Recently, some universities in China have decided to cancel civil engineering and architecture-related majors, as the ongoing contraction in the Chinese real estate industry is starting to show its butterfly effect.
According to Xingdao.com on September 15th, Shandong University recently announced its intention to withdraw 7 undergraduate majors including civil engineering; in August, China University of Petroleum notified its plan to cancel 9 undergraduate majors including architecture; earlier this year, Beihang University also eliminated the master’s degree program in civil engineering and hydraulic engineering.
Not only have some universities canceled civil engineering majors, but the admission scores for civil engineering in many universities have also significantly decreased. A survey conducted by China Education Online shows that the admission scores for civil engineering majors in most Chinese universities have seen marked declines. For example, Tongji University in Shandong dropped more than 400 spots in admissions rankings, and China University of Geosciences fell by 5,000 spots.
In addition to the decline in admission scores for civil engineering majors, students already enrolled in civil engineering departments are also transferring to other majors or leaving those departments. According to previous reports by media in Hunan, in 2022, Hunan University saw 98 students transfer out of the civil engineering college with no one transferring in; Changsha University of Science and Technology had 125 students transfer out in 2023; and Xiangtan University had 63 students leave the civil engineering college in 2024.
Xingdao.com believes that the continuous downturn in the Chinese real estate industry in recent years has led to a decrease in employment opportunities, causing many graduates in civil and architectural fields to struggle finding relevant jobs. In the challenging and competitive job market, many civil engineering programs are facing a decline.
In a report released on September 14th by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on the “Basic Situation of the National Real Estate Market from January to August 2024”, various indicators in the real estate sector have shown a downward trend.
Data shows that in the first eight months of this year, real estate development investment in China totaled 6.9284 trillion yuan (RMB), a decrease of 10.2% compared to the same period last year. Residential investment accounted for 5.2627 trillion yuan, a 10.5% drop.
During the same period, real estate development enterprises constructed a total area of 7.0942 billion square meters, marking a 12.0% decrease year-on-year. Specifically, residential construction decreased by 12.6%. New construction area dropped by 22.5%, with residential new construction area falling by 23.0%. Completed construction area declined by 23.6%, including a drop of 23.2% in residential completed area.
Furthermore, sales and inventory of newly constructed commercial properties revealed that in the first eight months, the sales area of new properties totaled 6.0602 billion square meters, an 18.0% decrease compared to the same period last year, out of which residential sales area decreased by 20.4%. The sales revenue of new properties amounted to 5.9723 trillion yuan, a 23.6% decrease, including a 25.0% decline in residential sales revenue.
By the end of August, the area of unsold commercial properties reached 7.3783 billion square meters, a 13.9% increase year-on-year, with the area of unsold residential properties growing by 21.5%.
In the first eight months, the funds in place for real estate development enterprises amounted to 6.9932 trillion yuan, marking a 20.2% decrease compared to the same period last year. This included a 5.1% decrease in domestic loans, a 42.4% decline in the use of foreign capital, an 8.4% decrease in self-raised funds, a 30.2% drop in deposits and pre-payments, and a 35.8% decline in individual mortgage loans.