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The University of Texas\u2019 Main Mall is crowded with students in this file photo. Undergraduate and graduate students will face tuition and fee increases in the next two academic years. 2008 AMERICAN-STATESMAN<\/p>\n
Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
A new era of Ivy League schools<\/a>\u00a0is here, and they aren\u2019t restricted to the Northeast like the original eight \u2014 two can be found in Texas.<\/p>\n The U.S. workforce is rapidly changing, thanks in large part to the mass adoption of artificial intelligence. The implications can be seen in layoffs within some of the world\u2019s largest companies<\/a> \u2014 like Amazon, Oracle and Google \u2014 as software engineers and customer service representatives are among the most AI-vulnerable jobs.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Researchers at Stanford\u2019s Digital Economy Lab found<\/a> employment among people ages 22 to 25 in the most AI-vulnerable jobs had dropped 16% through last October, even as other age groups remained consistent. Recent data shows overall unemployment among new college graduates (5.6%) is higher than the average for all U.S. workers (4.2%), according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n With these employment trends, colleges are challenged with justifying high tuition costs by preparing students for careers capable of paying off student loans. In its third annual list of \u201cNew Ivies<\/a>,\u201d Forbes set out to determine which college alumni were favored by employers.<\/p>\n Which Texas colleges stood out among the nation\u2019s top institutions? Here\u2019s what Forbes’ survey revealed about higher education trends.<\/p>\n Read more: Texas graduate school rankings are out. Here’s where UT Austin and Texas A&M landed<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n How AI is changing hiring practices for new grads<\/p>\n Forbes expanded the survey beyond rating schools this year. More than 100\u00a0C-suite and hiring executives were also asked how AI was changing how they hire new grads.<\/p>\n Of the executives in Forbes’ survey, nearly one in four said \u201cAI would reduce their need for entry level college graduates,\u201d while three in five said it would influence their staffing needs.<\/p>\n \u201cArtificial intelligence has entirely redefined the anatomy of the entry level role,\u201d one C-suite executive said. \u201cConsequently, the baseline for new hires has skyrocketed and lessened our need for traditional entry level headcount.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u00a0A view of the “Statement on AI Training” at the “AI, Creativity, And The Fight Around Fair Use” session durning the 2025 SXSW Conference and Festival at Hilton Austin on March 11, 2025 in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n Tibrina Hobson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n America\u2019s top schools are adapting to meet this demand. In December, Indiana\u2019s Purdue University became the first U.S. college to add \u201cAI working competency\u201d to its graduation requirements.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most promising talents today are beginning to emerge from institutions that prioritize intellectual rigor over inherited prestige,\u201d another C-suite executive told Forbes, adding that the ideal graduate has received training that provides \u201ccomplex emotional intelligence, radical adaptability and visionary creativity to orchestrate AI tools rather than compete with them.\u201d<\/p>\n Are the Ancient Eight losing status?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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