Something quietly remarkable happened in the first quarter of 2026. While the public conversation was still asking whether AI agents would really change business, Gartner reported that 40% of enterprise applications are expected to integrate task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026, up from less than 5% a year ago. G2's August 2025 survey of enterprise buyers found that 57% of companies already had AI agents in production, not as chatbots, but as autonomous systems executing workflows, monitoring compliance, and coordinating decisions across business functions.
For those of us who work at the intersection of data, analytics, and higher education, this isn't a distant trend. It's a curriculum question.
The shift is not from manual to automated. It's from tools to teammates.
For two decades, the defining promise of business intelligence has been "self-service analytics", empower every user to query, visualize, and explore data themselves. In the agentic era, the paradigm changes. AI agents are not a new tool in the analyst's toolkit; they are analysts. They plan multi-step tasks, call APIs, reason across data sources, and increasingly execute actions without waiting for a human prompt.
At Qlik Connect 2026, the message was direct: enterprises are closer to agentic AI than they think, because the foundation they already built, governed data, trusted metrics, clear business logic — is exactly what agents need to operate reliably. In February, the general availability of Qlik's Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server made it possible for third-party assistants, including Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT, to access governed enterprise data through Qlik's APIs rather than scraping dashboards. The dashboard is no longer the endpoint. It's one of many surfaces where a decision gets made.
The new skills gap is not technical. It's architectural.
Here is the uncomfortable reality: Gartner projects that over 40% of agentic AI projects will fail by 2027, not because the models aren't capable, but because legacy systems, poor data architectures, and weak governance can't support autonomous execution. Deloitte's 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise report, based on a survey of 3,235 leaders across 24 countries, found that only 25% of organizations have moved 40% or more of their AI pilots into production, and just 21% have a mature governance model for autonomous AI agents.
The scarce capability is no longer "who can build a dashboard." It is:
Who can design a KPI dictionary an agent can trust?
Who understands bounded autonomy,where humans set the rules and agents execute within them?
Who can distinguish explainable reasoning from confident hallucination?
Who can architect a data product that an agent can consume without a human in the middle?
These are not niche skills reserved for data engineers. They are the new baseline for anyone graduating into a workforce where, by 2028, Gartner estimates 15% of day-to-day decisions will be made autonomously.
The LATAM opportunity
This is where Latin America has a genuine strategic window. Our universities often face the critique of "catching up" on technology adoption. In the agentic era, that framing is misleading, the agentic shift resets the starting line for everyone. Institutions, anywhere in the world, that graduate students fluent in data governance, explainable AI, and human-agent collaboration will be the ones supplying the talent that enterprises are already scrambling to hire.
According to DataCamp's 2026 State of Data & AI Literacy Report, 88% of enterprise leaders say basic data literacy is important for day-to-day work, 60% report a data skills gap in their organization, and organizations with mature literacy programs are nearly twice as likely to see strong AI returns. The companies that will hire our graduates next year are telling us, in plain terms, what they need.
What universities can do now
Three practical moves that don't require launching a new degree program:
Teach governance alongside analytics. Every data course should include a module on trust, lineage, and explainability, not as an afterthought, but as the foundation that makes agents usable.
Shift from tool training to platform fluency. Students don't need to master one vendor; they need to understand how governed data, semantic layers, and agent orchestration fit together.
Build industry-embedded learning paths. Programs like the Qlik Academic Program exist precisely because real agentic work happens on real data with real stakes. Classroom theory is not enough.
The agentic era will not be defined by which models win. It will be defined by which people, and which regions,learned to work alongside them first.
By giving students, professors, and universities free access to analytics software, learning content, and certifications, the Qlik Academic Program helps education stay aligned with the data trends shaping 2026 and prepares learners for the jobs of tomorrow.
Join our global community for free: Qlik Academic Program: Creating a Data-Literate World
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Over the past four years, Katherine has integrated Qlik into her teaching across public health informatics, healthcare analytics, and nursing informatics education. This powerful platform has helped students transform complex datasets into meaningful insights that support informed decision-making in healthcare and population health. Through hands-on learning experiences, students gain practical skills in analyzing data, identifying trends, and developing solutions that can improve both patient and community outcomes.
Manikant says, “I feel truly honored to be recognized as a Qlik Educator Ambassador after many years of advocating analytics education. Through this role, I look forward to connecting with educators across the world, learning from global best practices, and contributing to the promotion of data literacy"
Manikant has been recognized as a “Gems of Mentor India” by the Atal Innovation Mission under NITI Aayog for mentoring school students and encouraging them to develop digital and innovation skills aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
Gabriel Geovanni Navassi Díaz quit his job. Not to step back. To move forward on his own terms.
"I quit my job to become a more present father," he says simply. But here's the thing: he didn't choose family over his career. He wove them together. He became a consultant while teaching across two universities in Guatemala, and kept one eye sharp on analytics and AI.
"This is an exciting season," he reflects. "Many of the things I have taught for years are now becoming even more relevant in the market."
When you know what matters, you teach others to see it too. Today, we're welcoming Gabriel to the Qlik Educator Ambassador community for the first time.
At Linköping University, Alexander Flaig isn’t just teaching analytics — he’s rethinking how we prepare students for a world increasingly shaped by AI.
Returning as a Qlik Educator Ambassador for 2026, Alexander continues to evolve his course beyond traditional boundaries, combining hands-on analytics, data literacy, and a growing focus on artificial intelligence.
We are delighted to once again recognize Blerim Emruli, Assistant Professor at Lund University, as a returning Qlik Academic Program Educator Ambassador. Over the years, Blerim has been a strong advocate for data literacy, analytics education, and the integration of industry tools into academic programs. His work continues to make a meaningful impact at the Lund University School of Economics and Management (LUSEM), where he teaches courses such as Decision Support Systems, Business Intelligence, and Business and Artificial Intelligence, helping students develop the analytical skills required in today’s data-driven world.
We’re proud to welcome back Angelika Klidas, a Qlik Educator Ambassador since 2021, who continues to make a tremendous impact on students and the wider data community in the Netherlands. Her passion for Qlik and commitment to teaching data & AI literacy continues to inspire students and fellow educators alike.
In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the best ideas don't stay in the classroom. For Priscila, they never did. We are proud to welcome Priscila back as a Qlik Educator Ambassador for 2026.
At Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, she teaches MBA and postgraduate students across some of the most vital disciplines in modern business: data-driven culture, data governance, AI for business, and market intelligence. Her students are not fresh graduates finding their footing. They are analysts, managers, and executives who arrive carrying real, unresolved problems from real organizations and Priscila has built her classroom to be the place where those problems finally meet their match.
"The classes become very dynamic," she says, "because we can discuss real problems brought by the students themselves."
That energy is not a happy accident. It is the result of years spent equally inside lecture halls and inside the organizations her students go home to every evening, someone who has lived both worlds deeply enough to bridge them.
A Curriculum Built to Last
Priscila has spent recent years building something more purposeful than a course catalog. Three ideas now sit at the heart of everything she teaches: data quality, data governance, and data and AI fluency. Not as boxes to check, but as a framework her students carry into every analysis, every dashboard, and every decision they will ever make.
Her reasoning is both simple and powerful. Analytics and artificial intelligence only generate real value when the data underneath them is trustworthy and well governed. Without that foundation, even the most brilliant insight collapses. So in her classroom, Qlik is not the finish line, it is the environment where students learn to do something far more valuable than building visualizations. They learn to question them. Sessions frequently use datasets with intentional quality problems, challenging students to diagnose, clean, model, and interpret. They go further still learning to understand predictions, evaluate risks, and identify the optimizations necessary to use AI responsibly and effectively. It is demanding work. It is also the kind of work that transforms a good analyst into an indispensable one.
"What usually makes the difference in interviews is that they can demonstrate not just tool knowledge, but analytical maturity. They can explain how to organize data, structure analyses, and transform information into decisions."
That is the standard Priscila holds her classroom to and the standard the market is increasingly hungry for. Beyond class hours, she actively encourages her students to pursue the Qlik Academic Program's structured learning paths and certifications, giving them a way to build deeper, independently verified fluency that follows them into every organization they join.
Where She Is Taking It in 2026
Priscila's vision for 2026 is as clear as it is ambitious. She wants every student, regardless of course, to leave with a transferable framework for working responsibly and confidently in data and AI-driven environments. Data governance remains at the core because analytics initiatives don't fail for lack of technology. They fail for lack of structure, ownership, and clarity. She is building those foundations directly into her curriculum.
And generative AI? No longer a future conversation.
"The market no longer values only those who can build dashboards. There is growing demand for professionals who understand data quality, modeling, governance, and business context."
Her courses are being designed to produce exactly the professionals the market is looking for but struggling to find.
The Story That Says It All
One story, more than any other, captures what Priscila is truly building.
A student arrived from a completely unrelated background, drawn to data but without a clear path forward. During a Qlik project, he dug into a real dataset from his own company and uncovered critical inconsistencies in a commission process, the kind of deep, invisible problem that organizations live with for years because no one has ever had the tools or the courage to surface it. He surfaced it. Shortly after, he was invited into a more analytical role within the organization.
He told Priscila that what changed wasn't learning a tool. It was learning to structure problems and think with data.
"And for me," she says, "that is exactly what we are trying to build in the classroom."
Not just skilled analysts. Confident, curious thinkers who make organizations better.
A Bridge That Flows Both Ways
Priscila recently brought a Data Literacy program to a healthcare company in Minas Gerais and discovered that one of her own graduate students was already working there. The university and the market, finding each other without anyone planning for it. A reminder that the seeds planted in the classroom have a way of growing in the most unexpected places.
That is the kind of connection the Ambassador Program makes possible at its best. "Everything I have lived and built with Qlik," she says, "makes me continue to believe it is the best tool for the purpose I promote." Her students enter organizations already fluent, already confident, already equipped to contribute from day one. And through the program's global network of educators, Priscila keeps pushing her own boundaries, drawing inspiration from peers across countries and institutions who share her belief that education can and should change how people work.
Every Semester, a New Chapter
Last year, Priscila published her book on Data and AI Fluency — Estratégias e Práticas para trabalhar e viver em um mundo dirigido por dados — a field guide born not from theory, but from years of classrooms, boardrooms, and every honest conversation in between. It now anchors her teaching, returning to the room each semester as a living document that her students immediately recognize as their own professional reality, finally given language and meaning.
The loop is rare and powerful. Teach from experience. Reflect deeply enough to write it down. Then teach again from what the writing revealed. Each cycle sharper. Each cohort more prepared. Each student a little more ready to go out and change something.
That is what an Educator Ambassador looks like.
Congratulations, Priscila. We are proud to have you back and we cannot wait to see what you write next.
Are you an educator inspired by Priscila's story? Join the Qlik Academic Program and access free Qlik Sense software, training, and a global community of educators. Visit:https://www.qlik.com/us/company/academic-program/ambassadors
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We are pleased to welcome Dr. Ravi Aavula from the Department of Data Science, Anurag University, Hyderabad, India as the Qlik Academic Program Educator Ambassador for 2026.
Dr Ravi was introduced to Qlik while searching for effective data visualization tools to support data science and analytics courses. When he explored the Qlik Academic Program, he found it very useful because it offers free access, learning materials, and certifications for students and educators. This encouraged him to start using Qlik in his teaching.
Please welcome back Javier Leon to the Educator Ambassador Program! Over the past year, Javier has continued to expand his impact as an educator by helping students build the practical analytics, business intelligence, and data literacy skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing marketplace. Through his teaching, curriculum development, and ongoing research, he remains focused on preparing students to solve real-world problems with confidence and curiosity.
