On April 4, 2023, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China announced the list of newly approved undergraduate majors in general colleges and universities in 2022 (21 in total), among which Earth System Science (Science) under the category of Atmospheric Science offered by Tsinghua University was listed, marking an important milestone in the development of the undergraduate major in Earth System Science in Tsinghua University.

II. List of newly approved undergraduate majors

Earth System Science as a new interdisciplinary subject developed for the purpose of studying global change is an important research field and frontier direction in the world today. Earth System Science studies the overall behavior of the earth system with a global and holistic view and a systematic perspective and on a multi-space-time scale, so that mankind can better understand the environment on which they depend. At the inception of the restoration of the Department of Geology at Tsinghua, the Earth has been regarded as a complex system according to the future development direction of geosciences, and the atmosphere, ocean, land and ecology have been comprehensively considered, with an emphasis on the study of system coupling on a global scale. Setting up an undergraduate major in earth system science to train undergraduates at a high starting point and a high level is an important measure for Tsinghua University to improve its disciplinary layout and build a "Double First-Class" university (a world-class university with first-class disciplines). The cultivation of outstanding undergraduate students in Earth System Science can supply talents for world-class research institutions and reserve excellent reserve forces for the development of Earth System Science in the world, thus promoting constant progress of the discipline and better solving complicated problems of resources, the environment and global changes faced by mankind. At the same time, this measure is conducive to making up for the scarcity of top-notch talents in Earth System Science to address complex and comprehensive problems such as global environmental change.

At present, the Department of Earth System Science in Tsinghua University offers two first-class doctoral programs (Atmospheric Science and Ecology). The addition of undergraduate major in Earth System Science will also lay a foundation for cultivating graduate students in Earth System Science. The minor in Earth System Science in Tsinghua University (including 12 related courses and 30 credits) has been offered to undergraduates in the university since the autumn of 2022. Undergraduate students interested in the study of Earth System Science are welcome to apply for the minor degree in Earth System Science to jointly usher in the spring of research on Earth System Science.

Written by Peng Xiaojuan

Edited by Wang Jiayin

Reviewed by Lin Yanluan and Zhang Qiang