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In recent weeks, the academic world has been shaken by the news that billions of dollars in federal funds have been frozen or retired from some of the best known universities in the country. These changes have interrupted research, derailed planning and shaking the basis of institutions depends for a long time on what it now feels like a relic of the past: stable and unquestionable government financing.
But this moment is not just about budgets. It is preparation.
The educational system, particularly the highest education, is being tested on all fronts: from the decrease in registration to the reduction of employer’s confidence, from obsolete courses catalogs to the elevator of students increasing, and more powerfully, from the sudden and exponent.
As some who have helped launch AI and AI technology programs throughout the Gob, established global innovation centers such as centers for learning and development and worked with companies in the response of the entire company, I think this is not the panic of time. This is time to rebuild.
We are at a historical turning point. The old frames are fading. The future is already coming, and will not expect them to catch up.
Related: how AI is transforming education forever, and what it means to the next generation of thinkers
When memorization no longer makes sense
A few weeks ago, my 10 -year -old son Matthew asked me why I had to memorize historical dates when Chatgpt could give the answers instantly. He was complaining; I was confused. Why do they teach us to work in the same tools that the real world expects us to use?
Then he is my five -year -old son, Zachary. It does not “use” AI, absorb it.
He passively consumes “cha-gi-pipi” responses (that is what Chatgpt calls) as if it were a magical oracle. He leaned the microphone, asks questions about trains or dinosaurs and trusts that he is complete. For him, this is not technology, it is just how knowledge flows.
And that is the point: he does not question it, contextualizes it or challenges it … yet. It is growing in a world where AI is normal, automatic and invisible. What we mean, as educators, innovators and students for life, must teach the next generation not only how wear Ai, but how Think with that.
Higher education is about to get out of synchronization, and they will all feel it
The UU UU University University Registration has decreased to more than two million students since 2010, in accordance with the National Education Statistics Center (NES). Only in the autumn of 2023, registration fell into another 0.6%, continuing a long -term downward trend.
At the same time, employers are constantly changing towards hiring based on skills and micro accreditations. Meanwhile, students are resorting to YouTube, AI tools, bootcamps and virtual programs that comply with where they are.
It is not convenience. This is alignment.
And although higher education has made great advances in response, partly in online learning, industry credentials and AI exploration, many institutions are still operating within the systems designed for a different era.
Related: Why should we reinvent education in the era of technology
This is not just a technological change: it is cognitive
Ai is not just another tool. It is a new mental model. Students can now access tutoring in real time, generation of instant content, personalized comments and creative indications with the sliding of a screen. For them, it is not artificial, it is a environment.
And yet, most educational systems are trapped by debating whether they will prohibit it, regulate or ignore it. The risk is that we are preparing students for the analog world that no longer exists.
The report of the future of the 2025 World Economic Forum estimates that 39% of central labor skills will change by 2030, identifying analytical thinking, literacy of AI and creativity as critical abilities. These are not just resumption reinforcements, they are survival skills.
More importantly, the report makes clear one thing: we are still educating for a workforce that no longer exists. One defined by static roles, predictable stairs and isolated knowledge. That era is over and education must advance accordingly.
5 imperatives for a better future of learning
As we face a convergence of the acceleration of AI, the interruption of financing and social change, here are five urgent actions for leaders in education and innovation:
1. integrate reflexively and systematically
Yes, schools should be teaching students how to use and challenge AI. And many are already fortunate to collaborate with brilliant minds in the academy that are actively pilitating the tools promoted by AI, embeding them in classrooms and reformulating what it means to learn.
But let’s not minimize it: this is hard work. It requires rethinking pedagogy, redesigning evaluations and helping educators become co-learning. The institutions that lead this change won only teach AI: they will be transformed by him.
2. redesign learning for exploration, not memorization
In a world where information is infinite, the facts are just the beginning. The true value lies in asking better questions, connecting ideas and applying information.
We must get away from the memory memorization plans that encourage curiosity, agility and original thought. And yes, that meaning evaluations must also evolve.
3.
Higher education must go beyond the internships and the advisory meetings towards the true co-creation with the industry. That means working next to companies to build relevant, modular and aligned learning clues in the real world.
These associations are not new, but they have never been more necessary. The institutions that demanded to blur the line between the campus and the race.
4. Use AI to humanize education, not just automatic
The AI can optimize the qualification, the students fighting the flag, optimize the course design and deliver comments in real time. But his true power lies in what cuts educators to do: mentor, inspire and connect.
Let’s use AI so as not to eliminate the teacher, but to raise the role of the teacher to his most human expression.
5. Innovation and entrepreneurship champion as a nucleus, not elective
Innovation and entrepreneurship are not secondary projects. They are the engines of resilience. Students who can invent, adapt and build in uncertain conditions will lead to each field, from biotechnology to business.
Each school must be a laboratory. Each campus, a study. Because the future will be given to us, we will have to build it.
Related: Why should we not fear AI in education (and how to use it effective)
The great rethinking begins now
That is why I am launching a new series of four parts here at Entrepreneur.com called “The Great Rehink: how AI is forcing the reinvention of education.”
In the next week, I will explore:
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Why the current model is losing relevance, and what replaces it
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Why the change gained only from the interior of the system
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Which makes it possible for education to never
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How to rebuild education as a Startup-Agil, scalable and student centered
We are not here to preserve what it was. We are here to reinvent what follows.
If you are a founder, educator, policy formulator or professional and development professional, this is your time. If you are building, exploring, experimenting, communicate. Share your vision. Ask your big questions.
Why who but we will reinvent education?
Not with illusions. Not with courses catalogs. And certainly not with the son of the funds, we assumed that he would always be there.
The future won the wait. And Neith we should.
