A growing number of college students across the country are shunning the liberal arts in favor of majors in business, engineering, health and science. Some might be chasing higher salaries, while others see the nation’s rapid shift to AI technology as a forecast of the job market they’ll enter.
At the University of Virginia over the past decade, the number of arts, history, language and social science majors has dropped from 49% to 38%, while the number of students choosing STEM majors has increased from 35% to 44%.
But students overlooking liberal arts risk missing an important opportunity, argues the dean of UVA’s College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Christa Acampora says the surge in AI technology has made humans – and the humanities – more important than ever. She made that point at a recent talk and followed up with UVA Today about the value of a liberal arts education in an increasingly digital world.