In a world reshaped by rapid technological and social change, cultural futurist Dr Ulcca Joshi Hansen offers a deeply human lens on how we learn, connect and thrive.

As we count down to hearing Ulcca's keynote at our inaugural CIS India Institute on International Admission & Guidance in New Delhi in April, we share this short Q&A where she reflects on identity, belonging and the future of education, drawing on insights from a life lived across cultures. 

CIS Member schools still have time to register for the Institute by 27 March 2026

Q: What are the key challenges that counsellors and university recruitment reps face in supporting students making the transition from secondary school to higher education?

School and university professionals face the challenge of living in two worlds at once: the world as it is and the world that is emerging.

The reality is that our PK-12 and post-secondary systems—their structures, their credentialing, their measures of success—are not well-aligned with the world young people are actually entering. And while institutions, employers, and parents are slow to adjust their expectations, those of us on the front lines chose this work because we want to serve young people well.

This creates a specific kind of tension. We are asked to help students succeed in a system we know is insufficient, while also trying to develop capacities in them that the system does not measure or reward.

We coach students to write essays that demonstrate reflection and self-knowledge, knowing their schools may not have created space for that kind of thinking. We help them navigate admissions processes designed for a different era while trying to prepare them for a future we cannot fully see.

The key challenge, then, is getting comfortable with discomfort.

We are trying to live in the world as it is, even as we work to build the world that needs to be. This requires holding complexity, resisting the urge toward false certainty, and recognizing that our daily conversations with students may be more transformative than any systemic reform.

Q: Give us a 'sneak peek' into your keynote. What key takeaways can your attendees expect?

Young people today need to navigate a world fundamentally different from the one our established systems were designed to serve.

Our PK-12 and post-secondary institutions were built around the assumption that a definable set of knowledge and skills could be credentialed to ensure preparation for life and employment. That assumption has been eroding for decades, but developments in AI are making its inadequacy undeniable.

Less than a decade ago, we told students that coding was a foundational skill for success.

Today, AI writes complex code in minutes.

So, what does this mean for how we think about the purpose of education—and the work of those who support students through transitions?

I will invite attendees to consider what it means to develop our humanity as fully as possible in order to be co-intelligent with technologies like AI.

Drawing on neuroscience, developmental psychology, and systems thinking, I will explore the capacities that remain distinctly human—and how our current structures often work against their development.

Most importantly, I will challenge the assumption that we are powerless in the face of seemingly intractable obstacles like parent expectations, university admissions requirements, and institutional inertia.

We have more agency than we think. Every conversation with a student is an opportunity to model a different way of thinking. The question is whether we will use that agency—and what it requires of us to do so.

Q: List three reasons why secondary school university guidance counsellors and international student admissions professionals should attend your keynote?

1. To see the bigger picture. The daily demands of this work can be consuming—the applications, the anxious students, the parent emails, the deadlines. This session offers a chance to step back and understand the larger forces shaping the landscape: why the tension between what students need and what systems reward feels so acute, and where we are in a larger arc of transformation. Perspective creates breathing room.
    
2. To understand the gap, and your place in it. There is a growing disconnect between what institutions measure and what the world requires. Counsellors and admissions professionals are positioned at precisely this fault line. This session will help you name what you are already sensing, give you language for the tension you navigate daily, and clarify the real value of the work you do—even when systems don't recognize it.
    
3. To reclaim your agency. It is easy to feel constrained by forces beyond your control—admissions requirements, rankings, institutional policies, parent expectations. But the truth is that every conversation you have with a student is an intervention. You have more influence than you think. This session will challenge you to consider how you show up in your sphere of control, and what becomes possible when you show up differently.