Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle On-The-Road
    • Professional Development
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    College Advising
    Serving Higher Ed
    Chronicle Festival 2025
Sign In
Commentary

Robot-Proof: How Colleges Can Keep People Relevant in the Workplace

By Joseph E. Aoun January 27, 2016

A report this month from the World Economic Forum says 5.1 million jobs could be lost over the next five years because of automation. In 2013 a study from the University of Oxford found that about 47 percent of jobs in the United States are at risk from automation. Those statistics lie at the heart of a popular narrative of doom: the robot revolution in the workplace.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

A report this month from the World Economic Forum says 5.1 million jobs could be lost over the next five years because of automation. In 2013 a study from the University of Oxford found that about 47 percent of jobs in the United States are at risk from automation. Those statistics lie at the heart of a popular narrative of doom: the robot revolution in the workplace.

According to a continuing spate of books, articles, and studies, advances in the processing power of artificial intelligence are sending us down a cybernetic rabbit hole in which human labor no longer commands value. As computers climb to previously unheard of levels of sophistication, sectors like transportation, nursing, and even legal services may be poised for a machine takeover.

That robot ascendancy poses a trenchant question for higher education. Among the many important outcomes we expect, one is to prepare students for meaningful occupations. If workers are fast becoming irrelevant, then how and why should we educate them? Like daguerreotypists, will we quietly shuffle off into history?

The fact is, a college education, updated to reflect the roboticized economy, is every worker’s best hope. But we need to rethink its focus. Given a world in which machines will perform much of what we view as knowledge work, colleges will have to reduce their emphasis on knowledge transfer, and pivot to building students’ capacity for coming up with original ideas.

If we do that, the dawn of the robot age will be an opportunity, not a threat. By taking on so many aspects of the knowledge work that human beings do today, robots and computers will free us to focus on more-interesting tasks. They’ll give us the liberty to discover the infinite mysteries of our world and ourselves. They may even free us to form a vibrant, new creator class.

Because for all of their dazzling power, machines are incapable of plucking inspiration from the subconscious, forming a new theory of physics after seeing an apple fall to the ground, or seizing a window of opportunity to start a business. Those sorts of cognitive abilities are impervious to automation. They are, indeed, robot-proof.

The robot age invites people to be not drones, servants, or vagabonds, but creators. Technology will free us to ask questions that have never been posed, to envision beauty never before unveiled in the mind’s eye. To achieve this, though, we’ll need to educate people very differently.

In a paper published by the Roosevelt Institute this past summer, Roisin Ellison and Joe Hallgarten, of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, called for a remodeling of elementary and secondary education to teach creativity instead of “routine cognitive skills.” Colleges, too, should heed that call.

Most colleges specialize in the business of transferring knowledge. They show every sign of continuing to do so. For instance, one of the most lauded trends in higher education is the rise of competency-based learning, which gives credit to students for demonstrating knowledge they acquired previously, and allows them to progress through courses as quickly as they master the content.

Of course, everyone should master content. But while a future biologist will need plenty of baseline knowledge, computers may undertake much of the observational and analytical work she performs today. Her role will be to identify opportunities for research, directing computers to do it, and pushing her inquiries across disciplinary boundaries.

ADVERTISEMENT

Our future biologist may, indeed, not work as a straightforward biologist, since career arcs will increasingly branch across different sectors. In a freelance or “gig” economy, successful workers will be flexible and inventive, quick to deliver services, products, or solutions on demand. Creativity will be their most valuable tool.

To flourish in such an economy, all students — regardless of their academic inclinations — will require a new literacy, supplementing their specializations with studies from other parts of the curricular spectrum. That literacy includes quantitative skills as well as humanities such as art and design. It broadens students’ viewpoints, pushes them to make connections, and helps them contemplate the deeper truths of human existence. Above all, it encourages exploration, hence creativity. Creativity doesn’t arise according to a rational sequence of steps. It strikes as the mind sifts through a wide range of concepts and experiences.

The biologist, for example, will continue to learn about cells and genomes, but she will also immerse herself in behavioral, social, and cultural studies to gain a more thorough understanding of human health and development. A history major will continue to study colonial settlements in New England but will use spatial-analysis programs to turn data into geographic visualizations.

Education is most powerful when it integrates classroom work with the world. To that end, experiential learning is another invaluable means to acquire robot-proof skills. Long-term internships impart independence, problem-solving skills, and teamwork. Original research trains students to redefine problems and generate ideas. Entrepreneurship provides students with opportunities to develop business plans and enact them. And through experiencing the world, students learn a broader, more empathetic way of thinking.

ADVERTISEMENT

As machines fill an ever-larger role in our economy, our species could take a giant leap forward. By adapting to the realities of this next stage in our technological progress, colleges can ensure that untold fields of new learning — and new opportunity — will blossom in the light of human creativity.

Unlike our robots, we can imagine such a future. Higher education’s role is to ensure that we’re prepared for the challenge.

Joseph E. Aoun is president of Northeastern University.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Tags
Opinion
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
About the Author
Joseph E. Aoun
Joseph E. Aoun is president of Northeastern University.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

More News

Brad Wolverton
Newsroom leadership
The Chronicle of Higher Education Names Brad Wolverton as Editor
Vector illustration of large open scissors  with several workers in seats dangling by white lines
Iced Out
The Death of Shared Governance
Illustration showing money being funnelled into the top of a microscope.
'A New Era'
Higher-Ed Associations Pitch an Alternative to Trump’s Cap on Research Funding
Illustration showing classical columns of various heights, each turning into a stack of coins
Endowment funds
The Nation’s Wealthiest Small Colleges Just Won a Big Tax Exemption

From The Review

Illustration of an ocean tide shaped like Donald Trump about to wash away sandcastles shaped like a college campus.
The Review | Essay
Why Universities Are So Powerless in Their Fight Against Trump
By Jason Owen-Smith
Photo-based illustration of a closeup of a pencil meshed with a circuit bosrd
The Review | Essay
How Are Students Really Using AI?
By Derek O'Connell
John T. Scopes as he stood before the judges stand and was sentenced, July 2025.
The Review | Essay
100 Years Ago, the Scopes Monkey Trial Discovered Academic Freedom
By John K. Wilson

Upcoming Events

07-31-Turbulent-Workday_assets v2_Plain.png
Keeping Your Institution Moving Forward in Turbulent Times
Ascendium_Housing_Plain.png
What It Really Takes to Serve Students’ Basic Needs: Housing
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin