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The Formation of AI Capital in Higher Education: Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance and Employment Rates

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  • Drydakis, Nick

    (Anglia Ruskin University)

Abstract

The study evaluates the effectiveness of a 12-week AI module delivered to non-STEM university students in England, aimed at building students’ AI Capital. An integral part of the process involved the development and validation of the AI Capital of Students scale, used to measure AI Capital before and after the educational intervention. The module was delivered on four occasions to final-year students between 2023 and 2024, with follow-up data collected on students’ employment status. Moreover, AI Capital is positively associated with academic performance in AI-related coursework. However, disparities persist.students, White students, and those with stronger backgrounds in mathematics and empirical methods achieved higher levels of AI Capital and academic success. Furthermore, enhanced AI Capital is associated with higher employment rates six months after graduation. To provide a theoretical foundation for this pedagogical intervention, the study introduces and validates the AI Learning–Capital–Employment Transition model, which conceptualises the pathway from structured AI education to the development of AI Capital and, in turn, to improved employment outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Drydakis, Nick, 2025. "The Formation of AI Capital in Higher Education: Enhancing Students’ Academic Performance and Employment Rates," IZA Discussion Papers 18138, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18138
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    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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