BEIJING, July 1 -- Chinese high school graduates have more choices of undergraduate majors in universities to apply for this year, with new majors ranging from high-power semiconductor science and engineering, and intelligent marine equipment to classical Chinese studies.

China's college application for undergraduate studies is ongoing after scores in the national college entrance exam were recently available.

A total of 13.42 million young people participated in this year's exam, an increase of 510,000 compared to last year, marking a record high since 1977.

Through the fiercely competitive exam, the students are vying for seats in 3,117 Chinese higher learning institutions, which include 1,308 undergraduate schools and 1,560 vocational higher learning institutes.

In March, China's Ministry of Education released the 2024 catalog of undergraduate majors for colleges and universities, which listed 24 new majors among a total of 816 majors.

Gan Haohui, a high school graduate from south China's Guangdong Province, said he is interested in the new major of intelligent visual engineering at the Harbin Institute of Technology in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

He has learned from the school's enrollment information that the school is the first in the country to open the newly listed undergraduate major.

"It is opened in line with the demand of the country's development, which means the employment potential is great," he said, adding that the major will be vital for the domains of aerospace, precision manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), and electronic information, among others.

Wang Haoyu, from the admission office of the Beijing Institute of Technology, said that the market demand for talent is changing amid the country's industrial transformation, especially the development of AI.

Under the school's undergraduate enrollment plan, students admitted to majors including intelligent equipment technology, new energy and smart material technology will be directly covered to enter the school's graduate education in the same direction.

"The development of the artificial intelligence industry is in full swing in China. AI courses are required in all majors in the institute," he said.

Cui Mingchen, a senior graduate from Beijing 101 Middle School, plans to apply to the Xinya College of Tsinghua University.

"I've learned that the college practices general education in mathematics and humanities fields, and allows students to choose majors after the freshmen year," she said, adding she will later consider the directions such as brain science, medical engineering, and automation, as the country is in urgent need of scientific and technological innovation in the sectors.

In addition to the importance attached to science and engineering majors, new changes are happening in the field of liberal arts.

Beijing-based Renmin University of China is the first in the country to open the undergraduate major of classical Chinese studies this year.

Wu Yang, deputy dean of the school of Chinese classics at the university, said the school plans to build the new major into one that boasts a comprehensive knowledge structure, breaking disciplinary boundaries in history, the Chinese language, and others.

"The purpose of this new major is to engage in the study of ancient China through learning ancient classics," he said.

He explained that the students will be exposed to fields ranging from playing ancient Chinese musical instruments, reading bamboo slips, and learning ancient astronomy, calendar and astrology.

Chinese higher education has been constantly advancing with the times, highlighting the need to serve the national strategy and social development. The new majors emphasize interdisciplinary integration, reflecting society's increasingly high requirements for comprehensive talent, said Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the China National Academy of Educational Sciences.