Duflo Urges Colleges to Prioritize Adaptability

On Jan. 19, 2026, Nobel laureate Esther Duflo told attendees at the 19th Jaipur Literature Festival that rapid technological change is shortening the lifespan of many job-specific skills and warned that narrow vocational training risks leaving graduates unprepared. She urged colleges to prioritize critical thinking, adaptability, humanities, and foundational concepts such as probability and statistics to sustain lifelong learning and sound judgment in an AI-driven labor market.