The Core Mission of Universities in the AI Era is Cultivating Judgment

On November 3, 2026, China Science Report reported that Cornell University released the report 'The Future of American Universities,' stating that universities should take cultivating judgment as their core mission in the AI era. The report emphasizes that judgment is defined as the ability to make responsible decisions in situations without standard answers, requiring situational education. Chinese universities face challenges in cultivating judgment, including cognitive outsourcing, resource constraints, evaluation mechanisms, and cultural inertia, and need to systematically reform teaching methods, evaluation systems, and cultural orientations.

The report states that judgment is irreplaceable in the AI era and needs to be cultivated through situational education. Chinese universities face challenges including cognitive outsourcing, resource constraints, evaluation mechanisms, and cultural inertia, requiring systematic reforms in teaching methods, evaluation systems, and cultural orientations. Judgment cultivation needs to shift from knowledge delivery to situational design Evaluation mechanisms need to shift from result correctness to process visibility