What Are Universities Really Selling?

by Joy Maitland | Aug 5, 2026 | Board Members, Board Trustees, CEO, CFO, COO, CIO, General Managers, Heads of Divisions, Human Resources (HR), Leadership Development, Managing Directors, Middle Managers, News & Articles, Non-Executive Board Members, Senior Managers, Women Leaders

Artificial intelligence isn’t making universities less relevant. It is forcing us to rediscover what higher education was always supposed to achieve.

Several years ago, inemmo was commissioned by a UK university to investigate a growing concern.

An increasing number of students were leaving during, or shortly after, their first year.

The university wanted to understand why.

What began as a study into student retention became something much more significant.

As we listened to students describe their experiences, it became clear that they weren’t simply questioning university.

They were questioning value.

Then one student said something that has stayed with me ever since.

“I’m only staying because I need the piece of paper.”

At the time, it sounded unsettling.

Today, it sounds remarkably prophetic.

They Weren’t Rejecting Education

As the interviews progressed, a clear picture began to emerge.

Long before ChatGPT entered everyday conversation, students were already asking questions that feel strikingly relevant today.

“Why am I paying to sit in lectures when I can learn much of this online?”

Some described watching YouTube tutorials that explained concepts more clearly than the lectures they had attended earlier that day.

Others spoke about reading research papers directly or completing specialist online courses.

Several questioned whether they would be better off gaining practical experience while avoiding years of student debt.

It would have been easy to conclude that students no longer valued learning.

The opposite was true.

They valued learning enormously.

What they questioned was where learning created its greatest value.

Perhaps the most surprising finding was not what they wanted to learn.

It was who they wanted to learn from.

Students repeatedly asked for greater exposure to people who had actually done the work.

People who had built businesses.

Led organisations.

Designed products.

Negotiated difficult decisions.

Made mistakes.

Recovered.

Started again.

They respected academic expertise.

However, what they were really asking for wasn’t more information.

It was interpretation.

Not another theory.

But what happened when that theory collided with reality.

Not simply what worked.

But why it worked.

When it failed.

What nobody anticipated.

And what they would do differently today.

One student captured it perfectly.

“Teach me what happened when the theory met reality.”

Perhaps, without realising it, they were asking for something that cannot simply be downloaded.

Judgement.

The Faculty Saw It Too

Interestingly, many faculty members recognised similar challenges.

Several spoke openly about becoming frustrated with traditional lecture-based teaching.

They wanted to spend less time delivering information and more time helping students think critically, solve problems, challenge assumptions and prepare for professional life.

Looking back, perhaps both students and academics had recognised something the rest of us had not.

The real value of higher education was never simply information.

It was transformation.

Information changes what people know.

Education changes how people think.

Those are not the same thing.

Then AI Changed the Conversation

When artificial intelligence entered everyday life, many predicted it would transform education.

Perhaps it has done something even more significant.

It has exposed a question we should have been asking all along.

If universities are no longer competing on access to information…

…where does their greatest value now lie?

Knowledge has become increasingly accessible.

The scarce resource is something altogether different.

Judgement.

Discernment.

Curiosity.

Perspective.

The ability to recognise nuance.

The wisdom to know when artificial intelligence is wrong.

The confidence to make decisions when there is no obvious answer.

These qualities cannot simply be downloaded.

They have to be developed.

Perhaps We’ve Been Measuring Different Things

To be fair, many employers recognised this long before artificial intelligence arrived.

Academic qualifications may open the door, but they have rarely secured the job on their own.

For many years, organisations have increasingly relied on competency-based interviews, assessment centres, case studies and psychometric assessments to understand how candidates think, solve problems and work with others.

Employers have long understood that knowledge alone is not enough.

Capability matters.

What artificial intelligence changes is not the importance of capability.

It changes the relative value of knowledge.

As information becomes easier to access, the ability to interpret it, question it and apply it wisely becomes even more valuable.

Perhaps that is where higher education and employment are beginning to converge.

Universities have traditionally excelled at developing knowledge.

Employers increasingly seek judgement, adaptability, collaboration and the ability to apply that knowledge in unfamiliar situations.

The challenge for the future may not be choosing one over the other.

It may be integrating both more effectively.

The University of the Future

Universities have survived wars.

Economic crises.

Political upheaval.

Industrial revolutions.

They will adapt to artificial intelligence too.

If anything, they may become more important than ever.

But perhaps their purpose will become clearer.

The institutions that thrive may not be those with the biggest libraries or the longest reading lists.

They may be those that become the world’s greatest developers of judgement.

Places where academic rigour is strengthened by practical experience.

Where researchers work alongside entrepreneurs.

Engineers alongside psychologists.

Clinicians alongside business leaders.

Military officers alongside behavioural scientists.

Not because theory has become less valuable.

But because theory gains meaning when it meets reality.

Perhaps universities have never simply been in the knowledge business.

Knowledge has always been the starting point.

Transformation has always been the destination.

Helping people think more clearly.

Question more deeply.

Judge more wisely.

Act more responsibly.

Artificial intelligence has not diminished the importance of higher education.

If anything, it has reminded us why it matters.

Because information can now be found almost anywhere.

Judgement cannot.

Insight: Artificial intelligence has not diminished the importance of education. It has reminded us what education has always been about. In a world where information is abundant, the institutions that create the greatest value will be those that develop judgement, curiosity, adaptability and the confidence to navigate problems that have no textbook answer.

Leadership Question

If information has become abundant, what is the one capability every graduate should possess before entering the workplace?

The Right Conversation Can Change Everything. Let’s Talk.

The future of jobs: World Economic Forum