What is the future of higher education in 2026?
On October 9th and 10th, the business college in Paris, American Business College Paris, hosted an exclusive conference with French and European partners and leaders to discuss the future of education. The school has demonstrated its place as an international higher education leader in France and furthermore, an international higher education leader in Europe.
A shift in studying
What was observed during this conference is the shift in studying.
These past 5 years, students have decided to explore less ‘conventional’ degrees, whether it is about field of study, diploma duration… Schools must adapt their programs, their infrastructures, and most importantly, their partnerships.
It is indeed important for schools to have partners who may be able to structure their company to answer/deal with social concerns/stakes. Younger generations are seeking responsible companies to work for, and schools must diversify their panorama of companies to offer them different work opportunities.
A 2-day conference to discuss the future of higher education
AI in education
It is not a secret that AI has been taking over every aspect and every sector of one person’s life. Therefore, solutions to tackle, grasp and profit from the omnipresence of it need to be debated, considered and applied as soon as possible in the educational field.
In education, AI is elastic. It can assist students and teachers during classes, streamline the whole learning process, evaluate talents on various aspects (thinking-skill, creative-skill, communication-skill, curiosity, research-skill, analyzing-skill…).
During this 2-day conference, experts from Peregrine Global Services and Sara Pax, European strategic leader and teacher at ABC, brought us key takeaways from what could be the role of AI in higher education in a few years’ time.
Training focused on soft skills
Another major step of this conference was the recruitment stage: the assets that recruiters are looking for when hiring talent.
Many headhunters point out that various candidates have the required hard skills to become the company’s future leader. However, in an era of “knowledge” and opportunity, what recruiters are looking for is someone with plenty of soft skills.
Specialists from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), IACBE, and Page Group emphasized the importance for talents to have creative thinking and critical thinking to attract companies who need to be challenged by their new talents.
The conference in conclusion
This two-day event wasn’t just another conference; it was a real eye-opener. From the rise of AI in classrooms to the growing demand for soft skills, and the shift in how students choose their paths, one thing’s clear: the landscape of higher education is changing and has changed more this decade than in centuries of history.
American Business College Paris and its partners showed that they are helping lead the way. With fresh ideas, bold conversations, and a strong network, the future of learning looks more flexible and more connected to the world we live in.
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