What's Next in Higher Education: The AI Revolution 2030

Abstract

This chapter explores the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on higher education, particularly in the context of accelerating technological and societal changes. As higher education institutions face the need to offer more flexible, adapted and relevant academic programmes, AI presents significant opportunities and challenges. In the first part of this chapter, the authors elaborated on characteristic the evolution of AI including characterizing the emerging AI landscape. One of our contributions in this concluding chapter is to conceptualize the next areas of deployment of AI in higher education considering the novel, innovative services that will disrupt the entire market in the next few years. The strategic proposition for deployment of AI in higher education highlighted six pillars, namely large language models, research.AI, content creation.AI, personalised learning.AI, skill building assistants.AI and education out of the Box.AI. The authors presented opportunities to harness AI to enhance teaching, learning and research under each pillar, along with a detailed list of potential application areas and services. Universities are exploring innovative ways to use AI-driven solutions to improve research, teaching and learning experiences, and the authors also developed indicative scenarios for the use of AI in higher education based on the six pillars. One of the bold contributions in this chapter is the structured framework for understanding the evolution and use of AI in higher education, utilizing a matrix to map the intersection of market penetration and product development. Finally, the authors discuss future directions and strategies for Higher Education 2030 in light of advances in AI technology.

Citation

Lytras, M.D., Serban, A.C., Alkhaldi, A., Aldosemani, T. and Malik, S. (2024), "What's Next in Higher Education: The AI Revolution 2030", Lytras, M.D., Serban, A.C., Alkhaldi, A., Malik, S. and Aldosemani, T. (Ed.) Digital Transformation in Higher Education, Part A (Emerald Studies in Active and Transformative Learning in Higher Education), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 155-172. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83549-480-620241008