Examining AI Readiness in non-technical University Programs: A Critical Approach

This project examines how non-technical university programmes best prepare students to work with artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector.

It takes a critical approach to AI in society and examines university programmes and teachers´ AI readiness to enable students to enter the labor market and use AI systems responsibly in their future workplaces.

Yet, it is unclear what changes university programmes need to prepare for and, more importantly, on which scientific basis AI readiness needs to be cultivated.This project aims to develop a research-based foundation for defining and assessing AI readiness in higher education programmes, specifically focusing on programmes for Social Work.The four-year project consists of three studies:  (1) a discourse analysis study examining understandings of AI readiness in national policies and university curricula, (2) an ethnographic-inspired workplace study in selected municipalities to situate knowledge gaps between the competence required in AI-mediated workplaces and the competence cultivated in higher education, and (3) a scenario-based design study to examine university teachers’ AI readiness.Taking the Social Work educational programme as an illustrative example, the proposed research has the potential to inform Swedish higher education about how AI is configuring the workplace in the public sector and the challenges that AI brings to non-technical university programmes and their teachers.