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As artificial intelligence continues to upend industry and jobs, choosing degrees that will withstand the disruption and prepare students for future jobs is becoming increasingly important.<\/p>\n
Monash University\u2019s faculty of information technology deputy dean, Professor Jean-Guy Schneider, said in the past few years, there has been a strong growth in demand for AI study, particularly at postgraduate level, as well as across undergraduate courses.<\/p>\n
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Universities are developing new AI-centric degrees.Andrew Quilty<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s especially notable is the increasing interest in double degrees combining IT with disciplines from across the university, showing students recognise the jobs of the future will require deep technology skills alongside expertise in other fields,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Monash is developing a new applied AI degree that is designed to prepare graduates to implement AI beyond the classroom, from healthcare and finance to engineering and public services, where skills are already in critical demand.<\/p>\n
Other popular degrees at Monash include bachelor\u2019s degrees in science, engineering (honours), arts, business and biomedical.<\/p>\n
Macquarie University\u2019s deputy vice-chancellor, Professor Eric Knight, has seen a growing interest in courses that train teachers, including bachelor degrees in education and engineering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also seen a lot of interest in our growing range of health courses, including the bachelor of psychology and our new bachelor of health sciences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Macquarie\u2019s other top enrolments include bachelor degrees in commerce, psychology, and media and communications.<\/p>\n
All degrees must include AI component<\/p>\n
Global technology futurist, Dr Bruce McCabe, said every process in every job across every industry would be affected by AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll aspects will be changed. What I see is that most people grossly underestimate what\u2019s coming in all parts of AI. What we\u2019re seeing today is nothing compared to what\u2019s coming even in the next few years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Editor’s pick With this in mind, McCabe said every course at university needs to include a component that demonstrates how to best use AI in that field. \u201cOtherwise, we are selling the students short,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re doing a degree or even a course in carpentry, you need some sort of module to cover how to use AI in your industry, or you won\u2019t be competitive.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t predict a job apocalypse, but what I do predict is a marked increase in wealth disparity; those who are using the right AI tools to multiply their impact, will do well.\u201d<\/p>\n Opportunities<\/p>\n McCabe said some of the new opportunities are more specialised, such as data. He sees data training as a central feature of jobs in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cMany businesses are going to need data curators,\u201d he says. \u201cThese are employees who are literally only responsible for the company\u2019s information or data; maintaining inventory and looking at how it can be used to create value to train AI.\u201d<\/p>\n He said professionals who were responsible for the quality control of that data would also be needed in businesses such as banks, insurance companies or airlines. An outbound AI customer service job is another potential role.<\/p>\n \u201cThink of AI customer agents or orchestrators who manage outbound communication,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s no different to managing people. Someone has to assess what the customer experience has been like by listening to it, researching and managing it.\u201d<\/p>\n McCabe said there was also a lot of AI interacting with AI in the business-to-business domain.<\/p>\n \u201cThink of any supply chain, such as construction or automative parts or labour value chains. In all of these, the brokering of deals will increasingly involve machines talking to machines,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n According to McCabe, the current jobs at risk include basic reporting, interpreting, technical writing, telesales, audio production, advertising in the traditional sense, and straightforward coding and programming.<\/p>\n Get workplace news, advice and perspectives to help make your job work for you. Sign up for our weekly Thank God it\u2019s Monday newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n![\"Want](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768977550_203_413ada41f6335fad7d3d55c1587a188b5642e1b7.jpeg\")
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