Turning AI ambition into action

The skills agenda remains an important factor for universities and students. Where have those skills changed and how is your university leading the conversation?

The most significant change is that digital competence now affects almost every profession. AI and data skills matter in business, engineering, law and design, although their application differs considerably. Universities need to help students understand those differences and use technology responsibly within their chosen disciplines.

At ASU, our approach is to connect a foundation in AI literacy with learning that is specific to each profession. An engineering student should be able to assess an AI-assisted technical solution; a business student should understand how data informs decisions; and a law student should recognise questions of accountability, privacy and intellectual property. In each case, students must be able to evaluate an output and explain their own judgement.

This also changes what we ask of our academic staff. Curriculum development needs to include authentic problems, discussion and assessment that demonstrate understanding. Through ASU AI Plus, we are working towards a coordinated approach to staff development and the integration of AI across disciplines.

Our professional advisory boards provide an important channel for employers to shape this conversation. We are asking them to contribute to real challenges that can inform student projects and applied research. Alongside this, we are exploring professional certifications that can complement degree programmes. The aim is to help students demonstrate what they can do and give working professionals accessible opportunities to update their skills.

What is a challenge in your region that universities alone cannot solve, and what are the key partnership areas that can?

One challenge is translating investment in education and research into productive employment and innovation that organisations actually use. Universities can prepare graduates and generate knowledge, but employment and adoption also depend on employers, public policy, funding and the willingness of organisations to try new approaches.

The partnerships we need must therefore extend across the whole journey from identifying a problem to implementing a solution. Employers can help define the skills they need and provide placements, project supervision and access to operational challenges. Government bodies can identify national priorities and create opportunities for universities to contribute. Professional organisations can help establish recognised standards of competence.

At ASU, I want our advisory boards and external partnerships to support that journey more consistently. We are developing the idea of an industry AI challenge bank so that teaching and research can address problems raised by potential users themselves. We have also proposed research-to-market and innovation-to-market competitions for postgraduate students and final-year projects, with attention to validation, external users and possible adoption.

International university partnerships have a complementary role. They can connect our researchers with specialist expertise and give students access to different professional and cultural settings. Their value should be assessed through the opportunities and results they produce: collaborative projects, stronger graduate capabilities and solutions that partners are willing to pilot.

Where are the greatest opportunities for Arab region universities and how can institutions take advantage of them?

I see a major opportunity for Arab universities to become trusted partners in the transformation of their economies. The region’s ambitions in areas such as AI, sustainable infrastructure and entrepreneurship create questions that require both academic expertise and a detailed understanding of local conditions.

Universities can contribute by choosing areas where they have credible strengths and building sustained relationships around them. This requires programmes developed with employers, research organised around relevant problems, and opportunities for students to participate in work beyond the classroom. Institutions should be clear about where they can make a useful contributions and invest in the people and facilities needed to deliver them.

A second opportunity is international education. Bahrain offers a setting in which universities can connect the Gulf with partners in Europe, Asia and Africa. At ASU, we see potential in student mobility, joint programmes, research collaboration and progression pathways that make international education more accessible.

Regional cooperation can strengthen these efforts. Arab universities could share specialist expertise, develop joint research projects and make it easier for students to learn across institutions. To take advantage of these opportunities, we need to give partnerships clear academic ownership, practical plans and measures of progress. A signed agreement is a starting point; sustained collaboration depends on colleagues working together and students experiencing its benefits.

If you could set the direction for all of higher education, toward which one area would you direct the sector?

I would direct higher education towards developing the capacity to turn knowledge into responsible action. Graduates should leave university able to investigate a problem, judge evidence, work with others and apply what they have learned in unfamiliar situations.

This direction would influence the whole institution. Teaching would give students more opportunities to tackle authentic problems and defend their reasoning. Research would maintain its scholarly standards while paying greater attention to who could use its findings and how. Partnerships would create settings in which students and researchers could test ideas with external users.

AI makes this particularly urgent. As access to information and automated outputs expands, universities must help students develop judgement, intellectual independence and a sense of responsibility. They need to know when an answer is reliable, when further evidence is required and when a decision has consequences for other people.

At ASU, this is the ambition behind connecting AI literacy, disciplinary learning, staff development and external challenges through ASU AI Plus. We are still building that capability, and its success will need to be demonstrated through outcomes. My guiding question is simple: how has a university education strengthened this person’s ability to contribute? I would like that question to have a central place in how the sector defines progress.