China's Fudan University to Introduce 100 AI Courses

AI education in China is flourishing. And which is unsurprising because China is fully embracing artificial intelligence. 

The Chinese are dead serious. In fact, starting from September this year, Shanghai-based Fudan University – a member of the elite C9 League, also known as China's Ivy league – plan to introduce at least 100 AI courses during the upcoming academic year, with no less than 60 courses being offered in the fall semester of this year alone. 

"We are not establishing an artificial intelligence institute, but mobilizing all students to aim at the construction of a scientific intelligence innovation ecosystem", Chen Yan, Executive Vice Dean of the Graduate School of Fudan University, was quoted by media as saying that starting from the freshmen, the study plans for each degree program will clearly specify the requirements for cultivating AI literacy and capabilities. 

Fudan University are not the only one. 

Earlier in February, Nanjing University had announced a pioneering move, launching an AI general curriculum aimed at fostering AI literacy among all new students. Their curriculum is structured around a compulsory AI core course, supplemented by a series of AI literacy courses and interdisciplinary courses that deeply integrate AI with various academic disciplines. 

Already, Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications announced recently that all undergraduate freshmen entering this year will receive general education training in AI, with mandatory courses such as introduction to AI, introduction to computing, and design thinking. 

 

The Malaysian national school education system is allegedly sliding. But the Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) is thriving and becoming even more popular. Even among the non-Chinese.

 

Local Malay daily Sinar Harian reported yesterday that almost 20 percent of students in SJKCs in 2020 were not of Chinese ethnicity as more ethnic Malay, Indian, Orang Asli and foreign students enrolled in Chinese vernacular schools. Data from the Ministry of Education, the Chinese School Committee Association, and the Malaysian Chinese School Teachers Association (also known as Dong Jiao Zong), showed an uptrend in the number of non-ethnic Chinese students in Chinese vernacular schools. 

In 1989, only 3.05 percent of students (17,309) were non-Chinese and that number consistently rose over the years with 8.66 percent (52,043 students) in 1998, and 11.84 percent in 2010 (72,443 students).

This is in spite of the fact that non-ethnic Chinese students usually struggle to learn the Chinese language.