How Higher Ed Must Adapt

When 92% of university students report using AI tools but only 36% receive any formal institutional training, we’re witnessing a disconnect that could define the next generation of work. Students are experimenting with generative AI at unprecedented rates, but often without the frameworks, feedback, or professional application they’ll need in their careers.

This creates what an AI preparedness paradox. Students are learning to use tools like ChatGPT for quick answers but not necessarily to evaluate sources, check outputs, or apply AI responsibly in professional settings. According to a survey from the Digital Education Council, 58% of students reported they do not feel they have sufficient AI knowledge and skills, and 48% said they do not feel adequately prepared for an AI‑enabled workplace.

The cost of this gap is already measurable. According to PwC, 40% of the workforce will require reskilling within three years. Workers with AI skills now earn up to 56% more than their peers. This same report shows that job postings on LinkedIn requiring AI skills have increased by 7.5% year-over-year, even as total job postings decline by double digits.

Given the introduction of agents in the workforce, AI is no longer just a tool waiting for prompts; it is evolving into a complex series of specialized workflows. This shift is already visible in industry, where companies are embedding role-based AI systems into everyday workflows. The risk is that students who only learn AI as a shortcut, rather than as a collaborative partner, will graduate unprepared for workplaces where agentic systems are the norm.

Two announcements this month, however, suggest potential solutions that may close this gap. The first announcement was Grammarly’s launch of nine student-focused AI agents. The second is the University of Hawaii’s partnership with Google Cloud to build an AI-powered career pathways platform. These initiatives show how education and technology companies can collaborate to build AI literacy while strengthening workforce pipelines.

Grammarly’s Agents: Teaching Skills Employers Value

Grammarly’s student-specific AI agents, which debuted August 18, introduces context-aware partners that reinforce both academic integrity and professional readiness in educational settings. “We believe students deserve AI tools that meet them where they are academically while preparing them for where they need to go professionally,” according to Jenny Maxwell, Head of Education at Grammarly. Here are the agents that the company has introduced:

• Critical Thinking: The Citation Finder and Expert Review agents teach students to evaluate evidence and seek subject-matter expertise. Through this agent, students learn to identify gaps and strengthen arguments; skills central to professions from consulting to law.
• Communication: The Reader Reactions and Proofreader agents emphasize clarity and audience awareness. A marketing student, for instance, can test whether a case analysis reads differently to a professor versus a peer group. This mirrors the type of data analysis that real-world marketers are required to do.
• Ethics: The AI Detector and Plagiarism Checker reinforce originality and responsible use. Rather than blocking AI outright, these tools teach students to integrate it transparently and appropriately, an increasingly vital competency as employers wrestle with the ethics of AI adoption.

Where early AI tools functioned as passive assistants—waiting for users to craft the right prompts—agentic systems like these are now taking on defined roles. In education, this means AI is no longer just correcting grammar or crunching data; it is stepping into structured, domain-specific functions that mirror the professional tasks students will encounter in the workplace.

For institutions, this is both an opportunity and a warning. The same shift is unfolding in industry, where companies are deploying specialized agents for HR screening, compliance, marketing analysis, and customer engagement. Students who learn to collaborate with these agents in school will be far better prepared to thrive in workplaces where agentification is fast becoming the norm.

Hawaii’s Brain Drain Meets An AI-Powered Solution

If Grammarly addresses the micro-level of student skill-building, the University of Hawaii System is working at the macro level to retain talent in a state that has long struggled with “brain drain.”

More than half of Hawaii’s bachelor’s degree holders leave the state for mainland opportunities, according to UH data, with the number climbing to nearly two-thirds among graduate degree holders. The causes are complex, but a lack of accessible career pathways is a major driver.

The new Hawaii Career Pathways platform, developed with Google Cloud, uses Vertex AI and BigQuery to analyze student skills, prior coursework, and career interests. The system then matches students with local job opportunities and provides personalized guidance through Gemini AI.

“Universities have a crucial opportunity to lead in both the adoption of AI and ensuring our students are prepared to join the workforce of the future, today,” according to Garret T. Yoshimi, VPIT & CIO, University of Hawaii.

This approach serves multiple goals simultaneously. The platform demonstrates how students can apply their academic learning connects directly to real opportunities in Hawaii. In addition, employers gain visibility into emerging talent pools. Finally, the state gains a tool to strengthen its workforce pipeline, reduce outmigration, and preserve cultural and economic vitality.

The initiative also prioritizes inclusion. By using Google Translate, the platform supports Pacific Islander students in their native languages—a recognition that equity in AI readiness is critical for regions with diverse demographics.

Hawaii’s initiative is part of a growing recognition that talent retention is a competitive asset in the AI economy. States like Michigan and Colorado are already investing in retention bonuses and career alignment programs. UH’s use of AI to directly link students to employers could provide a model for other regions facing similar outmigration challenges.

A Blueprint For Workforce-Ready Education

What unites Grammarly’s and UH’s initiatives is a response to a deeper shift: the agentification of work. Across industries, AI is taking on defined roles, from “grader” to “career counselor” to “market analyst.” The real challenge for higher education is ensuring that students learn to collaborate with these systems rather than graduate unprepared into workplaces already transformed by them.

At the individual level, Grammarly’s agents demonstrate how role-based AI can become a learning partner, teaching critical thinking, communication, and ethical reasoning—the same competencies employers now expect students to apply in professional contexts.

At the institutional level, the University of Hawaii’s pathways platform shows how agentic systems can close the last mile between academic achievement and workforce demand, continuously matching skills with opportunities and reducing talent flight.

At the system level, the blueprint extends even further. Institutions need to build their own agentic capabilities—AI systems that track labor market trends, monitor graduate outcomes, and adjust curricula in real time. Rather than reacting to disruption, universities can become proactive engines of workforce readiness.

To thrive in an agentified economy, institutions must embed role-based AI into the student experience and build institutional agents that align education with evolving market realities. Those who move first will not only graduate AI-fluent students but also strengthen their regions with talent that is resilient, adaptable, and prepared for a future of continuous change.

In other words, the next frontier isn’t only teaching students to use agents; it’s empowering institutions themselves to act agentically—deploying AI systems that integrate workforce analytics, curriculum design, and career services into a living feedback loop. Institutions that take this step will be able to move from reactive to proactive, ensuring their graduates stay employable at the point of graduation and that institutions stay resilient as the future of work evolves.