The Ministry of Education encourages high schools and kindergartens that urgently need teachers to employ graduates, and supports higher education institutes to set up emerging majors such as artificial intelligence.

Affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Education has launched a series of measures to broaden employment channels for graduates, and expand enrollment of postgraduate and undergraduate students.

According to a notice on graduate employment issued by the ministry, graduates are inclined to take jobs and start businesses in fields such as modern agriculture and social services, as well as joining the army.

The notice also requires universities and local governments to provide specific help for graduates who are physically handicapped, who come from poor families, and who come from Hubei Province, the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak.

As for the online employment platform "24365 campus employment service" launched by the ministry on March 28, the notice said a batch of online courses on employment and entrepreneurship will be introduced, and services like online interviews and online contract signing will be provided for graduates across the country and employers on the platform.

The ministry also recently released the list of undergraduate majors approved and cancelled in higher education institutes across the country, in which 1,672 majors were newly put on record, 181 majors were approved, 47 majors were adjusted, and 367 were cancelled.

The list shows a batch of new majors were approved, such as virtual reality technology, industrial intelligence, blockchain engineering, intelligent perception engineering, energy storage science and engineering, smart agriculture, agricultural intelligent equipment engineering, sports capability development, emergency management, pension service management, and cross-border e-commerce.

The emerging majors, such as artificial intelligence, data science and big data technology, are allowed to be established in more than 100 universities.

The ministry also supports the establishment of majors, such as prophylactic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine rehabilitation science, cyberspace security, integrated circuit design and integrated systems, and intelligent manufacturing engineering.

(Cover image: A graduate holds a diplomat. /VCG)