Agentic AI in Education: Reshaping Student Support, Engagement, and Administration

Education stands at its biggest crossroads since the printed textbook. The first digital wave placed PDF hand‑outs and video calls on top of 20th‑century pedagogy; it digitised paper but rarely changed the process. The second wave, Agentic Artificial Intelligence, is different. Autonomous, goal‑driven software agents now read the context, make decisions, and collaborate with humans to deliver outcomes. They are not tools we click; they are colleagues who act. This shift arrives just as institutions around the world confront contradictory pressures: budgets are tightening, yet stakeholders demand round‑the‑clock personalised attention; global enrolment is climbing, yet one‑to‑one mentorship remains the benchmark of student success. Agentic AI promises to square that circle by delivering human‑quality support to every learner without ballooning payroll. From Automation to Autonomy Early campus chatbots resembled interactive FAQs. They followed decision trees and returned canned answers, ...