Higher education in the age of AI: What's really changing

Are “bright minds” turning away from higher education?

From the United States to the United Arab Emirates, and through France, South Africa, Australia, Chile and Japan, the debate is heating up: should universities rush to integrate AI into their programs? Supporters of a resounding yes argue that the very fact we're still asking the question shows how far behind we are. Gone are the romantic days when students sat in lecture halls to build knowledge or travelled abroad with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of young adventurers eager to discover a new culture. Supporters of “all-AI” take a deliberately provocative stance: for international students or those planning to study abroad, strong “AI-literacy” is no longer optional.

In France, this idea has been notably pushed by essayist Olivier Babeau and doctor-entrepreneur Laurent Alexandre in their intentionally provocative book "Ne faites plus d'études : apprendre autrement à l'ère de l'IA", which translates as "Stop Studying: Learn Differently in the Age of AI." Their position is stark: it's pointless to attend a university that doesn't integrate AI into its curriculum.

Higher education with or without AI

Canada's top universities, including McGill, York, and the University of Toronto, have already revised their programs to include AI. Their decision was based on a simple observation: both students and professors are increasingly using these tools. A 2024 survey by Studiosity, an online learning platform, confirms the shift: 78% of students reported using AI to learn or complete assignments. Among instructors, 41% were using AI tools in 2024, compared with just 12% the year before (data from the Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey).

Their conclusion? Curricula must adapt, but wisely. At the University of Toronto, the approach is pragmatic. Yes, AI for teachers who want it. Yes, also for those who prefer to avoid it. McGill and York follow the same philosophy: transparency and thoughtful integration. The concerns of educators must be taken seriously. Unlike Babeau and Alexandre, these universities warn against the risks of viewing higher education only through the lens of AI.

Long degrees and employability

For decades, long academic programs were considered reliable gateways to employment, and in many fields, that's still true. You can't become a physician, professor, lawyer, architect, engineer, judge or accountant without many years of study.

But today, long degrees no longer guarantee job security. Stories of “graduates with master's degrees who can't find work” are increasingly common. Young graduates are said to be the first victims of the “AI revolution,” just as those who graduated in the early 2010s were hit hardest by the global financial crises. The paradox? The more you study, the harder it seems to enter the job market. Does this confirm Babeau and Alexandre's argument? How do we explain the rise in graduate precarity?

First, graduates are paying the price of global economic instability. Repeated crises affect hiring forecasts and leave many newly qualified young adults on the sidelines. But not all students are impacted equally: those with generalist degrees are most affected. Graduates from technical or scientific programs fare better because of worldwide labor shortages in these sectors. Other contributing factors include limited geographic mobility and a mismatch between degrees and employers' real needs.

So, instead of dismissing long programs, we should focus on the actual causes of graduate precarity: encourage mobility within and beyond national borders, and provide better yet pressure-free career guidance starting in high school.

How AI is reshaping the choice of studying abroad

Every year brings a fresh wave of lists predicting which professions will disappear because of AI. Workers are worried. Others are forced into rapid retraining. Some feel relieved to have chosen the “right” field until they are disrupted by the very tools they helped build, as seen with Meta's AI division staff now facing layoffs. Will the same upheavals hit higher education? Will students need to choose their degree, and even their study destination, based on AI?

In March 2025, OpenAI announced a massive $50 million investment to accelerate academic research. Sciences Po (France) and Oxford University (UK) are among the beneficiaries, alongside leading U.S. institutions. OpenAI aims to build a global network linking elite American and international universities. For future international students, this means institutions like Harvard, Duke, Howard, or major public universities in California, Michigan, Georgia, or Mississippi could become even more strategic.

Long programs: Let young people study

“AI is not a form of knowledge. It's a way of accessing knowledge,” explains Jean-Michel Dogné, professor and dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Namur in Belgium. Responding to the authors of Stop Studying, he warns against a dangerous misconception: encouraging young people to drop out and “learn through AI” assumes that AI is knowledge, which it is not. AI doesn't replace learning; it only facilitates access to information.The confusion creates a significant risk: the erosion of essential skills, the loss of critical thinking, and weaker decision-making abilities. This is already happening in medicine, where AI-generated misdiagnoses have been spotted by clinicians, who nonetheless validated them “because the AI said so.”AI is a tool built to serve humans, not the other way around. It would be risky to plan an entire university path, an international mobility project, or a career solely through the prism of AI. Long or short programs aren't the real issue. People are not studying “more than before”; they're simply struggling more to enter the job market. The real problem is the long period of unemployment before securing a first job. This trend is visible across France, China, Morocco, Canada, South Korea, South Africa, Mexico, the U.S., Nepal, etc. This employment crisis is pushing young graduates to mobilize for their rights, whether in Nepal, Morocco, Peru, or Madagascar.

Shortening degrees won't fix unemployment. The same number of students will still arrive on the job market. Still, poorly used AI can disrupt labor markets and, therefore, reduce graduates' chances of finding work. It's up to governments and companies to strike a balance between human knowledge, education, global mobility, and economic development.