Higher‑education tech leaders are wrestling with two converging security priorities: preparing for future quantum threats to current encryption and defending today’s campus networks against AI‑augmented cyberattacks. Quantum cryptography briefings urge university IT teams to inventory long‑lived sensitive data and begin migrating critical keys to quantum‑resistant systems to avoid future decryption risk. Concurrently, campuses report an uptick in AI‑driven phishing, deepfakes and supply‑chain threats. Institutions are accelerating adoption of AI‑powered detection, Zero Trust architectures and stricter third‑party oversight as attackers weaponize generative models to scale intrusions. IT leaders told auditors and boards that resilience now requires both near‑term investments in anomaly detection and long‑term strategic planning for cryptographic migration, making cybersecurity a central institutional priority and budget line.