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We have begun a transformation in higher education that will make us more responsive, efficient, and effective at achieving our multiple missions. This will not be easy or without trauma, but it is necessary.

I had the honor and good fortune to be invited by the generous and insightful Board Chair of the International Professors Project, Sriprya Sarathy, to speak via Zoom to the Re-think AI conference, sponsored in part by the International Academy of Science, Technology, Engineering and Management (IASTEM) and hosted by the ICLED Business School in Lagos, Nigeria. The conference brought together thought leaders, researchers, innovators, and industry professionals to explore how Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation are reshaping businesses, societies, and the future of humanity. The conference prompted me to consider how the many forces now at play in the academy and society at large are propelling us in higher education into a comprehensive transformation that is built upon Artificial Intelligence (AI). This column includes portions of a presentation I made at that conference.

The recent UPCEA and Education Dynamics report, “Marketing and Enrollment Management AI Readiness Report 2025,” makes a powerful case: AI is no longer a peripheral advantage but a non-negotiable necessity for survival and growth. The report warns that a significant gap persists between optimism about AI and operational readiness. Institutions that delay adoption risk being left permanently behind.

To build this new future, we must first “rethink” the very foundations of our institutions. This is not about adding a few new apps to the learning management system. Rather, it’s about a fundamental re-architecture of how we operate, how we teach, and how we define the work of our faculty and students. Key factors include institutional strategy, pedagogy, and the future of work.

For years, higher education has been facing existential headwinds: the much discussed “demographic cliff” that is just now arriving, a steady decline over the past several years in public confidence and falling enrollments. In this context, unfortunately many in higher education responded with concerns about how students might use AI to take unfair advantage of outdated pedagogy in their classes. Instead of pressing ahead in implementing the best available features of AI, many institutions were stalled in unfruitful debating how to best regulate the use of the technology. This shortsightedness delayed action in developing aggressive plans to make the most of the technology to advance the institution and its learners. We must provide affordable access to learning opportunities. In doing so, we will utilize the power of AI to help teach, assess and advise students at all levels.

Instead of limiting the use of AI in classes, we must rethink our pedagogy. For example, for centuries the dream of a personal tutor for every student, the Socratic ideal, was an economic and logistical impossibility. We settled for the one-to-many lecture model as a necessary compromise. That compromise is now obsolete. We can now envision, and build, a future where every student has a 24/7 AI tutor. This intelligent assistant can adapt to their individual learning pace, explain complex concepts using multiple analogies, generate infinite practice problems, and provide instant, formative feedback. This technology finally allows us to democratize mastery-based learning at scale. Imagine classes in which, by definition, everyone masters the material! This will require re-thinking the semester-based system, in favor of an outcomes-based system. Students conclude classes when they actually master the material, rather than after an arbitrary number of weeks.

Our implementation of AI is rapidly evolving from generative, systems that create content in response to prompts, to agentic systems that can autonomously perform complex, multi-step tasks. Instead of the transactional question-generative response approach, agentic AI is one in which a goal or outcome is set for which AI develops a plan, conducts research, implements actions and accomplishes the desired goal or outcome. As one of my recent columns noted, 2025 is the year this “hurricane of change” truly makes landfall.

Agentic AI will fundamentally redefine the roles of both students and faculty. An AI agent can act as a profoundly sophisticated research assistant, capable of analyzing vast datasets, summarizing entire fields of literature, test hypotheses by designing experiments and comparing curricula across institutions. This is not automation replacing intellect, but augmentation amplifying it. This shift elevates human work, freeing our finite cognitive resources for what is most expertly human: creativity, critical insight, and ethical judgment.

This comprehensive transformation can be visualized as a shift across all core university functions. In my June 2025 column, “Walking, Talking, Engaging AI in Higher Ed,” I explored this coming revolution as embodied AI (intelligent robots) come to campuses. I ask you to join me on a brief tour of a university campus in the year 2030.

Imagine walking into the library. Instead of a single, overwhelmed librarian, you are greeted by several humanoid assistants. They don’t just answer your questions; they can access vast databases in real-time, physically retrieve books from the stacks, and guide you through complex archival systems. Overnight, these tireless assistants re-shelve every book, ensuring the library is perfectly organized each morning, ready for a new day of discovery.

Now, let’s visit the science labs. Behind a protective barrier, an embodied AI assistant, impervious to hazardous materials, conducts a delicate chemistry experiment with superhuman precision. Students observe safely via high-resolution monitors, asking the AI questions in real-time and directing it to repeat or modify steps. They can, actually see through the cameras, in the robot’s eye sockets get a point-of-view vision. This opens up entirely new possibilities for safe, repeatable, and complex demonstrations that were previously too dangerous or expensive to conduct regularly.

Finally, consider student services. An embodied AI acts as a campus guide, providing multilingual support to international students and visitors 24/7. Another is programmed as a first responder for mental wellness crises, able to detect physiological and verbal signs of distress, provide immediate, calming support, and discreetly alert human professionals. This is not a dystopian replacement of people but a strategic augmentation. Embodied AI handles the repetitive, the dangerous, and the round-the-clock tasks, freeing up our human staff for more complex, empathetic, and creative roles. This allows us to address budget constraints while simultaneously improving the quality and availability of student services.

In sum, by 2030 we will be approaching what I would call the synergetic campus. This is a campus in which embodied AI robots join human faculty, staff and administrators in addressing the needs and wants of the learners. It is synergetic in the evolving of many human physical and intellectual capabilities in these robots and the collaboration of missions pursued by both. The cost of these robots will be far less than current salaries and indirect costs per staff member. The productivity of these embodied AI units will be round the clock, seven days a week. They will expand capabilities, lower costs and improve efficiency.

Who is leading the planning for this major transition on your campus in the coming few years? What will these changes mean for you in your position? Are you adequately preparing to support these changes that will make your institution relevant and viable in the future?

 

This column was originally published in Inside Higher Ed.