AI, Degrees & Lifelong Learning

Ashish Vaidya explores how technological and societal shifts — especially the rise of AI — are reshaping the future of higher education. He urges institutions to view AI not as a threat, but as a tool to improve learning, streamline operations, and expand access. Vaidya highlights the need to rethink the structure of degrees, advocating for flexible, work-integrated models and lifelong learning frameworks. He envisions a future where higher education supports continuous upskilling and reskilling, extending its relationship with learners beyond traditional timelines. He also emphasizes the importance of embedding durable skills — such as communication, critical thinking, data literacy, and intercultural competence — across all programs to prepare students for a rapidly evolving world.

That is going to be a huge game-changer. Universities and institutions that are thinking ahead and thinking about how [artificial intelligence] could actually accelerate better outcomes, how we could actually make things not just more effective in the classroom or in research, but also in terms of operations. You know, there are opportunities here to actually reduce costs by thinking about that. So there has to be an openness to this. One which says this is not a threat, but this is a way to be in the front of this issue so that we can actually make our institution even better. By the way AI is being used in K-12 already. So the fact of the matter is, many of these students are going to be coming to the colleges already immersed in using AI-powered technology and tools. You probably have heard of Khanmigo and all those tools that are now already happening in K-12, even in my own region in the Inland Empire. So it's not going to be too far off when these kids will already be used to, you know, things of using the AI tools to actually get better outcomes. So, how can we do this? I think that's one clear um that that I think universities have to embrace this and I'm seeing that. In fact, the CSU system, as you may have heard, just signed a major deal to make ChatGPT available, free of cost to its faculty, and staff, and students for all the 23 campuses. So, take away the resource question, it was going to be done in centrally for the entire campus. So I think AI is definitely there. I think the other thing that universities are still grappling with is this notion of the concept of a degree itself, right? The old notion [of] 120 credits, four years, seat time is already out the window. And I think we are being challenged to think very differently about what makes a degree, a degree. What are the durable skills and what are the specialized skills that students need, and then how do we make sure that they get it, completely setting aside seat time credits and everything else? And is it you know, is it taking credentials, is it taking certificates? Is it taking time off and going [to do] some work, and work experience, and coming back? These models are going to be I think, the way that universities have to. This notion of here is your course schedule, this is general education. These are your major courses. This all out. I think we're going to see much more. I would like to see maybe a lot more work-integrated learning take place, where students don't have to make the choice between going to school and going to work. And now it's a question of saying, what are you doing? Well, you know, I'm doing both, and doing both in a way that doesn't, you know, that that doesn't say I'm going to go to school 20 hours and work 40 hours, and so that's 60 hours of work. It's where they're truly integrated. And I think the notion of a lifelong learner becomes central to the how [the] university thinks about it's, not just not just you know we have a four-year relationship or a six-year relationship with the student, but it's a six-year relationship with a student because that individual will go through ups and downs upskilling and reskilling learning for the sake of learning. Talk about, you know, maybe in your 60s, you want to be more exposed to the humanities and film and drama, and you know,w could be, and that's how you think about it. So thinking about your student as not a discrete time, but really something that's a lifelong learner, and those relationships are built for forever. So I think those are some of the things that I see on the horizon that are, I think, quite quite optimistically hopeful. We're actually doing a project with one of our community colleges on clearly identifying what those durable skills are and then making sure that the curriculum maps those because it - again, it's not you can't leave it up to the chance. The durable skills are things that really haven't changed that dramatically over the years. You know, people want to know, can you communicate effectively? Are you a critical thinker? Can you work well in teams? Do you have intercultural competence? You know, the kinds of things. Do you even write effectively, despite the importance of, maybe [the] help of ChatGPT? What are the kinds of things that we have to keep in mind? So, these are the skills that I think will endure, that we still need those aspects and especially in today's environment, where there's so much challenge with technology. I think durable skills, like understanding data science, understanding technology, understanding issues that are outside your comfort zone, are going to be things that are - that every graduate, no matter what your degree or set of credentials is about, you have to be able to [be] exposed to them.