China’s top academic institutions are actively encouraging students to master AI as an essential 21st-century skill. Use of gen AI on campus has become nearly universal, with just 1% of university faculty and students reporting they never use AI tools in their studies or work. Nearly 60% said they used them multiple times a day or several times a week. A review of 46 top Chinese universities reveals almost all have added interdisciplinary AI general-education classes, AI-related degree programs, and AI literacy modules within the past year. This represents a systematic, institution-wide transformation. 80% of job openings available to graduates listed AI-related skills as a plus in 2025While Western universities continue to grapple with the challenges of student AI use, wrestling with concerns about academic integrity and the future of education, China’s top academic institutions have taken a dramatically different approach. They’re not just tolerating AI—they’re actively encouraging students to master it as an essential 21st-century skill.
This philosophical divide represents one of the most significant cultural and educational differences emerging in the global AI era. Where Western educators often view AI as a threat to be managed, Chinese universities increasingly treat it as a competitive advantage to be cultivated.
From Underground to Mainstream
The transformation has been remarkably swift. Just two years ago, Chinese students like Lorraine He, now a 24-year-old law student, were explicitly warned against using AI for assignments. Students had to buy mirror-site versions of ChatGPT from secondhand marketplaces to circumvent national restrictions. The technology was widely used but barely tolerated, often generating disapproval from faculty.
Today, the landscape has completely reversed. He’s professors no longer warn students against using AI. Instead, they’re encouraged to use it—as long as they follow best practices. This shift reflects a broader institutional transformation across China’s higher education system.
According to recent research by the Mycos Institute, a Chinese higher-education research group, the use of generative AI on campus has become nearly universal, with just 1% of university faculty and students reporting they never use AI tools in their studies or work. Nearly 60% said they used them frequently—either multiple times a day or several times a week.
The Cultural Divide: Progress vs. Preservation
The contrast with Western attitudes is stark and telling. While American and European educators often approach AI with skepticism and caution, Chinese institutions have embraced it with characteristic pragmatism. A report on global AI attitudes from Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence found that China leads the world in enthusiasm, with about 80% of Chinese respondents saying they were “excited” about new AI services—compared with just 35% in the US and 38% in the UK.
This enthusiasm isn’t accidental. As Fang Kecheng, a professor of communications at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, explains, “There’s a long tradition in China of believing in technology as a driver of national progress, tracing back to the 1980s, when Deng Xiaoping was already saying that science and technology are primary productive forces.”
Practical Integration: From Theory to Application
Chinese universities aren’t just paying lip service to AI adoption—they’re implementing comprehensive, practical programs. Liu Bingyu, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, exemplifies this hands-on approach. She describes AI as serving multiple roles: “instructor, brainstorm partner, secretary, and devil’s advocate.” Her curriculum now includes detailed guidance on AI use, with specific examples of effective and ineffective prompting techniques.
Liu’s teaching philosophy reflects the broader Chinese approach: “The ability to interact with machines is one of the most important skills in today’s world. And instead of having students do it privately, we should talk about it out in the open.”
Institutional Commitment: Building AI-First Universities
The commitment goes far beyond individual professors. A comprehensive review of 46 top Chinese universities reveals that almost all have added interdisciplinary AI general-education classes, AI-related degree programs, and AI literacy modules within the past year. This represents a systematic, institution-wide transformation rather than isolated experiments.
Leading universities are pioneering innovative approaches:
Tsinghua University is establishing a new undergraduate general education college specifically designed to train students in AI combined with traditional disciplines like biology, healthcare, science, and humanities.
Zhejiang University has made an introductory AI class mandatory for all undergraduates starting in 2024.
Renmin, Nanjing, and Fudan Universities have launched general-access AI courses open to all students, not just computer science majors.
Lin Shangxin, principal of Renmin University of China, recently characterized AI as an “unprecedented opportunity” for humanities and social sciences, saying “Instead of a challenge, I believe AI would empower humanities studies.”
Government-Driven Transformation
This university-level transformation is part of a coordinated national strategy. In April 2025, the Ministry of Education released new national guidelines calling for sweeping “AI+ education” reforms, aimed at cultivating critical thinking, digital fluency, and real-world skills at all education levels. The Beijing municipal government has mandated AI education across all schools in the city, from universities to K-12 institutions.
China aims to mandate AI education nationwide by 2025, with Beijing leading early implementation, representing one of the most ambitious educational technology initiatives globally.
Technological Infrastructure: Building the AI Campus
Unable to access Western tools like ChatGPT and Claude due to regulatory restrictions, Chinese universities have turned this limitation into an opportunity. Many institutions have deployed locally hosted versions of DeepSeek, China’s leading AI model, on campus servers. These campus-specific AI systems—often referred to as the “full-blood version” of DeepSeek—offer longer context windows, unlimited dialogue rounds and broader functionality than public-facing free versions.
This approach contrasts with Western universities, where AI integration typically depends on partnerships with American companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. Chinese institutions are building AI capability from the ground up, creating comprehensive technological ecosystems that support their educational missions.
Economic Imperatives: AI as Career Necessity
The push toward AI adoption isn’t purely academic—it’s driven by hard economic realities. Eighty percent
of job openings available to fresh graduates listed AI-related skills as a plus in 2025, according to a report by the Chinese media outlet YiCai. In a slowed-down economy and a competitive job market, many students see AI as a lifeline.Students understand this reality acutely. As one law student noted, joining career development groups to learn AI skills has become essential preparation for China’s challenging job market. For many, understanding how to use AI better is not just a studying hack but a necessary skill in China’s fragile job market.
Challenges and Contradictions
Despite the progressive approach, challenges remain. More than a dozen universities—including top-ranked Fuzhou University, Sichuan University, and Jiangsu University—recently limited AI-generated content in final papers to between 15% and 40%. This suggests that even in China’s AI-friendly environment, concerns about academic integrity persist.
Students report ongoing anxiety about proper AI use. The use of AI detection tools has created an informal gray economy, where students pay hundreds of yuan to freelancers promising to “AI-detection-proof” their writing, indicating that clear guidelines and policies remain essential even in supportive environments.
Research Excellence: The Academic Foundation
China’s embrace of AI in education is supported by impressive research capabilities. China boasts 156 institutions publishing more than 50 AI papers each in 2024, supporting a nationwide innovation ecosystem, far exceeding the concentrated AI research hubs typical in Western nations.
Since 2023, Chinese universities have accelerated domestic AI talent cultivation, interdisciplinary research and technological development, with many AI-related undergraduate and graduate programmes being introduced. This research foundation provides the academic credibility and expertise necessary to support widespread AI adoption in education.
Global Implications: A New Educational Model
China’s approach represents more than just a different policy choice—it suggests an entirely different vision of education’s future. By prioritizing research and innovation, Chinese universities are not merely competing with their Western counterparts; they are setting new standards in the AI domain.
The implications extend beyond China’s borders. As Chinese graduates enter the global workforce with advanced AI skills, and as Chinese AI models like DeepSeek gain international recognition, the educational approach pioneered in China may influence global standards.
Conclusion: Rethinking Educational Fundamentals
The Chinese approach forces a fundamental question about the purpose of higher education in the AI era. While Western institutions often focus on preserving traditional academic practices, Chinese universities are rapidly adapting to prepare students for an AI-integrated future.
As Meifang Zhuo, a researcher at Warwick University who studies AI in education, observes, “We need to rethink what is considered ‘original work’ in the age of AI, and universities are a crucial site of that conversation.”
The Chinese model suggests that rather than viewing AI as a threat to education, institutions might consider it an essential tool for preparing students for the future. Whether this approach proves superior remains to be seen, but it undeniably represents one of the most comprehensive attempts to integrate AI into higher education at a national scale.
As global competition in AI intensifies, the educational philosophies and practices developed today will likely determine which nations—and students—are best positioned to thrive in an AI-driven world. China’s bold experiment in AI-first education may well become a model for others to follow or a cautionary tale about moving too quickly. Only time will tell which approach better serves students and society in the age of artificial intelligence.
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