Opinion: AI isn’t devaluing degrees - but it is changing why graduates will be hired

Amid the noise over whether AI threatens the relevance of degrees, Professor Ian Dunn, Provost of Coventry University Group, explains how AI is changing work and education and why higher education and continued upskilling will remain critical for developing the adaptable human skills the future demands.

Our now widespread use of AI has hardly been a bolt from the blue – we all knew it was coming and that it would define our future – but the speed of change has been breathtaking, We need to understand that we will continue to change over the coming decades as we make sense of the revolution.

As we venture further into the unknown with a technology that is revolutionary and unlike any other before it, it’s no surprise that people are questioning how AI will alter the way we live and work. From an education perspective, this might mean wondering whether AI will take your job before you graduate, what you should study when roles are changing so quickly or whether your degree will still be relevant a few years after graduating.

History’s lessons for the age of AI

We’ve seen major revolutions before – the industrial revolution, which moved us away from hand production and into mechanised manufacturing and the digital revolution, which sped us from analogue processes and into computing and the internet.

People were asking similar questions and making doom-laden predictions about how these new technologies would affect their livelihoods and futures – only to discover that while some jobs disappeared and others evolved, new opportunities emerged and productivity and living standards increased.

The changes brought by the AI revolution could likely be more far-reaching than those of previous ages, but the fundamentals of what happens to economies and societies during a major shift remain the same – disruption followed by adaptation.

Although AI may displace an estimated 92 million jobs, it could also create around 170 million new ones and it seems employers already anticipate this, with 87% expecting AI to drastically alter roles, yet only 18% believe that it will cause major job replacement.

The enduring value of a degree

Just as industries will evolve and adapt, so will higher education – but the fact that you dedicated a chunk of your life to studying a subject will not be devalued. We are always talking to employers about what they need from tomorrow’s graduates so we can continuously develop and evolve our courses.

Alongside those technical skills are the soft skills and employers have long been looking for more than grades alone. They want graduates who can put their knowledge into practice, communicate confidently, work with others, adapt to change, innovate and make things happen. We will see a move to more emphasis on the human relational aspects of work.

These skills are embedded across higher education courses, but not sufficiently emphasised, and enhance the ability to use AI with purpose and creativity no matter which subject is studied. A degree provides evidence that you can learn and evolve, persist and solve problems – traits that remain valuable no matter how technology moves.

It won’t be the people who rely on AI to complete assessments or do their jobs for them who will move forward, it will be the ones who understand the nuances of AI: how to embrace it effectively, when to challenge, where its limits lie and how to combine its capabilities with distinctly human skills.

How the education sector is adapting to AI

The most productive thing we can do is not fear the technology but recognise its enormous potential – although I haven’t used it to write this piece. It is the sector’s responsibility to ensure students are equipped with the technical knowledge and skills that align with an evolving labour market, while supporting the growing importance of the attributes a degree education instils.

It is also essential that higher education policy evolves to recognise that the traditional view of three years of study, immediately after school, is now just one model of engagement. We need to recognise the need for continuing links between the learner, institution and employer, all connected to the changing technological landscape.

Much of this preparation and adaptation is beginning to happen. Universities are moving toward making AI literacy as a core part of every student’s learning, because the more AI becomes embedded into systems, the more employers will expect graduates to demonstrate AI capabilities.

Adaptability will become the defining skill for workers who need to understand and use new technologies, update their knowledge and stay responsive to the shifts around them.

Why AI use must be governed in learning

There are also areas; however, where the sector must move faster, particularly in strengthening guidance on generative AI use that clearly defines how AI should, and shouldn’t, be used. Schools and universities know that AI is transforming assessment, as 92% of UK undergraduates now use AI in some form and 88% have used it in assessments.

Without formal guidance, unregulated and excessive reliance on AI risks harming the very skills that will be essential in an AI‑enabled future, such as critical thinking, communication and problem‑solving. It has already been reported that two‑thirds of secondary school teachers in England report that these skills are declining due to AI use.

We cannot afford to allow laziness in learning to diminish these capabilities at such a young age, because the more powerful AI becomes, the more valuable it makes human skills. Automation raises the worth of the tasks only humans can do.

This is precisely why schools and universities will redesign teaching and assessment so that students continue to think for themselves, supported and enhanced through AI, rather than simply generate a prompt from a machine.