Based on input from a global panel of higher-ed experts convened by EDUCAUSE, the annual Horizon Report examined trends and emerging technologies that could influence higher education, from funding declines and policy reforms to questions about the value of a degree, and found mounting pressure on institutions to rebuild trust and prepare students for an uncertain future.
AI CHANGING STUDENT-FACULTY RELATIONSHIPS
The report identified a growing “trust and credibility” challenge as AI becomes embedded in academic coursework.
According to the report, students are increasingly relying on AI tools for explanations, tutoring and academic assistance, sometimes turning to chatbots before seeking help from instructors. Many institutions are experimenting with providing or promoting these services.
At the same time, faculty members face uncertainty about how much student work is being influenced or generated by AI.
These factors could lead to more transactional educational experiences, with informal interactions like visiting office hours decreasing. An instructor may feel pressured to approach student work with increased scrutiny, which, combined with the fact that humans aren’t great at spotting AI work, could lead to tense instructor-student relationships where students feel misunderstood.
This tension has led institutions to rethink how they evaluate student learning, but, according to the report, it should also prompt re-evaluation of building human connections.
“Looking ahead, institutions will need clear, consistent norms for ethical AI use, along with a clear plan to invest in the human parts of higher education that AI cannot replace, including mentoring, judgment, and learning designs that keep trust, belonging, and student growth at the center,” the report said.
The University of Utah, for example, hosted a student-led AI symposium last year, allowing students to share their perspectives on AI and connect with technology leaders.
“The purpose of this event is twofold,” Jeb Dean, a Utah student who co-hosted the event, said in a public statement. “First, to give students an opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences; second, to provide space for nonstudents to consider what they hear in their decision-making.”
EDUCAUSE LOOKS FOR EARLY SIGNS OF CHANGE
Beyond immediate classroom concerns, the report said AI continues to influence broader conversations about the purpose of higher education. The report included a new section this year, called “Signals of Change,” to identify projects that could change higher education if they gain traction.
Several cases explore a growing role for AI in learning. A project at Google, for example, experiments with AI-generated textbooks that can be customized for individual learners. Rather than assigning the same materials to an entire class, instructors could potentially create resources tailored to a student’s interests, according to a blog post announcing the project in 2025. The EDUCAUSE Horizon report noted that questions remain about preserving copyright and intellectual property, as well as ensuring standard course objectives are maintained throughout the personalized outputs.
In another case, Abdelmalek Essaadi University in Morocco created an AI “co-regulator” designed to monitor how students interact with AI systems. The technology is intended to identify potentially harmful or inappropriate AI outputs and help educators understand how students are using AI as they learn. According to the EDUCAUSE report, the project is an example of how institutions may need governance systems that do not rely solely on human oversight.
The report also found projects addressing workforce preparation. One example explores the emergence of highly automated businesses through AI agents. At one startup, The General Intelligence Company, AI agents monitor business needs and write code to address issues.
“Over 95 percent of our code is written by AI,” the company’s co-founder and CEO Andrew Pignanelli told Forbes. “Ideally we get that to 100 percent.”
While these initiatives are more fringe cases than representative examples, the report said they were included to help readers prepare for an uncertain future.
“Although these signals might not yet be widely visible or experienced today, their potential to shape higher education warrants our attention as we weigh priorities for preparing our institutions for tomorrow,” the report reads.
