What Is a University For? Higher Education in An Age of Uncertainty

Description from DukeHub

Universities are among the most influential institutions in modern society. They educate students, produce new knowledge, advance economic development, prepare citizens and leaders, and help societies understand themselves. Yet they face growing pressures from declining public trust, political polarization, technological disruption, economic change, and disagreement about their core purposes and responsibilities.

Skills

• policy and lawdepartment: PUBPOL

AI-resilient: 1 of 5 1/5

• No: Physical, lab or field work
• No: Live work with people
• ✓Yes: Judgment someone is accountable for · "justice"
• No: A craft you practice with your hands or body
• No: Small, in-person format

The checks lean on Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025), which found generative AI applies least to physical work and hands-on work with people. A signal, not a promise. How the score works

More in PUBPOL

• Introduction to Policy Analysis PUBPOL 101D
• Risk, Rules, and the American Social Safety Net PUBPOL 109CNS
• Governing Corporate Power: Rules, Democracy, and Human Rights PUBPOL 113CNS
• Applied Statistics for Public Policy PUBPOL 150D
• Who Gets What - and Why? Public Policy, Health, and Opportunity in the US PUBPOL 191CC
• Leadership, Policy, and Change PUBPOL 260S

All PUBPOL courses · All of Undergraduate