The Impact of Automation on the Future of Work and Higher Education
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: Higher education takes the inputs of faculty and students and produces the outputs of education credentials and scientific discovery.Until the turn of the 21 st century, higher education was impervious to technological change.Faculty would lecture to students in person, assign readings, and conduct assessments designed to result in credentials that would be used in the labor market.The rise of the internet and related technologies has transformed higher education and the labor market in new and interesting ways.The COVID-19 pandemic required higher education to move online and teach remotely.Technology enabled these rapid changes and will have long-lasting effects on higher education and the type of work that our students will do in the future.In this essay, we consider the demographic challenges facing higher education, the role of robots, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) in the labor market, and the downstream effects of AI on the student test score gap.We will conclude with a set of social science research recommendations that respond to the creative destruction of technological change.
Author: Donna Ginther
Institution: University of Kansas
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4324345712