For decades, the university degree was the primary symbol of knowledge and professional security. However, the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the rules. Iryna Volnytska, President of SET University and CEO of IronCyber, compares the current situation to the French Revolution’s abolition of noble titles, noting that many academic leaders struggle to imagine a world where their degrees lose their traditional value.
From Titles to Skills
The shift is already evident in the private sector. Tech giants like Google, Apple, and IBM are prioritizing skills over academic titles. Employers seek individuals who can solve complex problems and adapt quickly. According to Volnytska, the degree is evolving from a proof of knowledge into a tool for access to networks and opportunities, remaining essential primarily in regulated professions like medicine and law. Despite the rise of alternative learning models, she emphasizes that the greatest strength of top universities remains the creation of social capital and professional networks.
The Skill of 'Orchestration'
In a world where AI chatbots make knowledge widely accessible, memorization is losing its value. Volnytska argues that the defining skill of the next decade will be "orchestration": the ability to direct multiple AI agents toward a specific outcome. A simulation of a drone cyberattack in Ukraine, conducted by SET University and IronCyber, demonstrated this efficiency, as AI allowed the process to be completed six times faster than traditional methods.
The Future of Universities
Educational institutions are now challenged to become "AI-native," redesigning their operations around data and critical thinking. Instead of testing whether a student can retrieve an answer, they must evaluate whether the student can guide, challenge, and judge the AI's output. The true competitive advantage for nations will not be the number of graduates produced, but the speed at which knowledge is converted into innovation and profit.
