📣 2 Weeks to Go. Don’t miss the Back to School Summit where leaders are driving the Future of Learning.

Hello 👋

The 24th Annual Back to School Summit (Sept 09–11, NYC) is where education’s most influential leaders across policy, philanthropy, institutions, and industry come together to shape the future.

Time is running out to secure your spot to join the conversations redefining AI, higher education, workforce, and philanthropy—all in one place. These tracks don’t exist in silos; they intersect, collide, and influence one another. These conversations and insights will drive next year’s strategies.

AI and Digital Transformation. Institutions are tackling AI from every angle: enterprise adoption, pilots, policy, governance, and literacy. From infrastructure to ethics, these sessions surface both big opportunities and critical risks. Expect a mix of opportunity and caution from educations’ leaders in the space.

Empire AI: Building New York’s Public Infrastructure for Responsible AI Leadership Chris Connor (University of Buffalo) • Venu Govindaraju (University of Buffalo) • Maria Spies (HolonIQ QS)

AI Literacy: Navigating Policy, Skills, and Strategy in Education Erin Mote (InnovateEDU) • Isabelle Hau (Stanford Accelerator for Learning) • Karen Quanbeck (Colorado Education Initiative)

Invisible Online: How to Get Found When AI Answers First Beth Hollenberg (Everspring) • James Moore (DePaul University Richard H. Driehaus College of Business)

Higher Education and Workforce. Universities are examining and expanding their role in economic development from skills-first pathways to bold funding models. Expect conversations on new models for micro-credentials, employability, industry partnerships, and financial resilience.

Apprenticeships 3.0: Reimagining Workforce Development in a Changing Policy Landscape John Colburn (Apprenticeships for America) • Ryan Craig (Achieve Partners)

High Stakes, Hard Choices: Navigating Institutional Accountability and Regulatory Change in Higher Ed Phil Hill (Phil Hill Associates)

Career Readiness Reimagined: Meeting Students Where They Are
Kemi Jona (University of Virginia) • Rob Magliaro (Google)

Philanthropy and Foundations. Funders are betting big on systemic approaches. Expect deep dives on AI, equitable talent pipelines, and bold new pathways to drive impact at scale.

Philanthropy, AI, and Education Kumar Garg (Renaissance Philanthropy • Allison Scott (Kapor Foundation) • Stacy Palmer (Chronicle of Philanthropy)

Roundtable. Tech Done With Us: A Technopragmatist Vision for Work, Learning, and Opportunity Josh Elder (Siegel Family Endowment) • Katy Knight (Siegel Family Endowment)

Building Better: Designing an Education Ecosystem for Breakthroughs Auditi Chakravarty (Advanced Inclusive Research and Development) • Michael Golden (University of Pennsylvania, GSE) • Donald Fennoy (Cambiar Education) • Sepehr Vakil (Northwestern University)

⭐ AI & Digital Innovation Spotlight

🤖 Grammarly launched new AI agents to help students with writing, including features for grading, citations, and plagiarism and the agents are designed to improve ethically student work and develop AI literacy for their future.

⚛  Cubby Law has launched an AI assistant for law students, offering personalized study plans and practice exams to improve academic performance. The tool is designed to provide secure assistance while preserving academic integrity.

⚡Anthropic introduced new features to Claude AI which attempt to provide step-by-step directions for learners instead of direct answers. 

🤝 Policy & Partnerships

🤖 ChinaSoft has partnered with Huawei and launched the “Ascend + Zhiyun AI Program” to support AI training and innovation in universities, aiming to integrate computing power, models, tools, and courses for implementation.

🎓 The University of Cebu and De La Salle University signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on AI education and research, aiming to advance initiatives and innovation in the region.

💡 Alef Education and Liquid AI partnered to integrate Liquid AI’s on-device generative models into Alef’s AI educational solutions, aiming to enhance workflows, improve personalization, and maintain privacy and scalability across learning environments.

💪 Power Moves & Funding

🎓 Ellucian and Nous Group partnered to enhance the digital student experience in Australian universities, streamline technology adoption, and manage change.

✈️ Loft Dynamics, a Swiss company specializing in virtual reality flight training, secured $24M to expand into commercial aviation, with smaller, more affordable systems. 

💡 Evulpo, a Zurich-based AI-powered learning platform, has secured $10.7M to fuel the innovation and to fully adopt adaptive lesson creation. 

🖥️ Yourway Learning, a US-based K-12 learning platform, announced that it has raised $9M to rollout out its AI-powered platform for K-12 schools and districts. 

📢 Impact Futures Group, a UK-based apprenticeship and training provider, has acquired another apprenticeship provider, Captiva Learning.