Solis: Here’s why STC is not considering offering a Bachelor’s degree in AI

MCALLEN, Texas – South Texas College President Ricardo Solis says he is not even considering starting a bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence because things are changing so fast in that sector.

Solis spoke about the likely impact of AI during his opening remarks at this year’s Workforce Summit. This is the third year STC has staged the summit, and every year Solis likes to discuss one particular buzzword. This year it was artificial intelligence.

“Things are moving so fast. Of course, we all know that. We heard about it, and I mentioned it right here a year ago: artificial intelligence. That is what we’re going to see, a big change now. But I’m not going to even try to go there, (to) try to predict where that is going to take us, because it’s a total new ball game,” Solis said.

“It’s going to move so fast that all this software coming out, you’ve heard of ChatGPT and so on. All of those (programs) are going to be obsolete by the end of this year. There’s going to be some other software, other applications, other uses for it, that is going to be impacting our daily workforce, our daily commute, our daily systems administration, etc. It’s going to change everything.”

Solis continued: “It’s going to move so fast that I can’t wait for a year from now. We’re going to be standing here and we’re going to be talking about all the achievements and how it has changed our life in less than a year. All of this, the AI revolution, (it’s) going to be so exciting, especially all the uses of it, the tools are we going to be able to adopt it to.”

Solis then explained how STC is being impacted by AI.

“We are certainly using this already, in our programmatic… we’re using it already in our courses, our faculty is using it very heavily in the programs, and we’re not even ready to provide a bachelor’s degree in AI because it’s going to change so fast that it would not be fair for us to even do that, because it would be like us having to go to the university all over again a year from now and start all over again.”

Solis added: “That’s how quickly it’s going to change, and that’s how, why you see a lot of euphoria and excitement about AI, the uses of it… we still don’t know, but the uses are endless. And I’m sure many of you have already experimented with it and tried using it, and you’re going to see a lot many other software uses for it.”

Just as AI is the great disrupter in the world today, Solis likes to think STC is the great disrupter in education in the Rio Grande Valley. He started his speech by talking about the transformation the college is making to the region.

“This is what we do… transforming our communities, disrupting the community, and most importantly, being relative to what is needed here. That’s what we do best,” he said.

Nearshoring

A buzzword at previous Workforce Summits has been nearshoring. Solis mentioned the subject again this year.

“Three years ago, when we were here, we talked about, where are we going, where we’re heading with economy. And, as you recall, it (nearshoring) was all the rage about after the pandemic, the supply chains management,” Solis said.

“A year later, the big topic, and I’m glad that I was one of the first ones to predict it… talking about the nearshoring, all of that that was going to be taking place from Asia to Mexico and to the US.”

Irrespective of who was going to be the next president, Solis said he and others had already envisioned the impact of nearshoring. “What was going to happen in changing the economy, changing the transportation, changing commerce, nearshoring along the border.”

Solis said the phenomenon continues to provide opportunities for the U.S.-Mexico border region.

“That’s why I get so excited about where we are located. We’re in the most enviable location along the US Mexico border, South Texas, working together with Mexico. And, speaking of Mexico… we are about to hopefully announce very soon our partnership with the Instituto Internacional Educación Superior in Reynosa.”

The founder of IIES, Rosendo Martinez, was in the audience. Solis said maquiladora workers in Reynosa would be able to take STC courses under the new partnership.

“We’re very excited that we’re going to continue seeing these types of new alliances and taking advantage of our location… here on the US-Mexico.”

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the opening remarks President Solis made at the summit:

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