News

International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) President Shawn Chen speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at The Westin Josun hotel, Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Seoul Cyber University.

International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) President Shawn Chen said change is a must for universities around the world as artificial intelligence (AI) defines the new norm in higher education.

The founder of Sias University visited Korea to celebrate the organization’s 60th anniversary. Although the purpose of his visit was to mark the IAUP’s milestone, Chen expressed concerns about higher education’s slow pace in embracing new technology during an interview with The Korea Times.

“Education had always helped people be ahead of their time. But it is much more behind industry now. Industry is much more innovative and open,” he said during the interview at The Westin Josun Seoul, Tuesday.

“If you can call education an enterprise or industry, it is the largest one. The U.S. has about 4,000 universities, while China has 3,400. For each country, universities or higher education is the largest industry. So, it is hard to change.”

Despite higher education’s conservative nature, Chen stressed that universities need to adapt to an AI-centered educational landscape.

“Whether they welcome it or not, it is already here with us. You cannot stop the inevitable, like raining or snowing,” he pointed out.

“Students are, on the other hand, more open than school faculty. They are all using those tools before our faculty does. Some teachers or schools do not want their students to use ChatGPT or Gemini because they don’t want them to cheat. It is not cheating anymore. We just live in a different time now. Farmers used to use bare hands or simple tools before they started using tractors or machines. So, I would like to say education must be open. And we must embrace whatever is coming and realize that we live in such a time.”

He suggested that higher education now needs to change its curriculum in order to help students develop better abilities to use AI.

“We are leading for redesigning the curriculum to offer ‘AI plus X and Y educational models’ for students. Here, the ‘X’ is each student’s major and the ‘Y’ is their micromajor for their future career path,” Chen said.

“(Due to the emergence of AI) everybody now needs to study not only bachelor’s but also master’s nowadays. Japan, for example, has come up with a five-year plan for a bachelor’s and master’s degree together.”

Chen emphasized that universities and higher education institutions still need to offer a wide range of programs for students, despite the seemingly all-powerful capabilities of various AI-powered technologies.

“Everybody has a smartphone. Smartphones can answer anything. Yet, a smartphone is just a smartphone,” he said.

“It may be another head or brain to us. It can help us become much smarter. We only need to teach how students use the another head, another brain, to complete whatever they would like to do.”

He also stressed that higher education still has something to offer students that AI cannot replace.

“It is a big debate. Some people have fear that we don’t need universities anymore because of the belief that AI can do everything better than we do. But it cannot replace everything, such as moral systems, art and our delicate human nature.”

Before he was appointed as president of IAUP, Chen received several awards from both Chinese and American institutions, as well as various government departments. Recent honors include those from the Provincial Government of Henan, the Zhengzhou Municipal Government, the Kansas state government and its governor, the Los Angeles city government and its mayor.

This article was originally published by The Korea Times. You can read the original version here: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/lifestyle/people-events/20251017/iaup-president-calls-for-educational-institutions-to-embrace-ai-emergence