2026 EDUCAUSE Top 10
#7: Technology Literacy for the Future Workforce

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What does it mean to be an educated and workforce-prepared student?

While traditional ideas of preparedness emphasize discipline-specific concepts and skills, today's workforce demands fluency with technology, data, and, increasingly, AI. Across many disciplines, students aren't fully educated and prepared to enter the workforce if they cannot meaningfully engage with the technologies and data capabilities that support those disciplines.

A recent National Skills Coalition study analyzed more than 43 million job postings and found that 92 percent of jobs in the United States require digital literacy skills and proficiency across a range of specific industry- and role-based technologies and systems.^Footnote1 The study also found that nearly a third of the U.S. workforce has "little to no" digital literacy skills, revealing a digital skills gap that higher education institutions are increasingly seeing the need to fill.^Footnote2

AI adoption is spreading quickly across the workforce, becoming more necessary than nice-to-have as a skill for future students. According to a recent survey conducted by Microsoft and LinkedIn of more than 31,000 professionals from around the world, "66 percent of leaders say they wouldn't hire someone without AI skills," and "71 percent say they'd rather hire a less experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them."^Footnote3

Preparing students for jobs in 2026 and beyond requires embedding AI and other technologies as a core competency in their education and training. Importantly, each discipline has its own applications for and challenges with technology, so technology leaders will need to collaborate closely with department and program leaders to design technology literacy efforts that meet specific industry and profession needs. This will demand continuous assessment of the curriculum as well, and academic decision-making processes that can match the agility and speed of the AI marketplace.^Footnote4

Perhaps just as important, institutions will need to construct new bridges to industry partners, who can provide critical guidance on the skills and competencies that are expected of students entering the workforce. These partnerships could even lead to opportunities for students, such as internships and certifications, that could help them achieve the digital proficiency necessary for their future jobs.

Ways to Get Started

Through our panelist interviews and community survey, technology leaders noted some ways institutions might prepare students with the technology literacy they'll need:

• Facilitate conversations among your faculty and department leadership aimed at redesigning curriculum to respond to workforce changes. Program- and discipline-specific technology requirements must be shaped and supported by faculty, not only to help ensure these skills are grounded and integrated into the students' educational journey, but also to promote faculty buy-in rather than resistance. As one survey respondent said, "Discussions at the program or major level will help faculty develop a shared understanding of what their graduates will need and where in the curriculum it makes the most sense to build [technology] skills and literacies."
• Beyond the curriculum, institutions should embed technology skills—and AI skills specifically—into the holistic student experience. Initiatives that enrich student learning and development should incorporate these competencies, and technology leaders should be included in campus-wide conversations with student experience leaders about preparing well-rounded students for the future.

Notes

1. Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, Roderick Taylor, with Nye Hodge, Closing the Digital Skill Divide: The Payoff for Workers, Business, and the Economy, (National Skills Coalition, February 2023). Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.↩
2. Lauren Coffey, "Digital Media Literacy Becoming a Graduation Requirement," Inside Higher Ed, March 26, 2024. Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.↩
3. Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report (Microsoft, May 2024), 10, 13. Jump back to footnote 3 in the text.↩
4. Creating the AI-Enabled Community College: A Road Map for Using Generative AI to Accelerate Student Success, (Achieving the Dream, July 2025). Jump back to footnote 4 in the text.↩

Isabel Gallin is Vice President of EUNIS and Relationship Manager at Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Germany.

Jennifer Haas is Chief Information Officer and Vice President for Information Technology Services at Macalester College.

John McGuthry is Vice President and Chief Information Officer at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

David McMorries is Chief Information Security Officer at Oregon State University.

Jesus Ramirez is Director of Student Products at University of California, Los Angeles.