AI and the future of universities: How UON is on the right road

Teaching, learning and research at University of Northampton (UON) is on course for continued success based on a recently published report.

AI and the future of universities is a collection of essays collated by Higher Education Policy institute (HEPI). The articles look at how AI is reshaping higher education, from strategy, teaching and assessment to research and professional services.

They are published at a point in time when Artificial Intelligence is projected to have a huge impact the economy and society, including Higher Education. Key findings explored by the authors are:

• AI Literacy: Universities should embed AI literacy for staff and students.
• Technology: Choice of technology is crucial; universities need a strategy and roadmap.
• Assessment: AI challenges traditional exams and essays, requiring a shift toward evaluating creativity and critical thinking.
• The workforce: Institutions need to assess AI skills, embed them in professional development and nurture AI’s teaching and learning leaders.
• Strategic advantage: AI can revolutionise strategy and operations though real-time insights, predictive modelling and efficiency gains.
• Human intelligence: AI could enhance this rather than replace it.
• Research: AI accelerates literature reviews, data analysis and interdisciplinary work alongside raising questions about ethics, bias and authorship.

Rob Howe, Head of Learning Technology, welcomes the essays. He says: “This new report provides a valuable summary and pertinent points for future-proofing higher education. At Northampton, we have been navigating the mass of information and innovations which have been driving rapid updates.

“We were fortunate that our Centre for Active Digital Education (CADE) had been setup prior to the mass release of OpenAI tools such as ChatGPT and Dall-E. As such, we quickly responded with one of the UKs first institutional student AI surveys to explore AI’s impact.

“Outside the CADE, Project REGAIN (Regulating the Ethical use of Generative AI at Northampton) has created a groundbreaking tool for students to explore ethical uses of genAI.

“In terms of research there have been many developments focusing on, for example, the impact of AI in teaching and learning processes and the impact on workload. A further project is looking at how staff may benefit from the premium AI products, such as Microsoft365 (Copilot Premium) and how this may contribute to their workload.

“We constantly reinforce that we have been using Copilot and not an autopilot here. We are minded on the pressing need to prepare our students for a world in which AI is commonplace. Our graduates need to be confident about the benefits and problems with the use of AI and appreciate the ethical boundaries that will exist. The HEPI report shows we are on the right road and need only to continue in this direction.”