China: 7 out of the Top 10 are STEM majors, showing absolute dominance

中国：最受欢迎的10个专业中有7个是理工科专业

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% choose to study Economics and 19.06% select Business Management, which means business & management related majors account for almost half of the popular majors.

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。

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

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%）。

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

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。

Chinese higher education emphasizes STEM education due to historical reasons.

中国高等教育重视理工科是有其历史原因的。

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.

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。

"Master mathematics, physics and chemistry, you can find a position all over the country” was one of the most famous national slogans.

当时全国有一句非常有名的口号叫：“学好数理化，走遍天下都不怕。”

US: Health, Psychology, Biology, American students like to explore human beings

美国：健康、心理学和生物学这些探索人体奥秘的专业很受欢迎

Business and Management are the most popular subjects in the US (289,384 degrees).

商务管理是美国最热门的专业（28万9384个学位）。

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).

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）。

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

排行第五的热门专业是工程学，每年授出11万7553个学位。

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.

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。

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

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。

The trends in prevailing college majors in the US connect directly to the average starting salary.

美国热门专业的潮流和平均起薪直接相关。

Graduates with a degree in Business Administration receive $41,245 as a starting salary with an average mid-career salary of $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.

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。

The traditional high demand for medical services has helped to spur the popularity of medical and health-related programs.

对于医疗服务的传统高需求提升了医学和健康相关专业的热度。

According to market research, doctors and nurses almost never face the unemployment issue: even when economic crises take place, medical workers usually are able to keep their jobs.

市场调查显示，医生和护士几乎不用担心失业问题：即使发生经济危机，医疗工作者通常也能保住自己的工作。

Notably, in the US, a general psychology degree will open doors for students to find jobs in social work, marketing and human resources, similar to Education and Communications.

值得注意的是，在美国，一个普通心理学学位和教育学、传播学学位一样，能让学生找到社会工作、市场营销和人力资源方面的工作。

The UK: Social science receives a relatively warm response

英国：社会科学类专业比较吃香

Respecting the UK, data from the British Higher Education Statistics Agency illustrate that Business & Administrative studies are the most popular subjects (342,970).

英国高等教育统计局的数据表明，商务和行政管理是英国最热门的专业（34万2970个学位）。

Subjects allied to Medicine and Biological Sciences are the second and third (288,065 and 233,970 respectively).

医药和生物科学类专业的热度排行第二和第三，分别授出28万8065个学位和23万3970个学位。

Social Studies receive a warm welcome among young people as well (229,360). The 5th, 6th and 7th are respectively Creative Arts & Design (178,415), Engineering & Technology (164,975) and Education (145,445), and the differences among them are similar.

社会学专业也受到了年轻人的青睐（22万9360个学位）。第五、第六和第七名分别是创意艺术与设计（17万8415个学位）、工程与技术（16万4975个学位）和教育学（14万5445个学位），这三者的热度差别不大。

The other two subjects that have over 100,000 students are Computer Science (107,250) and Languages (103,545). Physical Science (95,720) is also close to this number.

攻读学生数量破10万的另外两个专业是计算机科学（10万7250个学位）和语言类（10万3545个学位）。物理学专业（9万5720个学位）的学生数量也接近10万。

Social Studies are more popular in the UK than in America.

社会科学在英国比在美国更受欢迎。

For example, UK universities are among the oldest universities that offer law courses.

举例来说，英国的大学是最早提供法学课程的大学。

Therefore, reflecting this long and rich tradition, UK law degrees have become very popular (and indeed highly competitive) for its students.

因此，考虑到如此悠久而丰富的传统，英国法学学位非常受学生欢迎，确实也很有竞争力。

Another large absolute increase can be found in Creative Arts & Design degrees.

另一个人气大涨的专业是创意艺术与设计。

The Higher Education Statistics Agency attributes this popularity to the increase in part-time students, among which there was a 19% increase in students studying Creative Arts & Design between 2015/16 and 2016/17.

英国高等教育统计局将其归功于非全日制学生数量的增多，2015-2016学年和2016-2017学年攻读创意艺术与设计专业的学生增加了19%。