These majors have a "money" background, and big data on popular majors in the college entrance examination: clinical medicine fever, first engineering | major | fever
In mid to late June, the results of the college entrance examination in various regions will be announced one after another, followed by candidates' choices of schools and majors. What are the popular majors to apply for this year? What are the employment prospects for popular majors?
According to this year's "Baidu Hot Search · 2023 College Entrance Examination Big Data", in terms of the college entrance examination major, clinical medicine has the highest search popularity, aerospace has the fastest increase in search popularity, and majors such as education, economics, and computer science have ranked second; In the popularity of subject search, medicine has become the top searched subject, followed closely by humanities and social sciences, followed by engineering, science, and agriculture.
In addition, clinical medicine, education, economics, computer science and technology, and information engineering are among the top five most popular majors in undergraduate colleges; Among the majors with the most "money" prospects, ship electronic and electrical engineering ranks first, and minority language majors are also very popular.
The popularity of humanities and social science majors is gradually increasing this year
Before the college entrance examination, candidates had already basically chosen the direction of humanities and sciences. From the specific professional popularity search, there are still some slight differences every year. Although many engineering majors have been popular choices in recent years, this year some humanities and social science majors have also successfully made the list.
The report shows that in the popularity of subject search, medicine ranks first, followed closely by humanities and social sciences. Among the top ten popular majors, clinical medicine is the most popular, followed by education, economics, and computer science. Overall, humanities majors account for more than half, while engineering majors have two. Subdivided into humanities and social sciences majors, economics, education, urban management, law, and English are the hottest; Among engineering majors, computer science, information engineering, data science and big data technology, aerospace engineering, and software engineering are the hottest.
Compared to last year, popular majors such as aerospace engineering, agricultural engineering, data science, and big data technology still maintain a strong momentum; On the other hand, the search for niche majors such as drama, film and television directors, Kazakh language, and energy economy has significantly increased, and the professional interests of candidates are constantly expanding.
Among the majors with the best employment prospects, Ship Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Dutch, Hindi, Flight Technology, Light Sources and Lighting rank among the top five undergraduate majors with the best employment prospects; Applied Arabic, IoT application technology, aircraft maintenance technology, mobile internet application technology, and performing arts are among the top five vocational majors with the best employment prospects.
The report suggests that, based on a comprehensive analysis of major choices, big data has found that the factors that influence candidate choices are ranked as personal interests, major popularity, employment prospects, opportunities for further education, and suggestions from others. "Overall, this year's candidates' interests are prioritized, balancing professional enthusiasm and employment prospects, and seeking a balance between ideals and reality."
Cao Lin, a college entrance examination student born in 2005, has obtained professional qualification certificates from multiple art colleges across the country. She aspired to study art in junior high school and began systematic art learning as soon as she entered high school. "What major a child studies mainly depends on her personality, and we parents will fully cooperate," Cao Lin, the mother of the "80s generation," told reporters.
Regarding whether to apply for humanities and social sciences or science and engineering, Yao Kai, director of the Global Science and Technology Innovation Talent Development Research Center at Fudan University, told First Financial that with the development of the social economy, our demand for humanities and social science talents is also synchronous, such as cultural exchange, language exchange, urban construction and development between countries, all of which require humanities and social science talents to serve society. In addition to the current definition of new liberal arts, humanities and social sciences majors also need to combine technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and blockchain. Even if students choose humanities and social sciences majors, they will still be involved in general education in science and engineering in the later stage.
As the first year after the release of the new professional catalog, there have been some adjustments to undergraduate majors in universities this year.
According to the 2022 filing and approval results of undergraduate majors in ordinary higher education institutions announced by the Ministry of Education in April this year, as well as the latest Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in Ordinary Higher Education Institutions, a total of 21 new majors have been included. And for the first time, cross engineering majors have been added under the engineering category. As of now, the undergraduate major directory includes 93 major categories and 792 majors.
The Reform Plan for Adjusting and Optimizing the Setting of Disciplines and Majors in General Higher Education also proposes to optimize and adjust the distribution of about 20% of disciplines and majors in universities by 2025, and establish a new batch of disciplines and majors that adapt to new technologies, industries, formats, and models. The proportion of undergraduate majors in basic disciplines, especially science and basic medical sciences, will further increase. It is explicitly required that universities strengthen the construction of new engineering, new medical, new agricultural, new humanities, and basic disciplines.
Yao Kai explained that in recent years, China has vigorously promoted national strategies such as technological self-reliance and talent building, and majors such as artificial intelligence, big data technology, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering have become demand growth majors. Due to the optimistic employment prospects, the enthusiasm for candidates to apply has increased. "Future talents still tend to be more inclined towards compound talents. Even if students choose science and engineering in the future, they should strengthen education and training in humanities and social sciences, which is also a trend in the future."
There is a certain correlation between professional popularity and the "money" landscape
In addition to the personal interests of candidates, the employment prospects of majors are often the most concerning issue for parents. In the eyes of some parents, choosing a less practical major also means "unemployment upon graduation", and therefore, it is not entirely based on the child's interests when applying.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, 12.91 million people registered for the national college entrance examination in 2023, an increase of 980000 from last year, setting a new historical high.
Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics and Director of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics of the National Economy, recently mentioned the current employment situation, stating that the pressure on the total employment volume and structural issues cannot be ignored. "The employment pressure on young people is still significant, and there is a shortage of high skilled talents. The coexistence of 'job seeking difficulties' and' recruitment difficulties' is necessary to promote a balance between the total supply and demand of employment and a reasonable structure. Further efforts are still needed."
Fu Linghui said that overall, the youth unemployment rate is at a high level. From the perspective of total population, preliminary estimates suggest that in May, the total number of young people aged 16-24 is approximately over 96 million. Many students aged 16 to 24 have not truly entered the labor market. More than 33 million have entered the labor market in search of jobs, of which more than 26 million have already found jobs, and approximately 6 million are still searching for jobs.
Li Yang, who is also a parent of the 80s generation, wants his son to choose more practical engineering majors such as information engineering and computer science, just like he did in the past. "Their interests are certainly important, but we also hope that their current choices can enable their children to have the ability to stand out in society after graduation, after all, their children born in recent years are still in the high school entrance examination year, and the future employment pressure is not small."
Li Yang's considerations are indeed a microcosm of some parents and students when applying for majors, and there is a certain correlation between the popularity of majors and the financial situation of employment.
According to Baidu's real-time ranking of popular majors, engineering majors dominate the top 10. On the 19th, the reporter logged into Baidu's 2023 college entrance examination big data hot list and found that among the top 10 hot majors, 6 are engineering majors, namely electrical engineering and automation, artificial intelligence, computer science and technology, electronic information engineering, mechanical design and manufacturing and automation, and software engineering. This is also in line with the background that the digital economy has become the main economic form of modern society in recent years, following agricultural and industrial economies.
According to the "2023 College Student Employment Survey Report" released by Zhaopin Recruitment, the proportion of engineering graduates receiving offers is the highest. Compared to other disciplines, the market demand for engineering majors is greater. With the rapid development of China's manufacturing industry, the demand for high-end manufacturing related fields is increasing. This year, the proportion of engineering graduates receiving offers is 56.9%, 6.5 percentage points higher than the overall rate, while the proportion of humanities graduates receiving offers is 41.3%, 9.1 percentage points lower than the overall rate.
In terms of comprehensive salary factors, the 2023 China Undergraduate Employment Report pointed out that the major with higher monthly income for 2022 undergraduate students is information security. Overall, the top 10 undergraduate majors with the highest monthly income for 2022 undergraduate graduates belong to the engineering category. Compared to the 2018 cohort, undergraduate majors related to artificial intelligence such as Electronic Science and Technology and Automation performed well, with a starting salary increase of 19% compared to five years ago.
▲ 2023 China Undergraduate Employment Report
Yao Kai suggests that from an employment perspective, candidates can strive towards industries with high demand in the current national economy when applying. "But when choosing a major, candidates still consider comprehensive factors, one is the needs of their profession, the other is the needs of their personal growth, and there is also a practical consideration of getting into their desired school first."
In addition, he believes that one can also choose a major to apply for based on their desired city. For example, Shanghai not only has a high demand for talents in finance and technology, but is also accelerating the construction of a socialist modern international metropolis. Therefore, there is also a significant demand for talent in urban management in the market.
