Brief: AI Adoption Prerequisites

This resource breaks down the essential financial, technical, governance, and workforce conditions colleges need to put in place to move from scattered experiments to responsible, mission-aligned AI adoption.

Based on interviews with 33 institutional leaders across 2- and 4-year colleges, our research highlighted that scaling AI in higher education requires more than enthusiasm or pilot projects. Leaders consistently pointed to a set of prerequisites, spanning funding, infrastructure, governance, and human capacity, that must be in place for adoption to be effective, equitable, and sustainable.