Higher Education with AI: Focusing on Technological Innovation in China

This chapter explores higher education with AI in China. Artificial intelligence, as the core driving force of the new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, is profoundly reshaping the ecosystem of higher education. Based on the background of the national education digitalization strategy, this paper systematically explores the mechanism and practical paths of the role of artificial intelligence technology in promoting technological innovation and interdisciplinary integration in higher education. The “Education Strong Country Construction Plan Outline (2024–2035)” clearly states that it is necessary to promote the transformation of education with the help of artificial intelligence. The “15th Five-Year Plan” period is the “critical five years” for the development of higher education in China, and it deeply analyzes the four core challenges currently faced by higher education in the application of intelligent technologies: the tension between technology empowerment and educational orientation, the contradiction between intelligent gap and educational equity, the obstacles of disciplinary barriers and interdisciplinary integration, and the disconnection between talent cultivation and industrial demands. In response to these challenges, systematic countermeasures are proposed from three dimensions: first, by establishing an artificial intelligence first-level discipline and “AI+X” and “X+AI” interdisciplinary groups to reconstruct the knowledge system; second, building a multi-level talent cultivation model from general literacy to outstanding innovation; third, improving the national-led frontier research layout and the collaborative mechanism of industry–university–research–application. Only by constructing an intelligent education ecosystem that integrates technology empowerment, humanistic leadership, and institutional guarantee can we truly achieve the connotative development and digital transformation of higher education.