From knowledge to durable skills: rethinking higher education

What should universities teach in the age of AI?

In this episode of Education Futures, Svenia Busson speaks with Art Markman, Chief Academic Officer at Minerva University and a leading expert in cognitive science, decision-making, and learning.

With a career spanning academia, research, and applied learning design, Art brings a powerful perspective on how education must evolve — not just to keep up with AI, but to remain relevant in a rapidly changing world.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why education should focus on “far transfer” — the ability to apply knowledge across contexts

• The shift from teaching content → developing durable skills (reasoning, communication, empathy, systems thinking)

• Why most universities are still structured like they were centuries ago

• How Minerva Project is redesigning higher education from first principles

• Why grades and transcripts fail to capture real learning

• How AI is reshaping the role of assignments, assessment, and feedback

• Why trying to ban AI in universities is the wrong approach

• How AI can be used as a tutor, feedback engine, and learning accelerator

To go further:

Minerva University: https://www.minerva.edu/

UT Austin’s Homegrown AI Tutor Platform: https://tech.utexas.edu/news/ut-austin-and-aws-launch-ut-sage-ut-austins-homegrown-ai-tutor-platform