "Mastering the use of AI is now a skill that everyone should acquire."

In 2023, China's Ministry of Education laid out a plan for optimizing emerging disciplines by 2025, in a quest to keep in touch with new technologies, emerging sectors and new business modes.

The recent government work report also emphasizes efforts to expand quality undergraduate education and accelerate the development of world-class universities and academic disciplines.

Accordingly, leading Chinese universities such as Tsinghua University, Wuhan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have announced plans to expand their enrollments in AI and related interdisciplinary fields to meet growing demands.

Medicine is one of the most closely integrated disciplines. Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University currently offers over 20 AI-related courses, which cover both essential computer theories and practical applications.

"Deep Learning in Medical Imaging" is one such course. The teaching team for this course consists of professors with backgrounds in biomedical engineering, who deeply understand the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration.

"AI is a highly specialized field. Without systematic learning, it would be extremely challenging for medical students to study it on their own," said Song Zhijian, the course director and a professor from the School of Basic Medical Sciences at Fudan.

"After finishing each section, the programming instructors consistently verify whether we had grasped the content," said Song Jiahao, an undergraduate who started his university studies in 2023. This student is currently working on a research project related to angiography, also known as radiography of blood vessels, which involves using image processing software and selecting appropriate images to train AI models.

"We will promote the deep integration of medicine and AI through interdisciplinary education -- including the introduction of a smart medicine major in medical schools," said Zhu Tongyu, vice-president of the medical college, adding that the smart medicine program has been added to the list of Shanghai's top 10 future disciplines.

While enhancing AI education, Chinese universities also place great emphasis on collaborating with industries and enterprises. For instance, Nanjing University in East China's Jiangsu province has worked closely with leading tech enterprises, such as Baidu and Huawei, to jointly develop intelligent tools that support AI-based teaching and assessment.

Chengdu-based Southwest Jiaotong University in Southwest China's Sichuan province, meanwhile, has partnered with Amazon, JD.com and other companies in designing AI courses to enhance the practical skills of students. The university has also established a training system for top-tier AI talent, spanning undergraduate to doctoral levels.

China's long-term vision for education was reinforced in January with the unveiling of a master plan concerning building the country into a leading nation in terms of education by 2035.

"DeepSeek and robotics represent China's achievements in technological innovation and talent cultivation, while also placing new demands on our education development and talent training," said China's Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng.

The need is clear -- job postings for drone engineers, algorithm engineers and machine learning positions saw a year-on-year increase of about 40 percent in February, according to a survey by Zhaopin, an online recruitment platform in China. Industry reports indicate that by 2030, China is likely to face a shortage of 4 million AI professionals.

Experts believe that fostering collaboration between universities and enterprises is key to bridging the gap between talent development levels and enterprise needs -- while also enhancing university research via enterprise technology.

"Higher education in any country is a valuable resource for national strategy," Huai said, adding that more efforts will be made to incorporate key fields, such as AI and biotechnology, to better align with national strategies and technological development.