Building leaders in the age of AI - Bob Sternfels, Børge Brende, and Daniel Pacthod, McKinsey

Artificial intelligence can write, design, code, and complete tasks at breakneck speed. It can help business leaders draft emails, create agendas, and quickly prepare for important meetings and difficult discussions. It can do all of that with just a few voice commands—but it still can’t do the hard work of leadership itself. Generative AI cannot set aspirations, make tough calls, build trust among stakeholders, hold team members accountable, or generate truly new ideas. That work remains deeply human—and more important to get right than ever before, given the scope of change and uncertainty with which today’s organizations are dealing.

https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/building-leaders-in-the-age-of-ai

Rethinking the community college’s role in the new economy - University Business

Community colleges have historically served as engines of regional economic development, drawing on strong community integration to translate labor market needs into accessible education. However, rapid technological change and the decline of entry-level jobs now require a recalibration of this mission. Instead, the contemporary economy requires strategic partnerships focused on co-designed curricula and long-term worker adaptability. The central question has shifted from whether colleges contribute to growth, to whether they can lead with the strategic vision needed in a labor market transformed by automation and rapid occupational change. Meeting this challenge requires an expanded economic development role—one that goes beyond training transactions toward shared-value partnerships, entrepreneurship ecosystem development and active technology diffusion.

https://universitybusiness.com/opinion-rethinking-the-community-colleges-role-in-the-new-economy/

Howard Updates AI Curriculum to Align With Workforce - Government Technology

Howard University is redesigning its Intro to Artificial Intelligence course, teaching the fundamentals of AI-assisted software development that are proving necessary for entry-level roles. The course introduces AI directly into instruction through hands-on, industry-aligned training, according to a news release Tuesday. Developed in partnership with CodePath, the course draws on curriculum originally designed by the industry-aligned education nonprofit and is co-taught by Howard faculty alongside an instructor from CodePath’s faculty network. CodePath shapes its courses around employer needs, which its surveys indicate are internship experience, technical interview performance, and side projects or portfolios

https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/howard-updates-ai-curriculum-to-align-with-workforce

Trump Admin. Touts 8,000 Student Visas Revoked Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed

he Department of State has revoked 8,000 student visas since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, the department shared on the social media site X on Monday, as part of the president’s massive deportation campaign. In total, the administration has revoked 100,000 nonimmigrant visas, the department wrote, which is about double the number revoked in form  Trump Admin. Touts 8,000 Student Visas Revoked - Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed er President Joe Biden’s last year. According to Fox News, the department said that the majority of the student and specialized worker visas were revoked due to crimes; about half were because of drunk driving. U.S. colleges and universities enroll more than 1 million international students.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/01/13/trump-admin-says-it-revoked-8000-student-visas

Here are 4 ways AI will impact higher ed in the new year - Alcino Donadel, University Business

1. Emotionally intelligent AI

Institutions will use technology to drive deeper human connection amid the rapid rise of AI assistants, chatbots and algorithmically tailored content, Researchers from MIT, the University of Pittsburgh and other institutions found that AI use in the classroom lowered brain activity and led to student anxiety and confusion. Teachers also feared losing instructional autonomy and human connections. One student panel demanded that institutions and industry place the campus community at the heart of technological innovation. “In 2026, the push for ethically designed, emotionally aware tech will gain momentum,” said Betheny Gross, director of research at WGU Labs. “The next generation of technology will aim to rebuild what the last era of digital tools too often eroded.”

https://universitybusiness.com/here-are-4-ways-ai-will-impact-higher-ed-in-the-new-year/

After being falsely branded an AI plagiarist, how can I accuse students? - David Mingay, Times Higher Ed

The executive editor emailed back to say that the article aligned with the scope of the journal but that some formatting amendments were required. Also, it lacked a statement on whether AI had been used in its production. I duly made the amendments and included the factually correct line: “No generative AI or AI-supported technologies were used at any stage of this research.” I was surprised, then, to get a reply from the editor saying an AI detection program had judged our paper to have been mainly written using AI. Even more oddly – and ironically – he referred to the paper by the title of an entirely unrelated study examining chatbots’ very limited ability to pass scientific tests.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/after-being-falsely-branded-ai-plagiarist-how-can-i-accuse-students

The ChatGPT Generation: How AI Is quietly rewriting the global student search experience - Tim O'Brien, ICEF Monitor

In September 2025, we conducted a cross-institution survey of over 1,600 newly enrolled international students in the US and UK. Our goal was simple: to understand how students are using AI in the crucial, early part of their journey – identifying and applying to university – long before they ever step into a lecture hall. Approximately one in six respondents (17%) indicated they used AI (Chat GPT etc) as part of their initial search, but that varies significantly by home country. The most critical finding however appears to deliver a clear message on the value students ascribe to Large Learning Models (LLMs): 96% of AI users found the guidance they received from AI tools (ChatGPT, etc.) either met or exceeded the quality of information provided by traditional sources (websites, brochures, agents).

https://monitor.icef.com/2026/01/the-chatgpt-generation-how-ai-is-quietly-rewriting-the-global-student-search-experience/

Campus Forecast 2026: How Agentic AI Could Transform University Operations - Education Today, Times of India

Artificial intelligence (AI) has long served universities as a helpful junior colleague—fast, eager, and dependent on detailed instructions. But according to the UPCEA report, Predictions 2026: Insights for Online & Professional Education, this era is coming to an end. The next phase, agentic AI, is framed not as smarter assistance but as autonomous execution, a shift that could fundamentally change how universities operate. Ray Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA, predicts a second wave of AI approaching 2026. Unlike current AI, which responds to requests, agentic AI acts independently: “…agentic AI becomes a 24/7 project manager. It can understand a high-level goal, create a multi-step plan, execute that plan across different software systems, and learn from its mistakes without human prompting. This will save time and money for universities and accomplish work that would have been too expensive or time consuming in the past.”  The shift is one of agency, not intelligence. 

https://www.educationtoday.co/news/daily-news/campus-forecast-2026-how-agentic-ai-could-transform-university-operations

When AI-Powered Humanoid Robots Make Bad Choices - Shaun Shutner, AI Business

When large language models hallucinate, they deliver incorrect statistics or problematic advice. But when LLMs are controlling humanoid robots, the problems they create could be worse. What kind of real-world scenarios did you consider most to uncover whether robots could do violent, aggressive acts? Did you prompt robots to use a gun and hold up a bank? Or was it more the everyday stuff? Hundt: It was more everyday scenarios that happen much more frequently. One of the particular failure moments we identified is that there was a big difference between telling the model to just do a bad thing and telling it to do the steps that comprise the bad thing. So, if you tell it to blackmail somebody, much more often, the robot would say, 'No, that's not acceptable.' But if you say, 'Take this photo and show it to somebody and say that if they put $200 in the robot's hand, it'll be fine,' models said that was acceptable, even though all those steps comprise blackmail itself.

https://aibusiness.com/robotics/when-humanoid-robots-make-bad-choices

Google Gemini Is Taking Control of Humanoid Robots on Auto Factory Floors - Will Knight, Wired

Google DeepMind is teaming up with Boston Dynamics to give its humanoid robots the intelligence required to navigate unfamiliar environments and identify and manipulate objects—precisely the kinds of capabilities needed to perform manual labor. The collaboration, announced at CES in Las Vegas, will see Google’s Gemini Robotics model deployed on various Boston Dynamics’ robots, including a humanoid called Atlas and a robot dog called Spot. The companies plan to test Gemini-powered Atlas robots at auto factories belonging to Hyundai, Boston Dynamics’ parent company, in the coming months. The move is an early look at a future where humanoids are able to quickly master a wide range of tasks.

https://www.wired.com/story/google-boston-dynamics-gemini-powered-robot-atlas/

How lifetime pathways will build the university of the future - Alcino Donadel, University Business

Two years into his tenure at Fairleigh Dickinson University, President Michael Avaltroni is building a statewide network that spans a learner’s journey from K12 to higher ed to the workplace. Avaltroni is building a coalition of New Jersey higher education institutions and organizations to better integrate human and machine learning in healthcare. Fairleigh Dickinson University also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Rowan University to expand the state’s supply of healthcare professionals. Avaltroni intends to cement the four-year university’s relevance as the economy and student demographics shift.

https://universitybusiness.com/how-lifetime-pathways-will-build-the-university-of-the-future/

How micro-credentials and hybrid models powered India’s future workforce in 2025 - Education Times

Micro-credentials that complement formal degrees are becoming essential academic currency. By 2026, these certifications, linked with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), will serve as the backbone of the gig economy. The national mission to upskill 500 million individuals is a long-term commitment. Current trends at NIIT University show a 25% rise in enrolment from tier-II and tier-III cities, driven by professionals who recognise that the ability of 'learning to learn' is the most critical skill for the current decade.

https://www.educationtimes.com/article/campus-beat-college-life/99740592/year-ender-2025-how-micro-credentials-and-hybrid-models-powered-india-s-future-workforce

How CSUMB faculty and students view AI one semester into a system-wide ChatGPT roll-out - Dolores Haidee Marquez, KAZU

While some faculty warn about the risks artificial intelligence poses to critical thinking, others argue the greater risk is failing to engage with the technology at all. Education professor Erin Ramirez received a grant to develop ways to train future teachers to use AI in middle and high school classrooms.

As part of the CSU systemwide AI rollout, faculty were able to apply for research grants, a move that reflects the university’s decision to study and shape AI use, rather than avoid it. Education professor Erin Ramirez, who trains future teachers, says schools have a responsibility to confront the technology directly.  “The more you tell a student they can’t use it, the more they wanna use it,” Ramirez said.

https://www.kazu.org/kazu-news/2025-12-31/how-csumb-faculty-and-students-view-ai-one-semester-into-a-system-wide-chatgpt-roll-out

Artificial intelligence reshapes learning as KU works to adapt - Abigail Moore, University Dailly Kansan

“From my perspective, AI is here to stay, and it is very apparent from my classes,” Max Biundo, a senior studying computer science at the University of Kansas, said. “It's almost like a calculator for code now, a lot of my professors have updated their syllabus to allow the use of AI with proper documentation, similar to how people allowed use of calculators in math with proper work shown to prove you understand the material.” For many students like Biundo, AI has become a companion rather than a shortcut and while universities weigh their next move, students aren’t waiting to learn the ins and outs of AI.  

https://www.kansan.com/arts_and_culture/artificial-intelligence-reshapes-learning-as-ku-works-to-adapt/article_f42e4c19-635b-4631-9f03-2e0f8d0c6ccd.html

The Rise of the Agentic AI University in 2026 - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed

Agentic AI is no longer merely an interactive tool we talk to; it is a colleague that acts for us. The use of generative AI continues to expand in new ways. Meanwhile, the development of AI agents is driving the expansion and efficiency of AI. In the agentic AI models, we have tools that are capable of reasoned assessment of what is needed to accomplish a goal, aligning a series of stacked tasks and completing those tasks without direct supervision in an efficient way, much like a human assistant would perform a series of tasks to achieve desired outcomes. For example, this often includes data collection, analysis of the data, identifying and implementing ways in which to accomplish the goals, documenting the findings, and finding better ways to accomplish the outcomes.

https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/online-trending-now/2026/01/07/rise-agentic-ai-university-2026

Higher education at a point of no return: How 2025 rewired the university system - Shauba Chauhan, Economic Times

The year 2025 will be remembered as the moment higher education stopped preparing for change and began living inside it. For decades, universities were assessed on expansion, that is, more campuses, higher enrolments, global rankings and physical infrastructure. That era is now decisively over.In 2025, outcomes overtook optics. Institutions were judged not by intent, but by impact - graduate readiness, research relevance, interdisciplinary thinking, and the ability to operate within a volatile global environment shaped by artificial intelligence, geopolitical flux and rapid labour market shifts.Globally, this pressure is undeniable. The World Economic Forum estimates that 44% of core job skills will change by 2030, while the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) projects that today’s learners will reskill repeatedly across their careers.  

https://education.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/higher-education/higher-education-at-a-point-of-no-return-how-2025-rewired-the-university-system/126139816

I was wrong. Universities don’t fear AI. They fear self-reflection - Ian Richardson, Times Higher Ed

Reaction online to my recent opinion piece in Times Higher Education on universities’ failure to strategically engage with artificial intelligence (AI) has been both fierce and illuminating. Some criticisms were measured and thoughtful; others were reflexive, polemical or rooted in deeply held convictions about what universities are – and what they must never become. Together, however, they inadvertently reinforce the point that I was making: that resistance to change in the sector is so entrenched that it has become part of its identity. To restate: the greatest threat to higher education is not AI. It is institutional inertia supported by reflexive criticism that mistakes resistance for virtue. AI did not create this problem, but it is exposing dysfunctionalities and contradictions that have accumulated over decades. Whether universities engage with AI enthusiastically or reluctantly is ultimately less important than whether they do so strategically, imaginatively and with a willingness to question their own design. Because if they don’t, others will.

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/i-was-wrong-universities-dont-fear-ai-they-fear-self-reflection

Agents, robots, and us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI - Lareina Yee, McKinsey

AI is expanding the productivity frontier. Realizing its benefits requires new skills and rethinking how people work together with intelligent machines. Work in the future will be a partnership between people, agents, and robots—all powered by AI. Today’s technologies could theoretically automate more than half of current US work hours. This reflects how profoundly work may change, but it is not a forecast of job losses. Adoption will take time. As it unfolds, some roles will shrink, others grow or shift, while new ones emerge—with work increasingly centered on collaboration between humans and intelligent machines.

Most human skills will endure, though they will be applied differently. More than 70 percent of the skills sought by employers today are used in both automatable and non-automatable work. This overlap means most skills remain relevant, but how and where they are used will evolve. Our new Skill Change Index shows which skills will be most and least exposed to automation in the next five years. Digital and information-processing skills could be most affected; those related to assisting and caring are likely to change the least.

https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/agents-robots-and-us-skill-partnerships-in-the-age-of-ai

Agents, robots, and us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI - Lareina Yee, McKinsey Global Institute

Work in the future will be a partnership between people, agents, and robots—all powered by artificial intelligence. While much of the current public debate revolves around whether AI will lead to sweeping job losses, our focus is on how it will change the very building blocks of work—the skills that underpin productivity and growth. Our research suggests that although people may be shifted out of some work activities, many of their skills will remain essential. They will also be central in guiding and collaborating with AI, a change that is already redefining many roles across the economy.

https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/agents-robots-and-us-skill-partnerships-in-the-age-of-ai

Copilot+ PCs Offer Fast, Powerful AI to Boost Faculty Members’ Productivity - Amy Burroughs, EdTechMagazine

On-device artificial intelligence and custom applications drive efficiency in teaching, research and administrative work. “All of us are being asked to do more with less,” says Dale Perrigo, the director of Windows in the Education for the U.S. and Canada for Microsoft. “And in higher ed, research is important. There’s often that element of competing with other universities. Being able to address this productivity challenge is key.” The NPU on a Copilot+ PC can handle upward of 40 trillion operations per second, the base requirement for on-device AI workloads, says Rob McGilvrey, Microsoft’s Americas director for Windows Commercial. Another differentiator is Windows AI Foundry, a built-in framework that supports both local and hybrid AI applications. Together, the NPU and Windows AI Foundry allow new, out-of-the-box capabilities, McGilvrey says.

https://edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2025/12/copilot-pcs-offer-fast-powerful-ai-boost-faculty-members-productivity

Opinion: In an Age of Tech, Colleges Should Emphasize Connections - Eric Anicich, Los Angeles Times

Technology is driving at least two trends in young people that colleges should have an answer for: self-education and loneliness. Meanwhile, employers increasingly value social and collaborative skills that AI cannot provide. Artificial intelligence is rapidly eroding their monopoly on instruction, and young adults are experiencing historically high levels of loneliness. If higher education is to justify its staggering cost, it must confront both realities at once by deliberately designing environments and experiences that foster social connection alongside academics. Done well, colleges can offer something AI cannot replicate. Gen Z is living through a profound social crisis. Nearly three-quarters of 16- to 24-year-olds report feeling lonely, and young adults now spend 70 percent less time in person with friends compared with just two decades ago. The share of U.S. adults with no close friends has quadrupled since 1990.

https://www.govtech.com/education/higher-ed/opinion-in-an-age-of-tech-colleges-should-emphasize-connections