Google.org Backs Three AI-Readiness Projects for Universities and Community Colleges

Educators across 30 universities will test AI-integrated approaches to supporting adult learners, while community colleges prepare for a wider redesign effort. Those projects are part of Google.org’s support for three higher-education initiatives, announced at the EDUCAUSE annual conference on September 30, 2026. The work targets advising, career-connected learning and institutional planning—not just access to AI tools.

The Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, or USU, is working with the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities to enhance its Urban Adult Learner Institute. The institute’s professional development certification will incorporate Grow with Google resources and AI-integrated lessons, giving faculty, advisors and other higher-education practitioners hands-on tasks.

Google frames the training around a persistent student-support problem. It says learners aged 25 and older have made up at least a third of higher-education enrollments for decades, yet return for a second year at a rate 35 percentage points below traditional-age students.

The university trials are meant to identify methods other schools can replicate. Google says the practical exercises should help institutions offer better career guidance and support adult learners’ success.

A second USU project focuses on career-oriented community-based learning enhanced by AI. Google presents it as a response to demand from students and employers for approaches that can reach more people than traditional internships. The stated goal is flexible work-based learning across different academic disciplines.

Over the next 15 months, USU will collect and qualitatively analyze 10 models at member institutions. That means examining how the models work, rather than announcing a single standardized program for every campus. USU also plans to publish case studies and convene a working group to develop a research and practice agenda.

The third initiative supports Education Design Lab’s Reimagining Community Colleges program. A national competition planned for early 2027 will select a state-level community-college system for a two-year effort using technology-enabled solutions to better serve students. The next phase will apply the Lab’s Future of Learning framework to institutional redesign.

This is an extension of existing work, not a newly created college-redesign program. In its July 16 announcement, Education Design Lab said five colleges had completed transformation plans and were moving into implementation. That announcement already identified initial Google.org support for the planned 2027 competition, putting this part of the EDUCAUSE news in a longer timeline.

The existing plans show what redesign can mean beyond adopting software. They differ by college and region, but the Lab describes a shared shift toward learner experience and employer demand rather than institutional structures. Three examples illustrate the kinds of changes already being pursued:

• Forsyth Technical Community College is moving beyond enrollment and completion metrics to ask whether learning leads to living wages, meaningful careers and long-term advancement.
• Lone Star College-Tomball aims to give students evidence of durable skills and language employers can understand, rather than relying on transcripts alone.
• Rio Salado College’s plan emphasizes flexible pathways, stackable credentials and opportunities for adult learners to return, enter or leave at different points.