Professor Alan Chan, Provost of Singapore Management University (SMU), said universities must help learners use AI effectively without letting essential human capabilities erode. He spoke on a panel titled “AI, Education, and Asia’s Economic Competitiveness” at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2026 in Singapore, held 7 to 9 October under the theme “Leading with Intelligence”.
Panellists from Schweizer World Group, Education in Motion and GLOBIS University agreed AI can help educators with lesson planning and resource development, and help students with research. They stressed it should deepen learning rather than provide shortcuts. The source reports panel views, not a new SMU or government policy.
What Professor Chan said about coursework and first jobs
- Curricula and assessment need rethinking so students understand AI beyond prompt engineering and can exercise sound judgement.
- Entry-level jobs will continue to exist, but expectations attached to them are likely to rise without a corresponding increase in pay.
- He named resilience, curiosity and creativity as future workforce needs, with experiential and co-curricular learning complementing classroom study.
When comparing university programmes
- Ask how courses assess essays now that AI exists; Prof Chan suggested structuring them as interrogative exercises with AI or other sources.
- Check whether a programme offers experiential and co-curricular learning, which Prof Chan said will grow in importance alongside classroom teaching.