The 10 most valuable AI skills students want to learn - Alcino Donadel, University Business

Participation in Coursera’s generative AI courses has increased by 234% over the last year, while professional certificate enrollment jumped by 91% as employers wish to verify what job candidates are learning.The fastest-growing, non-technical AI skill is creating content that promotes a business’ strategy or services. Courses that focus on critical thinking around responsible and ethical AI use have grown by 185%. Critical thinking is increasingly taught in STEM disciplines, including data, IT and software development.

Coursera analyzed its enrollment from 2023 to 2025 to identify these 10 most sought-after AI skills {see link).

https://universitybusiness.com/the-10-most-valuable-ai-skills-students-want-to-learn/

Beyond ChatGPT: How to create successful AI-ready students - Alcino Donadel, University Business

Leaders agree that when—and when not—to rely on AI is the fundamental lesson students must learn when using technology. That focus is not fundamentally different from higher education’s traditional mission, says Carolyn Speer, director of the Office of Instructional Resources at Wichita State University. “It’s the same skillset: being able to make sound judgements and allow different ideas to compete internally,” she says. “Students are just using it in a new context.” Speer works with instructors across the university to identify resources and practices that improve teaching. As AI tools become more common in classrooms, she evaluates them through a familiar lens: whether they help students think more deeply and improve decision-making. Her first question is straightforward: Does this tool help students develop the ability to think critically about personal, professional and civic challenges?

https://universitybusiness.com/beyond-chatgpt-how-to-create-successful-ai-ready-students/

90% of students use AI in the classroom, Instructure poll finds - Laura Spitalniak, Higher Ed Dive

A large majority of college students — 90% — report using artificial intelligence in class at least occasionally, according to new survey data from ed tech provider Instructure. Nearly two-thirds of college instructors, 61%, said the same. But the survey, released Tuesday, also found that only 11% of higher ed instructors received comprehensive AI training, while 41% said they had not received any formal training on AI. Educators are looking for support in the form of hands-on training, clear guidance from their institutions about AI use, and ongoing professional development on the topic, according to Instructure.

https://www.highereddive.com/news/90-of-students-use-ai-in-the-classroom-instructure-poll-finds/825714/

Harvard DCE Dean Nancy Coleman Receives UPCEA's Highest Honor for Online Learning Leadership - Harvard Division of Continuing Education

Nancy Coleman, Dean of Harvard's Division of Continuing Education (DCE), today received the 2026 UPCEA Ray Schroeder Leadership Award for the Advancement of Digital Learning at the SOLAR conference, held at the Westin Seaport Hotel in Boston. The award, presented annually by UPCEA, the leading association for professional, continuing, and online education, recognizes exemplary leadership in advancing digital and online learning. Coleman was appointed Dean of DCE in 2020, becoming the first woman to serve in the role. She leads an institution whose engagement with distance and online learning spans more than six decades, from the first extension course broadcast on television in 1956 to the launch of Polaris University in 1960 that delivered coursework to Navy submarine crews, in-house hybrid learning technology that improved student persistence rates by four percent and was credited with enabling DCE to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic without emergency adaptation.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/harvard-dce-dean-nancy-coleman-receives-upceas-highest-honor-for-online-learning-leadership-302839370.html

Why the AI era is making skills more valuable than degrees: Coursera - Manisha Sharma, DQIndia

From salary premiums to faster pipelines, micro‑credentials are reshaping India’s job market, with universities and enterprises adapting to the shift. For years, careers followed a fairly predictable path. A university degree helped people enter the workforce, experience built expertise, and occasional training kept their skills relevant as technology changed. That pattern held through economic reforms, the internet boom, and the shift to cloud computing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is disrupting that cadence. It is not simply creating a new category of jobs. It is changing the work people already do. Developers use coding assistants, marketers turn to generative AI for campaigns, finance teams use it to analyse data, and legal professionals rely on AI tools to speed up research. Skills that once remained useful for years can now lose relevance far more quickly. It recalls the old refrain, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Video did not make radio disappear, but it changed the medium and forced those working in it to adapt. AI presents a similar paradox. It may not eliminate every role, but it is steadily rewriting what it takes to perform that role well.

https://www.dqindia.com/upskilling/why-the-ai-era-is-making-skills-more-valuable-than-degrees-coursera-12170045

A ‘buffet’ model of faculty development to support evolving use of AI - Ben Kei Daniel, Times Higher Education

A flexible, agile approach to AI skills development allows faculty and students to choose the guidance, resources and learning opportunities that best fit their roles and contexts. A “buffet” approach recognises this and gives staff and students multiple pathways for responsible and meaningful engagement. Instead of relying on rigid, one-size-fits-all policies, the model provides flexible, context-based support that encourages responsible and effective AI use. It provides faculty and students with a high degree of choice in guidance, resources and learning with AI tools, allowing them to select the opportunities that best match their role, discipline, confidence and experience. Our experience shows that faculty and students gain confidence and competence in using AI over time through repeated engagement, practical work and dialogue with colleagues. 

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/buffet-model-faculty-development-support-evolving-use-ai

San Francisco Bay University launches $10K AI-enhanced MBA designed for a rapidly changing workforce - PR Newswire

San Francisco Bay University (SFBU), a WASC-accredited, nonprofit institution in Silicon Valley, today announced the launch of MBA Pro+, an online Master of Business Administration designed specifically for today's workforce. Priced at $10,000 for the entire degree with a flexible pay-as-you-go model, the program combines personalized AI-enhanced learning experiences with one-on-one faculty mentorship to prepare the next generation of business leaders for the future. According to the latest GMAC Prospective Students Survey, prospective students are increasingly prioritizing affordability (37%), return on investment (37%), and career outcomes (30%) when selecting an MBA program. Responding to this demand, SFBU aligned the curriculum with the durable capabilities organizations consistently report lacking, including critical thinking, creative problem-solving, adaptability, communication, and responsible leadership.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/san-francisco-bay-university-launches-10k-ai-enhanced-mba-designed-for-a-rapidly-changing-workforce-302827785.html

New visa restrictions could hurt international enrollment - Alcino Donadel, University Business

International students have four years to complete their studies in the U.S. or face a rigorous visa reapplication process, according to a new federal policy. The proposed Department of Homeland Security rule dismantles Duration of Status, a long-established policy that permitted students and scholars with F or J visas to remain in the U.S. as long as they made progress toward academic or research objectives. The new system will limit students’ stay to their program’s expected end date, which can last no more than four years. F-1 visa holders now have only 30 days (rather than 60) to depart the country or acquire new papers.

https://universitybusiness.com/why-this-new-policy-may-hurt-international-enrollment-even-more/

GPT 5.6 Frontier Intelligence that Scales with your Ambition - OpenAI

GPT‑5.6 Sol sets a new standard for both intelligence and efficiency, achieving state-of-the-art results across coding, knowledge work, cybersecurity, and science while outperforming previous and competing frontier models with fewer tokens and at lower estimated cost. The result is stronger performance per dollar: more successful work for the same spend, or comparable results at a lower total cost. We also introduce a new way to accelerate the most demanding work: ultra is our highest-capability setting, coordinating multiple agents across parallel workstreams to finish complex tasks faster. Stronger computer use and design judgment make GPT‑5.6 Sol our most polished collaborator yet, helping it inspect, refine, and deliver ready-to-use results.

https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-6/

New legislative package would dramatically downsize Education Department - Micah Ward, University Busiiness

The Trump administration is pushing legislation that could result in a major downsizing of the Education Department’s federal oversight of schools, putting Secretary Linda McMahon closer to her goal of dismantling the agency. For instance, H.R. 9611 gives Labor responsibility for: Title III institutional aid, such as Strengthening Institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities; TRIO programs, which support low-income, first-generation and disabled students preparing for and succeeding in college

Federal Work-Study; GEAR Up, which helps middle and high school students prepare for college.

https://universitybusiness.com/new-legislative-package-would-dramatically-downsize-education-department/

Moody’s downgrades Brown University’s outlook to negative - Natalie Schwartz, Higher Ed Dive

Moody’s Ratings lowered the credit outlook for Brown University to negative on Thursday, primarily citing “already thin operating performance” that could continue for several years. The credit ratings agency pointed to the Rhode Island university’s high debt levels and to large lump sum payments it owes in the future. Together, these could throttle Brown’s future borrowing ability if it doesn’t see “significantly improved operating performance,” Moody’s said. Brown’s outlook hinges on the ability of its leaders to improve the Ivy League institution’s operating performance, according to the credit ratings agency. Although Moody’s reaffirmed Brown’s high credit rating, it said an inability to improve its margins by fiscal 2028 could result in “downward rating pressure.”

https://www.highereddive.com/news/moodys-downgrades-brown-universitys-outlook-to-negative/824525/

Skills (R)evolution: Preparing Employees for Tomorrow’s Jobs - SHRM

A strong learning and development strategy helps organizations build workforce readiness, improve the employee experience, and drive better business outcomes.

Despite a rapidly changing skills environment, almost 3 in 4 HR professionals (72%) say their L&D strategy is primarily driven by current skills needs.

Participating in learning programs has a positive impact on engagement for 78% of global workers.

Organizations with more strategic L&D practices are 2.3 times more likely to achieve better financial outcomes.

As jobs change and skill needs evolve, this research examines how organizations can strengthen learning and development to build workforce readiness, support employee engagement, and improve business performance.

https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/research/skills-revolution-preparing-employees-tomorrows-jobs

Here’s why momentum for paid apprenticeships is surging - Alcino Donadel, University Business

States and universities are providing new blueprints for making college-based, paid apprenticeships the backbone of new workforce pipelines. “Every year, millions of Americans turn down the promise of a degree because they need to work,” Joe Ross, president of Reach University, said at a June Congressional hearing on modernizing the nation’s apprenticeship system. “Many take jobs in the very schools and hospitals where employers can’t fill the higher-paying roles that require postsecondary credentials.” Stringent accreditation standards, state regulations and a lack of federal guidance have stymied degree-embedded apprenticeships. Witnesses at the U.S. House hearing last month argued that financial aid, employer buy-in and reduced administrative barriers can support uniform growth nationally. One way K12, community colleges and universities can better cultivate relationships with employers is by aligning curriculum and learner pathways with on-site workforce training programs.

https://universitybusiness.com/heres-why-momentum-for-paid-apprenticeships-is-surging/

AI in class: time to rethink assignments - Willie Chinyamurindi, Mail & Guardian

Ultimately, the future of higher education will not be determined by whether AI enters our classrooms. That has happened. Nor will it be determined by how effectively universities detect AI-generated text. The future will depend on whether institutions are willing to rethink assessment, literacy, ethics and institutional culture for an AI-enabled world. The challenge before higher education is therefore not technological. It is educational. The task is not simply to police AI but to steward its use in ways that strengthen learning, preserve human agency and prepare graduates for an increasingly AI-mediated world.

https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2026-07-10-ai-in-class-time-to-rethink-assignments/

ED Encouraged Institutions to Limit Graduate Loans. They Don’t Want To. - Johanna Alonso and Jessica Blake, Inside Highter Ed

After a federal judge halted the Department of Education’s definition of “professional” programs, the department said it stood by its original definition—which included just 11 degrees. But following the court order, the agency released a new list of 29 programs that will be considered “professional” while litigation continues. The department, which appears to be planning to fight the order, stressed that the list was temporary and encouraged universities to limit their lending to students whose programs don’t fall under the original, narrower definition. Institutions have long wanted the ability to limit lending in order to protect their students from overborrowing, but for as long as federal loans have existed, they haven’t been permitted to. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed that last summer, allowing institutions to set their own lending limits for the first time ever.

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/financial-aid/2026/07/10/colleges-weigh-limiting-graduate-loans-amid-cap-litigation

What university leaders must learn in the age of AI - James Yoonil Auh, University World News

Why does artificial intelligence require a fundamentally different approach to university leadership? Higher education has repeatedly adapted to technological change – from the printing press and industrialisation to computers, the internet, and online learning. Each transformation reshaped how universities operated, yet none fundamentally altered their intellectual purpose. But artificial intelligence poses a challenge unlike any university leaders have faced before. Unlike previous technologies that expanded access to knowledge, AI expands participation in intellectual work. That distinction reshapes the nature of university leadership. Many universities are responding with familiar institutional mechanisms – drafting policies, investing in platforms, revising curricula, and updating academic integrity policies. These responses are necessary, but they risk misidentifying the challenge.

https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260708085002202

Mindfulness and artificial intelligence self-efficacy among university students: the mediating role of artificial intelligence literacy - Aamer Aldbyani, et al; Nature

University students now use artificial intelligence (AI) tools in several academic activities, including information retrieval, writing support, and problem-solving. While these technologies may enhance learning efficiency, effective student engagement with AI requires relevant psychological characteristics as well as technology-related competencies. Earlier studies indicate that learner characteristics, including mindfulness, may relate to patterns of engagement with digital technologies. Mindfulness, AI literacy, and AI self-efficacy have been studied separately, but their combined relationships remain insufficiently examined. Accordingly, this study examined the associations among these three variables in university students and assessed whether specific dimensions of AI literacy were involved in the statistical association between mindfulness and students’ self-rated readiness to use AI-supported tools for academic purposes. The study used a cross-sectional survey design. Undergraduate students at Shandong Xiehe University in China completed an online questionnaire. After screening the responses, 929 valid questionnaires were retained for analysis. Participants were between 18 and 22 years of age. Mindfulness, AI literacy, and AI self-efficacy were assessed using established self-report scales. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-61009-4

Workforce Pell watch: Valuable funding for every college’s mission - Alcino Donadel, University Business

Colleges should resist viewing Workforce Pell—which launches on Wednesday—as a policy designed exclusively for vocational schools and short-term training, says Aaron Thompson, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. “I see all of our institutions as workforce institutions, whether you’re a research institution or a community college,” he says on The University Business Podcast. “It’s just for a different segment of the workforce.” Rather than treating workforce readiness as a separate function, Kentucky encourages colleges to make employment and economic advancement the cornerstones of students success. Dr. Thompson credits this approach with boosting the state’s enrollment and college completion rates. “We know we higher education is valuable, but one of the main reasons is because we are a direct connector to a strong economy,” Thompson says. “We cannot be afraid to embrace that.”

https://universitybusiness.com/workforce-pell-watch-valuable-funding-for-every-colleges-mission/

New research shows OER’s biggest impact isn’t cost—it’s completion - Alcino Donadel, University Business

Free textbooks, when fully embraced by administrators and faculty, lead to better student outcomes, a new American Association of Colleges and Universities report finds. Open educational resources, or OER, emerged at the turn of the century to make college less expensive. A two-year study examining 700,000 student records and featuring 240 faculty interviews across 15 institutions contends that free learning materials accomplish much more. Courses that offered students free course materials lowered course withdrawals, increased the number of A’s earned and decreased, by a year, the time to graduation for community college students.

https://universitybusiness.com/new-research-shows-oers-biggest-impact-isnt-cost-its-completion/

Coursera adds five Workday courses to enterprise learning catalog - Emma Thompson, Ed Tech Innovation Hub

Coursera has added five Workday courses to its enterprise catalog, expanding access to training on the cloud software provider’s finance, human resources, payroll and student applications for organizations using Coursera’s workforce learning service. Workday provides enterprise cloud applications for financial management, human resources, planning, spend management and analytics. Anthony Salcito, Coursera’s Senior Vice President and President of Enterprise, announced the additions in a LinkedIn post.The courses are listed in English and are available to enterprise learners. The content focuses on the terminology, frameworks and operational use of Workday systems rather than software development. “Making this content available to enterprise learners gives teams broader access to training that supports real operational readiness,” Salcito wrote. Learners can now explore the courses through Workday Education on Coursera. Coursera and Workday did not provide details about pricing, course length, assessment formats, credentials, geographic availability or whether access varies between enterprise agreements.

https://www.edtechinnovationhub.com/news/coursera-adds-five-workday-courses-to-enterprise-learning-catalog

How to integrate AI-enabled lifelong learning across disciplines - Tim Brown, Times Higher Education

The traditional boundary between a traditional degree and active professional development has permanently dissolved, writes Tim Brown. AI skills need to be taught in a similarly joined-up way. An uncomfortable truth for the higher education sector is that artificial intelligence is reshaping how work gets done. Graduates will need to enter AI-enabled workplaces with a clear sense of how to work alongside intelligent systems, and millions of experienced professionals are going to require reskilling. Yet our institutions are not preparing new students or providing structured upskilling pathways at the pace this moment demands. While we debate policies at the margins, business and government are moving ahead – with or without us.  Serving traditional students and those seeking continuing professional development are not separate challenges; they are a single lifelong learning problem. To address this, faculty must move beyond teaching AI tools and start developing AI-enabled professional fluency. 

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-integrate-aienabled-lifelong-learning-across-disciplines