AI agents are ready to transform higher education – this is how

Artificial intelligence quickly moves to the workplace, but not always in the way people expect. A new study from the University of Stanford Who questioned 1,500 American professionals in 104 professions, offers a rare and detailed overview of how industry workers want AI agents to be used in their work. Instead of asking what AI could automate, researchers have asked workers what they prefer to automate it – or increase – and how much human involvement should stay.

About 46% of the tasks were reported by workers, according to automation, in particular repetitive or long activities such as appointments, routine reports and data entry. For 45% of professions, the most common preference was the equal partnership between humans and AI. This suggests a strong interest in AI systems that collaborate rather than replace.

These results have immediate implications for higher education. The sectors studied reflect many careers that students are preparing to enter.

Universities seize the advantage of agentic AI

MCKINSEY seizure of the AI report of the agency Note that, even if 78% of companies have deployed generative AI tools, only a small fraction report reports a significant impact. Most companies start with tools like Microsoft Copilot, Chatgpt or Google Gemini. These are generally horizontal copilotes – general tools for writing, summarizing or thinking about many roles.

The problem is that many organizations stop there, using Genai tools as assistants for individual productivity (such as helping an employee to write emails or write a document). These use cases often do not change the structure of work, so the impact remains limited.

MCKINSEY contrasts this with agental AI systems that are integrated into workflows. These systems act, make decisions within railing and solve problems in a specific way in the field and focused on objectives (such as admission, students' advice or support for academic research). These vertical agents, when built with clear integration into business processes, lead to a significant impact.

To Georgia State University, for example, An AI agent named Pounce Proactively reminds students of deadlines, financial assistance stages and registration. A randomized controlled trial showed that students who interact with Pounce were 3% more likely to persist in the next semester. For low -income students eligible for Pell, the intervention has reduced the probability of receiving notes D or F, or withdrawal (“DFW”) by around 20%.

The Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan A Piloted a virtual teaching assistant built on the model of Gemini de Google. The AI program helps students reasoning through the problems of finance and analysis by using guided invites and Socratic interrogations. It also provides instructors with an overview of where students are struggling.

Penn State University Lance MyresourceIBM notes. It is an agentic AI assistant trained on data specific to the institution that help students navigate the advisory, mental health, financial assistance services, etc. The assistant will operate 24/7 and is designed to provide precise and personalized recommendations.

In admissions, the University of Florida Ouest has deployed a recruitment agent fueled by AI who hires potential students on several channels. The tool has led to an increase of 32% in the yield of admission to graduatesaccording to University business. Also in admissions, UNA Unity Unity Unity Unity Guide potential students by finding a program and filling out a request, which helps reduce friction in the registration process.

Beyond the tools for students, Insidetrack, a national non-profit organization for students, develops an internal data agent that reads coaching notes and emerging flags for human staff to act. This is not a replacement for coaching – it is a backend agent to surface models and reduce manual analysis.

Although these examples show early results, many institutions remain cautious or unclear about how to proceed. For institutions that seek to move forward, a few steps can help ensure responsible and strategic adoption:

1. Start with clear use cases. Identify where students or staff experience friction – affirming the bottlenecks, administrative delays, repetitive awareness – and explore if an AI agent could help.
2. Pilot and iteration. Small scale tests, such as the use of an agent in a course or a department, allow safe experimentation. Monitor the impact and adjust.
3. Keep humans in the loop. Most successful deployments combine the automation of AI with human judgment. Set limits for which human surveillance is required.
4. Establish directives. Align the adoption of AI on institutional values. Clarify what is acceptable for courses, communication and data management.
5. Invest in training. Professors, staff and students need support to understand how to work alongside AI. This includes technical and ethical dimensions.
6. Collaborate. Sharing learning between institutions, especially when standards and practices continue to evolve.

The message of respondents to the labor survey is clear: the value of AI is to work alongside humans – the creation of chores, the support of expertise and the amplification of what we do best.

Colleges and universities who wish to prepare students for the reality of modern work must stop considering AI as a complement or a passage of passage. The agentic AI shapes how the admissions, advice, learning and support of students are delivered and produce measurable results. However, many institutions hesitate at first, perhaps waiting for perfect answers.

The moment to act is now. Start small, stay strategic and place human needs at the center of each deployment. Pilot of practical solutions, invest in skills training and ethics and is based on what works. More importantly, make sure that each step forward is guided by the lived realities and aspirations of students and staff.

The future of work – and higher education – will be defined by those who can take advantage of AI as a real collaborator. While the agentic AI goes from the word to fashion to the backbone of the campus, the colleges and universities ready to direct will shape not only their own future, but also the future of all those they serve.