In the first week of the 2024 academic year in China, civil engineering has unexpectedly become a hot topic. It all started with Beihang University's decision to revoke the master's degree category for civil and hydraulic engineering. Following this, Tsinghua University clarified rumors about halting admissions for civil engineering, instead opting to merge it into a broader category for enrollment.
Once a highly sought-after field, civil engineering has gradually earned the reputation of being a "black hole" profession in recent years. While it used to be a top choice for high achievers, enrollment numbers have plummeted, turning what was once considered a desirable career path for parents into an awkward exit strategy.
The stark contrast in the fortunes of civil engineering programs also reflects the predicament faced by universities in deciding which majors to establish or discontinue.
Article Title: Declining Enrollment in Civil Engineering: Are Graduates Switching Careers?
Image Source: Courtesy of Yu Dongshan
In the 2023 college admissions season, there was a buzz online when a candidate with a score of 453 points secured a spot in the Civil Engineering program at Guangzhou University. Compared to previous years, both the minimum score and ranking for this program saw significant declines.
The cooling interest in civil engineering programs is not an isolated incident in recent years. According to the "2023 College Admissions Survey Report" released by China Education Online, most universities across the country witnessed noticeable drops in scores and rankings for civil engineering programs. Tongji University saw a decline of over 400 rankings in Shandong, while China University of Geosciences (Beijing) experienced a drop of nearly 5000 rankings without changing its enrollment numbers. Similarly, Sichuan University and Hunan University experienced declines of 1069 and 2771 rankings, respectively.
"Every industry has its cycles of development. The recent downturn in the real estate market has led to stagnation and misconceptions about traditional civil engineering professions," remarked a spokesperson from the Publicity Department of Guangzhou University. They highlighted misconceptions among parents and the public about the demand for civil engineering, resulting in a plethora of information asymmetry in social and online media promotions.
Yuan Feng, who manages social media communities for civil engineering enthusiasts, believes that the situation arises from the slow feedback of employment market information to university application preferences. He stated that in recent years, many civil engineering students have faced challenges in employment, with an increasing number opting to switch careers immediately after graduation rather than pursuing traditional paths.
Chen Xueqi, a recent graduate with a master's degree in Civil Engineering from Xiamen University, serves as a prime example. Despite studying Civil Engineering for seven years, he did not pursue a career directly related to his major, such as construction design. Due to personal interests and industry considerations, he ventured into consulting internships in real estate before ultimately securing a sales position at a major internet company. This phenomenon has been labeled as "climbing out of the pit" by Zhang Xuefeng, a renowned educator, in a television program.
Chen Xueqi revealed that as graduation approached, few of his classmates pursued careers directly related to their majors. Instead, they opted for non-construction roles in real estate companies, stable positions in state-owned enterprises, civil service examinations, training, teaching, and other diverse paths.
Moreover, there is a growing trend of civil engineering students transitioning to other fields when preparing for postgraduate entrance exams, colloquially termed as "taking the bucket and running away" by civil engineering enthusiasts online.
Title: Is Civil Engineering Really Becoming a "Black Hole" Major?
It seems that various phenomena are pointing to civil engineering becoming a "black hole" major. However, some people believe that this is just a phase in the transformation and upgrading of traditional civil engineering disciplines.
"I have been in the field for 60 years, and this is the third downturn in civil engineering I've witnessed, with the previous two occurring in the 1970s and 1980s. So, there are no perpetually hot majors or industries. Change is the only constant. We need to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional civil engineering towards intelligence, digitization, and networking to meet challenges," said Zhou Fulin, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor at Guangzhou University, in a previous interview.
He believes that civil engineering, which fulfills humanity's most basic needs of "clothing, food, shelter, and transportation," embodies all construction requirements and is an essential profession needed by humanity and society. Therefore, civil engineering is neither a sunrise nor a sunset industry; it should be a "constant sun" or "long-lasting sun."
"In the past, in the real estate industry, everyone didn't avoid engineering positions because climbing up in engineering was relatively fast. If things went smoothly, one could quickly rise from an ordinary employee to a project manager or project director. It was exhausting at that time, but the income was high, so it covered up many problems," said Chen Xueqi. With the decline of industry dividends, many problems are gradually being exposed.
According to Yuan Feng, now might be a time for adjustments for civil engineering majors. "It used to be very popular, with too many colleges offering civil engineering majors and admitting a large number of students in various directions." According to media reports, by the end of 2019, nearly 600 undergraduate colleges across the country had established civil engineering majors.
Yuan Feng graduated from a top 985 university with an A+ civil engineering program. He stated that similar cases have occurred before, where two civil engineering students from Tongji University, one with excellent grades pursued further studies while the other entered the workforce directly. The latter found that they couldn't keep up with the pace of undergraduate students because they had experienced three years of rapid development in the real estate sector.
Yuan Feng believes that with changes in market demand, the construction industry no longer needs as many students, which is reasonable for structural adjustments. However, is civil engineering really becoming a "black hole"? He believes that it's not that simple to draw conclusions.
"It depends on your expectations. If you are a civil engineering student from a prestigious university like 211 or 985, you can still relatively easily enter good construction companies and design institutes, finding a job isn't difficult. However, there will definitely be discrepancies in salary, benefits, and career prospects compared to a few years ago, so the key is a shift in expectations. Graduates at this time need to be psychologically prepared," Yuan Feng said.
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Photo Credit: Testing the endurance of the model, by Lu Ming.
Experts: Rationalization Needed in University Majors' Configuration Improvement in Major Configuration
It's not just civil engineering; in recent years, a batch of new majors has been continually established, while some majors that don't align with economic and social development have been phased out. Public administration, information management and information systems, fashion and apparel design, product design, and information and computational science are among the majors with a significant reduction in numbers.
Hu Juan, Vice Director of the Center for Education Development and Public Policy Research at Renmin University of China and a professor at the School of Education, believes that fluctuations in majors' popularity are a natural phenomenon. As social division of labor evolves, so do the demands for talent. With the labor market becoming saturated, some majors cool down while others, such as artificial intelligence, continue to gain traction.
"University major configuration mainly follows two logics: the epistemological logic of knowledge development and the demand logic of the labor market. Both play a role, but with the influence of modern socio-economic factors, the latter's role is becoming increasingly significant," says Hu Juan. Universities also exhibit "bounded rationality" when setting majors; when civil engineering is popular, many schools expand enrollment or introduce new programs, influenced by current market trends observed by parents and students.
"Higher education should meet societal needs, not just societal desires." According to her, education authorities need to strategically plan and optimize university major structures at a higher level. Universities need to be more rational in major selection, not entirely driven by market demands, and should strive to lead parents and students rather than simply follow.
"Civil engineering expanded too rapidly in the past, and now it's contracting. In this process, some individuals may find themselves caught in the transition period and may experience some pain," Hu Juan believes. When students and parents choose majors, they shouldn't be swayed by short-term trends; instead, they should stick to their interests, research trends in economic and social development, and choose majors that align more closely with future prospects.
Furthermore, Hu Juan suggests that this further illustrates that higher education should not solely focus on providing strong professional education but rather a form of cognitive education.
According to Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, the current way of setting majors has certain flaws. On one hand, students enter certain majors without clear knowledge of their strengths and potentials, which doesn't align with the natural growth and development process of individuals. On the other hand, societal demand for employment positions is fluid, with plans made upon entering university often not matching the realities upon graduation. Additionally, excessively detailed major divisions result in students' knowledge coverage being too narrow, decreasing their adaptability in the job market and to some extent, reducing them to mere tools.
Chu Zhaohui states that many mainstream universities worldwide now don't assign majors to students upon admission, instead employing standardized course selection and credit systems. This approach empowers students to find directions they're interested in, effectively giving them the autonomy to choose their path between study and employment, thus significantly reducing the gap between learned majors and job market needs.
It's worth noting that in recent years, several domestic universities have also been promoting enrollment reforms, implementing broad enrollment and education. Chu Zhaohui believes that standardized course selection and credit systems are the mainstream trend in global higher education development, being more efficient, suitable for students, and more adaptable to market development. (Some names in the article are pseudonyms) (End)
