A recent paper by four researchers at the People’s Bank of China drew a tide of criticism after they argued that arts and humanities graduates contributed less to the economy and that most of these students are detrimental to the country’s development. In the paper on China’s demographic changes published in April, researchers recommended China should attach great importance to education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Yet official statistics show that China has produced far more graduates in the sciences and engineering than in the arts, humanities and social sciences. In recent years, China’s central government has stressed the importance of arts and humanities in higher education. Mismatches between job requirements and university majors have become increasingly common, and a shift is gearing up toward general education and crossdisciplinary studies. Education experts argued that the arts and humanities are indispensable for improving a nation’s humanistic qualities and diversity of society.
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