Tanya Gamby, David Kil, Rachel Koblic, Paul LeBlanc, Mihnea Moldoveanu and George Siemens
June 16, 2026
Artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education, exposing weaknesses in assessment, curriculum, and institutional strategy. Ten critical challenges reveal why incremental change will not suffice and why colleges and universities must rethink their strategy, culture, and purpose.
For decades, higher education has quietly shifted its mission from human development to workforce development. The first five articles in our series largely focused on the future: a vision of what is possible with N-of-1 learning, the opportunity for faculty to focus more on relationships and human development, and ways to rethink curriculum and content, among other possibilities. We are optimistic about the future of learning. We believe AI can improve, democratize, and extend education to millions around the globe—and help higher education reclaim its broader purpose of developing humans.
Higher education as a sector is still the early stages in this transition, but it is no ordinary one. The speed and scope of change, visible across all sectors of society, can trigger a kind of institutional paralysis that sets in when change moves too quickly and too widely to be managed incrementally. “Deer in the headlights” may be too strong a metaphor, but “deer suddenly alarmed and not knowing which direction to run” may be close. Point solutions and patchwork approaches might be suitable for improving the current ways of doing things, but they are not adequate for a paradigm shift. As a sector, higher education needs to move faster and plan bigger.