Inertia, rather than AI, is potentially the biggest threat to universities right now, Vice-Chancellor of James Cook University Simon Biggs believes.
Professor Biggs pulled no punches in his weekend LinkedIn post stating that AI was already “better, faster and cheaper” than universities at the “mass lecture + content + exam” model.
This is a significant statement from a VC whose institution might be mistaken for continuing to try to sell exactly that.
But Professor Biggs maintains universities still have an edge.
“What it can’t (yet) replicate is:
- Being part of a demanding intellectual community
- Learning in a research‑rich environment
- Building diverse social and professional networks
- Developing judgement, ethics and civic capability in a real place, over time”
Whether students are seeking these attributes, and whether they are compelling enough to stump up $50k for a humanities discipline testamur is another question Professor Biggs will no doubt grapple with. He already forecasts a flight of enrolments to alternative providers unless universities rapidly embrace change – in a compelling and brutally honest pitch for transformative action.
“Private capital is buying into alternative models from online HE providers to AI‑driven training platforms. When a PE firm buys into an online university, it’s not doing it for the joy of learning. It’s betting that the traditional, high‑cost degree pathway is open to significant disruption,” he wrote.
“If a large employer can use AI to design, deliver and assess bespoke learning around its own skills framework, why would it keep paying a premium for generic degrees that often lag behind practice?”
Universities still have important capabilities that AI cannot replace in deep inquiry, place-based learning, research and accreditation, but a radical think about AI integration is urgently required, he argues.
“The risk for universities is that we allow the commodifiable parts of what we do to be hollowed out by employer academies and AI platforms, while clinging to a business model built on those very components.”
“If we act too slowly or with excess caution then we risk that the most profitable slices of lifelong learning, professional education and early‑career up skilling migrate to AI‑driven, employer‑led ecosystems that no longer need us at the centre.
“AI won’t kill the university. But it may quietly sideline any university that insists its past business model is its future.”
Comment:
Versions of this argument have been produced to justify changes to learning and teaching practices, but the statement of a value proposition from a Vice-Chancellor carries far more significance.
How many vice-chancellors believe that their institutional lecturing, content delivery and examination capabilities are inferior to those enabled by AI?
What do their staff believe – and say – they are offering to students, and what do students think they are buying when they enrol?
After 16 years of market research I am yet to encounter a student seeking ‘a demanding intellectual community’ or setting out to hone their ‘judgement, ethics and civic capability.” I’m sure they are out there, but is there is enough of them to sustain enrolments if the sector as a whole states it is right now delivering an inferior, more expensive version of content, lecturing and examinations?
This is going to be an interesting Open Day season ahead of us in 2026, indeed.