Global Perspectives on AI in Higher Education: Policy Responses, Challenges, and Opportunities

• In Event: The Discourse of Education Innovation, Global Learning and Teaching, and ICTs

Proposal

The reaction to the AI challenge that emerged in the world in 2023 is still under investigated. The ongoing widespread application of AI (Artificial Intelligence) has revolutionized the field of education all over the world. AI is both a challenge and an opportunity for higher education professionals, for students, for educational administrators and other types of professionals. With all the mentioned changes it is important to build an understanding of limitations and opportunities that AI might bring to the field of education. For that an overview of current educational policies in the field and classify the types of reactions to AI driven challenges should be made in the US and abroad. The goal of this investigation is to compare these tendencies to the international fields, comparing large educational institutions in countries all over the world (Europe, Asia, South America) and see how policies may vary across countries.

One of the main leadership challenges now is to form a proper and timely response to this challenge with policies and programming at the the level of educational institutions. Higher education workforce, therefore, finds itself in new circumstances that never existed before: both provocative and challenging, requiring timely adjustments and training. This also means an importance of addressing leadership challenges of educators and to help professionals in this field to adjust to the emerging agenda. This also brings ethical questions, like authorship, plagiarism, academic dishonesty, to the game, requiring some work in evidence based policy making in this area as well.
Among other issues - access to AI technologies for the populations of international students or students from the marginalized languages backgrounds. How accessible the technology is to them? Is it violating their academic rights? Are they more vulnerable in terms of plagiarism and ethical issues with the emergence of AI? AI decolonization issues for international students are covered in this study through semi-structured interviews with international students.

This investigation is also driven by the idea that new students who will come to universities will need a flexible, fair and reactive environment for using AI in studies and research. Therefore it is important to look for opportunities, but not only challenges, that come with AI. Finding better reaction strategies is also important in terms of pedagogical work for us as educators, demanding institutions to change along with the changes in the world. Analyzing policies in the field will help us navigate this path of constant change, modification and adjustment that is expected in the world in the upcoming decades. In fact, the speed of AI development might make this work required even tomorrow.
This research will contribute to the field of educational policy making in the field of international education and its response to artificial intelligence challenges. In this era of technological changes we still have an opportunity to properly shape our attitude towards AI and to respond to the challenges that it brings. We want to see how successful the reaction is to it in various contexts. Building this kind of understanding is important for future generations of students and scholars. Maybe we are the last generations of academic writers practicing non-artificial writing. But this is the next research question, for the world that is yet to come.

The mix-method methodology of the research consists of two parts: the discourse analysis of the policies and the semi-structured interviews with the international students and student services administrators for exploring the implications of these policies in working with international students.

The findings from this study will contribute to the field of international educational policy by providing a nuanced understanding of how different educational systems are navigating the AI revolution. This knowledge will be valuable for both scholars and practitioners as they develop and implement strategies to address the evolving landscape of higher education. As AI continues to advance, our ability to adapt and respond will shape the future of educational practices and policies, potentially altering the academic landscape for future generations.

Author

• Anna Grigoreva, University of Maryland - College Park