Higher Ed Voices 2025: How AI is Transforming Higher Education for Students, Faculty Members and Institutional Leaders
In just a few years, higher education’s view of artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved dramatically. While initial conversations hotly debated whether AI was helping or hurting students, opinions have now shifted into a broader recognition of the technology’s impact and value across higher education. The technology has overcome initial concerns and revealed itself as an essential tool for improving and transforming the future of learning.
In fact, many of those in higher education now feel positive about the use of AI for student learning, including leaders (91%), faculty (59%) and students (69%). Further, most leaders (85%) and a large portion of instructors (54%) and students (60%) agree their outlook on student AI usage has either remained positive or become more positive over time.
That’s according to a new report by Cengage, the higher education business of Cengage Group. The report, Higher Ed Voices 2025: Learners, Educators and Leaders on AI, explores how AI is reshaping higher education across these groups and how their priorities intersect and differ. Let’s take a closer look at some of the results.
All Students Need to Develop AI Skills
AI literacy has become increasingly important and now, over a quarter of instructors are using generative AI (GenAI) to help students practice digital literacy, and one in five are asking students to use GenAI for course activities. Students are happy with the shift, as nearly two-thirds (62%) say they use AI for academics, the majority of whom (59%) use it at least weekly or more. Many students are using AI to summarize complicated concepts (67%), get ideas for writing assignments (61%), create study materials (55%) and summarize reading and textbook chapters (52%).
Instructors (92%), leaders (98%) and students (83%) all agree it's important to implement or change course curriculum to include a focus on AI skills and literacy especially as most students (84%) believe it is important to be proficient in AI skills to obtain future employment.
Faculty Embraces AI, But Lack Their Own Learning Opportunities
For faculty members to effectively teach students about AI, they too need hands-on experience with the technology. Unfortunately, less than half (40%) of faculty members say their institution has provided resources to learn about the technology and another 21% say their institution doesn’t provide any AI training resources.
Despite a lack of upskilling resources, faculty members are not letting this prevent them from upleveling their curriculum to support student AI needs. Over half of instructors have made changes to their courses to account for AI, including creating course content and student-facing materials (45%, up by 11% since 2023), assisting in lesson planning (42%, up by 18% since 2023), supporting lectures (42%, up by 12% since 2023) and creating quizzes and assessments (39%, up by 16% since 2023).
Institutional Leaders Lead by Example and Welcome AI
As AI plays a larger role in higher education, institutional leaders are also becoming eager to embrace the technology themselves. In fact, the report found that institutional leaders are more likely than both instructors and students to use GenAI in their roles. Nearly 4 in 5 (79%) administrators began using AI this semester or in a previous semester, compared to about half (49%) of instructors and nearly two-thirds (62%) of students.
Many institutional leaders are using AI to assist with job-related content creation like emails and interview questions (60%), complete simple administrative tasks like academic calendars and meeting summaries (29%) and help with research and brainstorming (25%).
Aligning on AI Policies
For AI to be an effective classroom resource, it’s crucial that institutions implement the technology safely. Currently, more than half (55%) of institutional leaders have already introduced AI policies for students, and an additional 35% are developing those policies.
Although AI policies are still in their infancy, faculty members and institutional leaders are working to set AI policies in their courses. Over a third (34%) of faculty members say they’re following the policies their institutions have implemented, 29% are choosing to follow a mix of their own AI policies and the ones set by their institutions, and over a quarter (26%) are implementing their own AI policies.
From supporting student learning to prepping students for the workforce, as well as easing the workload for faculty and institutional leaders alike, AI is becoming increasingly important for higher education. To fully realize its potential, institutional leaders, faculty members and learners must actively explore and integrate its capabilities. The success of tomorrow’s learners will depend on how effectively institutions integrate the technology and prioritize the AI literacy skills the workforce already expects them to have.