Artificial intelligence in higher education

Under condition B1, institutions must ensure students registered on each higher education course they deliver receive a high quality academic experience.

A high quality academic experience includes, but is not limited to, ensuring:

1. Each higher education course is up-to-date.
2. Each higher education course, as appropriate to the subject matter of the course, requires students to develop relevant skills.

“Relevant skills” means:

1. knowledge and understanding relevant to the subject matter and level of the higher education course; and
2. other skills relevant to the subject matter and level of the higher education course including, but not limited to, cognitive skills, practical skills, transferable skills and professional competences.

“Up-to-date” means representative of current thinking and practices in the subject matter to which the higher education course relates, including being appropriately informed by recent:

1. subject matter developments;
2. research, industrial and professional developments; and
3. developments in teaching and learning, including learning resources.

1. Ensuring appropriate consideration is given to how courses are informed by recent subject matter developments relating to AI. For example:
   1. In computer science, considering the implications of machine learning for approaches to computing.
   2. In law, considering the implications of AI for issues such as personal liability, copyright and data protection.
   3. In education, considering the implications of AI for learning and assessment.
2. Ensuring appropriate consideration is given to developing AI skills required for success in a relevant industry, such as the ability to understand or effectively use a widely adopted tool in that industry.
3. Ensuring appropriate consideration is given to developing transferable AI skills, such as the ability to decide when and how an AI tool can support the effective completion of a task or the ability to critically evaluate AI outputs.

Under condition B2, to ensure both a high quality academic experience for students and for those students succeed in and beyond higher education, institutions should take all reasonable steps to ensure students receive sufficient resources and support and effective engagement.

Condition B2 sets out the following requirements relating to “support”:

“Support” means the effective deployment of assistance, as appropriate to the content of the higher education course and the cohort of students, including but not limited to:

1. academic support relating to the content of the higher education course;
2. support needed to underpin successful physical and digital learning and teaching;
3. support relating to understanding, avoiding and reporting academic misconduct; and
4. careers support.

1. Ensuring that, if AI tools are used to support the development of teaching resources, those resources are high quality. This includes being factually accurate, providing sufficient depth and detail for the subject and level of study, referring students to relevant sources, and being aligned with other learning materials to support a coherent learning experience across the course.
2. Ensuring that, if AI tools are used to support the preparation of feedback, there is sufficient oversight to ensure this is accurate and aligned to assessment criteria, tailored to students’ work and specific about how they can improve.
3. Setting out clearly for students whether and how they are permitted to use AI in the process of completing assessments, for example through realistic, meaningful and transparent academic regulations and accessible policy and guidance, and providing clear and consistent support to enable students to understand and comply with any policies on permitted AI use in assessment.
4. Taking steps to ensure that any disparities between different student groups created by differential access to AI tools, including paid versions, and training are effectively mitigated by the steps the institution takes to ensure its students receive sufficient support for their studies.

Under condition B4, institutions must ensure that students are assessed effectively, each assessment is valid and reliable, and academic regulations are designed to ensure that relevant awards are credible.

Condition B4 sets out the following requirements relating to courses being “assessed effectively”, assessments being “valid” and “reliable” and awards being “credible”:

“Assessed effectively” means assessed in a challenging and appropriately comprehensive way, by reference to the subject matter of the higher education course, and includes but is not limited to:

1. providing stretch and rigour consistent with the level of the course;
2. testing relevant skills; and
3. assessments being designed in a way that minimises the opportunities for academic misconduct and facilitates the detection of such misconduct where it does occur.

“Valid” means that an assessment in fact takes place in a way that results in students demonstrating knowledge and skills in the way intended by design of the assessment.

“Reliable” means that an assessment, in practice, requires students to demonstrate knowledge and skills in a manner which is consistent as between the students registered on a higher education course and over time, as appropriate in the context of developments in the content and delivery of the higher education course.

“Credible” means that, in the reasonable opinion of the OfS, relevant awards reflect students’ knowledge and skills.

1. Using secure assessment methods (defined below) where these are necessary to ensure assessments appropriately measure whether students have achieved the intended learning outcomes.
2. Ensuring that, where the use of AI is permitted, assessments continue to require students to demonstrate the intended learning outcomes, which may include the effective use of AI.
3. Ensuring that, where some AI or other digital tools are provided to students selectively for use in assessments, for example as reasonable adjustments, the assessment remains valid because the tools do not provide an unfair advantage.
4. Drawing on a range of evidence as part of academic misconduct processes in a fair and balanced way that will facilitate the detection of actual misconduct, rather than placing disproportionate weight on the outputs of AI detection tools.

We use the term secure to mean assessments which are designed to prevent the use of AI in the assessment process. They include in-person examinations, presentations, vivas (oral examinations), performance-based assessments, and assessments that require students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills through practical or applied tasks.

In addition to these considerations relating to assessment and AI, universities and colleges also have a legal duty not to discriminate against students. This may require them to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students to remove a substantial disadvantage that results from their assessment processes. This may include adjusting assessment methods where necessary to ensure the assessment appropriately measures whether students have achieved the intended learning outcomes.