Can artificial intelligence help prepare graduates for tomorrow’s jobs?

Can artificial intelligence help prepare graduates for tomorrow’s jobs?
By Li Fengliang |
China Daily |
Updated: 2026-08-05 09:30
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Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the labor market, automating tasks such as routine copywriting, basic data analysis, conventional coding, repetitive administrative tasks and entry-level design work. As these jobs disappear or change, employers are increasingly demanding a different mix of skills from graduates

This transformation comes at a difficult moment for higher education. While the number of university graduates continues to grow, structural unemployment has become more pronounced

Under pressure to improve graduates’ job prospects, universities across China are restructuring their academic programs. Many institutions are introducing AI-related majors, promoting “AI plus X” interdisciplinary education or adopting broader admissions models

Responding to changes in the labor market is both reasonable and necessary. Universities cannot ignore technological, industrial and employment shifts. But they must also confront a harder question: Can they transform themselves quickly — and responsibly — to meet these new demands?

Building a robust academic program takes time. Universities need qualified faculty, coherent curricula, appropriate facilities and opportunities for practical training. These elements cannot be created simply by changing the name of a department or adding several technical courses

Without sufficient preparation, professional restructuring can easily become an emergency response to employment anxiety

Courses might focus narrowly on training students to use the latest tools, while education itself is reduced to preparing for currently available jobs. Though seemingly practical, such reforms risk creating deeper problems: an oversupply of similarly trained graduates, weak foundational knowledge, limited adaptability and a gradual erosion of the university’s educational mission

Introducing a new major does not automatically produce better talent. If universities rush into fashionable fields without understanding their intellectual foundations, required capabilities or real industrial demand, they may simply replace one mismatch with another

The problem is compounded by the speed of technological change

Technology often evolves faster than the university education cycle. A field that appears highly promising when students begin their degrees may have changed fundamentally by the time they graduate

Specific tools may become outdated, and established methods may be replaced by new technological paradigms

Universities that merely chase each new trend could therefore produce graduates who are doubly disadvantaged: lacking the depth of traditional disciplinary education and also unprepared for the next stage of technological change

Academic reform must therefore involve a deeper redesign of curricula, teaching methods and talent-development models

Rather than building isolated AI schools or programs, universities should develop strong “AI plus X” platforms. Artificial intelligence should be integrated with engineering, medicine, agriculture, the natural sciences, the humanities and the social sciences. This requires deeper cooperation between departments and breaking down long-standing barriers

The aim is not to turn every student into an AI specialist but to help students in different fields understand how intelligent technologies can reshape their disciplines, expand their analytical capabilities and solve real-world problems

Universities also need to strengthen cooperation with businesses, government agencies and research institutions. External partners can provide practical expertise, industrial re

Such cooperation can help connect the education chain, the talent chain and the industrial chain, reducing the gap between what students learn and what society actually needs

However, labor-market adaptation should not become the only purpose of universities. No matter how disruptive technology becomes, the fundamental responsibilities of education remain unchanged. Universities must cultivate moral character, foster independent thinking, transmit culture, encourage innovation and support the holistic development of the individual

Real education reform is not about blindly following technological trends. It requires universities to embrace innovation while maintaining a clear sense of what education is ultimately for

AI should be incorporated throughout teaching and learning. Students should learn to use intelligent tools effectively and responsibly. But universities must also place human development at the center of education. The more powerful technology becomes, the more important judgment, creativity, ethical responsibility and critical thinking will be

Universities can adjust their academic structures to meet national and social needs. At the same time, they must preserve the diversity of the academic ecosystem. Not every institution should establish the same programs, pursue the same fashionable disciplines or adopt the same development model

A wave of identical AI-related programs could lead to a new form of homogenization, in which universities lose their distinctive strengths while competing for the same students, teachers and reh every university begins to look the same

The rise of AI should be seen not merely as a disruption of higher education, but as an opportunity to reshape it

The primary task for universities is not to create more AI majors, but to reconsider what universities should teach — and how they should teach — in an age when information and technical assistance are increasingly easy to obtain

Knowledge acquisition alone can no longer define the value of university education. Students must learn how to evaluate knowledge, connect ideas across disciplines, identify meaningful problems and make responsible decisions. They must be able to work with machines without allowing machines to replace their own capacity for thought

The graduates best prepared for the AI era will not be those who have merely mastered the latest software. They will be those with strong disciplinary foundations, broad humanistic perspectives, the ability to use intelligent tools and the independence to question their outputs

Preparing such graduates is not only a practical response to employment pressure; it is essential to build a stronger education system and secure the country’s long-term development

The author is the deputy dean at the School of Education, Tsinghua University

The views don’t necessarily reflect those of China Daily

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