The University of Hawaiʻi system has made progress in developing artificial intelligence as an area of study — and an asset to use at the school.
UH is focusing even more on AI in 2026 with plans to introduce an online AI literacy course.
It’s also using technology to make sure more students in Hawaiʻi have the opportunity to complete a degree completely online.
UH President Wendy Hensel sees higher education as vital to developing the next generation of workers to be critical thinkers and innovators — workers who won’t just follow, but lead the rapid development of AI in the workforce.
To do that it needs to make a UH education more accessible to more people in the islands.
Starting in the fall semester and by this time next year, UH expects to complete the first phase of a new plan to fill the gaps within its current online course offerings.
Hensel says UH officials found that sometimes two years of a program are available online, but not the third and fourth years needed to complete a degree.
She says offering degree programs completely online creates flexibility for people to pursue the amount of education they want, in a place and timeframe that they want.
Hensel says Hawaiʻi is losing students to online providers that are out of state, even though the students are still in Hawaiʻi.
She says that signals that UH can be more responsive and offer local residents an education that’s a better value, more grounded in culture, and more affordable with in-state tuition.
