Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) majors are popular in China.

According to China University Alumni Association, among those who score well enough in China’s highly competitive exam system to get into university, 19.39 percent choose to study Economics and 19.06 percent select Business Management, which means business and management related majors account for almost half of the popular majors.

The third-most popular major in China is Informatics Engineering (6.87 percent) followed tightly by Law (6.53 percent). From No. 5 to No. 10, the most popular majors are almost all STEM majors such as Biological Sciences (5.93 percent), IT and Computer Sciences (5.72 percent), Architecture (3.84 percent), Physics (3.37 percent) and Automation Engineering (3.23 percent).

It’s not until No. 11 that some social science majors such as Chinese language and literature, foreign language studies and journalism appear.

Chinese higher education emphasizes STEM education due to historical reasons.

When the Chinese started their reform and opening-up policy in the 1980s, the country urgently needed scientific professionals for industrial development, and the Chinese preference for STEM is rooted in that period.

Business and Management are the most popular subjects in the United States (289,384 degrees). Health-related programs such as Nursing are next in line (141,632 degrees). Psychology and Biological and Biomedical Sciences run almost neck and neck (127,066 degrees and 120,375 degrees, respectively).

The 5th place belongs to Engineering, with 117,553 degrees awarded.

Social science majors such as Education (102,219) follow up, and the difference between Communications (98,949) and Finance and Accounting (98,663) is rather small.

A little bit surprisingly, Anthropology and Sociology (57,630) beat Computer Science (55,843) and have moved into the top 10.

The trends in prevailing college majors in the U.S. connect directly to the average starting salary. Graduates with a degree in Business Administration receive US$41,245 as a starting salary with an average mid-career salary of US$70,694.00, higher than the average level of compensation of graduates in any other major, which is the biggest motivation that drives not only American students but most youngsters around the world.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【心理学】 xīnlǐxué psychology the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context

【人类学】rénlèixué anthropology the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind

理工科专业在中国受欢迎。

根据中华校友会的信息，通过中国竞争激烈的考试体系被大学录取的学生当中，19.39%的人选择经济学专业，19.06%的人选择商务管理专业，这意味着经管类专业几乎占据了热门专业的半壁江山。

在中国热度排行第三的专业是信息工程学专业（6.87%），紧随其后的是法学专业（6.53%）。排名第五到第十的热门专业几乎都是理工科（STEM代表科学、技术、工程学和数学），包括生物科学（5.93%）、信息技术和计算机科学（5.72%）、建筑学（3.84%）、物理学（3.37%）和自动化工程学（3.23%）。

直到第11名才开始出现一些社会科学类专业，比如汉语言文学、外国语和新闻学专业。

中国高等教育重视理工科是有其历史原因的。

上世纪80年代中国开始实施改革开放政策时，国家急需科技人才来发展工业，中国人对于理工科的偏好就是从那时候开始的。

商务管理是美国最热门的专业（28万9384个学位）。

其次是护理等健康相关专业（14万1632个学位）。心理学和生物及生物医学专业难分伯仲（分别是12万7066个学位和12万375个学位）。

排行第五的热门专业是工程学，每年授出11万7553个学位。

接下来是教育学（10万2219个学位）等社会科学专业，传播学专业（9万8949个学位）和财会专业（9万8663个学位）二者的热度没什么差别。

有点意外的是，人类学与社会学（5万7630个学位）打败了计算机科学（5万5843个学位），跻身前十。

美国热门专业的潮流和平均起薪直接相关。

拥有商务管理学位的毕业生平均起薪为4万1245美元（约合人民币26万元），职业生涯中期的平均年薪为7万694美元，高于其他任何专业毕业生的平均薪酬水平。这是激励美国学生和全球多数学生攻读商务管理专业的最大动力。

(chinadaily.com.cn)