John Fan, an undergraduate at Changan University in Xian, central China, was thrilled when his transfer was confirmed from mechanical engineering to his preferred major of computer science.

Fan is one of the hundreds of thousands of students in China who scramble to change majors in their first year at university, either in the hope of improved job prospects after graduation or because of a lack of interest in their assigned discipline.

“I chose Changan University only after I found out that there was an opportunity to transfer to the computer science major,” Fan said, adding that he was interested in the subject and the job prospects are “good”.

Competition for computer science and other popular majors has become particularly fierce in recent years, with an expansion in university placements followed by a downturn in economic growth, coupled with a sluggish job market.

According to Fan, many of his fellow first-year mechanical engineering classmates wanted to change their majors, but only those with the best grades were successful.