- Chinese universities are cutting traditional courses because of AI
- Translation courses face pressure as universities reassess their employment value
- Photography programmes are being merged as AI changes creative production
The Central Academy of Fine Arts has dropped courses in illustration, photography and translation, arguing that AI has made them poor value for money.
Fashion design degrees are also being scrapped, with universities saying the future rests on close cooperation between people and machines in creative work.
The changes follow a state campaign to direct learners toward chips, robotics and AI, industries the authorities regard as vital for national prospects.
Universities are cutting courses at scale
From 2021 to 2025, Chinese universities closed or paused 12,200 undergraduate programmes and launched roughly 10,200 fresh programmes.
The restructuring affected over 30% of undergraduate programmes nationwide, and arts, humanities and language courses absorbed the heaviest cuts.
A survey of 70 universities found cuts to five translation majors, eight Japanese majors and five German majors among language programmes.
Alex Shi launched her creative career with a degree that trained her to translate and interpret English, and says such courses could soon vanish, as the cuts overlook the wider skills underlying translation, including communication and critical thinking, which extend beyond producing accurate text.
Shi concedes that AI could bring translation accuracy almost to perfection, yet maintains that interpreting demands far more than converting words between languages.
“There’s still that personal style that’s always been essential in translation,” said Shi.
The Communication University of China has reportedly closed five programmes, among them visual communication design, comics and photography, according to a report on its overhaul.
“Traditional photography major can no longer exist as an independent discipline… today everyone can be a self-media creator and recorder,” said Liao Xiangzhong, top official at the Communication University of China.
Liao later clarified that the majors were merged into other disciplines instead of being cancelled outright, with photography absorbed by film and television photography.
New film roles and hybrid courses
New roles such as prompt engineer and AI animator are emerging in film and animation, where AI is also creating fresh openings alongside the closures.
One industry worker says designing characters or scenes once took a month, but with AI, a complete project can now be delivered in that time.
Degree programmes in intelligent imaging art, intelligent audiovisual engineering, and intelligent engineering and creative design have been launched by some schools.
Universities are also launching hybrid courses in which artistic instruction sits beside AI training, while some standalone degrees are being scrapped across the sector.
That shift is changing what employers expect from graduates entering translation, design, photography and film production.
For students, traditional qualifications may increasingly need technical skills that allow them to work alongside automated creative systems.
The result is a university system where some familiar degrees disappear while new AI-focused programmes take their place.
