Higher Education in the Age of AI: Where we are now and what’s next?

In this special feature on Artificial Intelligence (AI), we look at students’ current use of GenAI, redesigning student assessments, the innovative GenAI:N3 project, ATU’s Academic Integrity hub and an example of the effective use of AI in the classroom.

“ Artificial intelligence is likely to be either the best or worst thing to happen to humanity.”

Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018)

Dr Hazel Farrell from South East Technological University (SETU) reminded us of Stephen Hawking’s quote at a webinar on 5 March on ‘Higher Education in the age of AI’ which was part of a series of GenAI awareness webinars run in March at ATU.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not new, but its evolvement has implications for higher education in particular Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools such as ChatGPT, and higher education is now recognising their potential benefits in enhancing teaching and learning ( NAIN, 2023).

Acknowledging the impact GenAI has on student assessment and academic integrity, many higher education institutions are reconsidering their assessment strategies to uphold academic standards and ensure that assessments accurately reflect students' knowledge and skills.

“ Student use of AI has surged in the last year, with almost all students (92%) now using AI in some form.”

UK Higher Education Policy Institute Survey, 2025

Students’ current use of GenAI

Dr Farrell gave us an overview of students’ current use of AI. A 2025 survey on student use of AI by the Higher Education Policy Institute in the UK, found that 64% of students use AI to generate text, a significant increase on last year’s survey which found that 30% of students had used AI for the same purpose.

Building on their 2024 AI Survey, the researchers surveyed 1,041 full-time undergraduate students in the UK. The survey report notes: “In 2025, we find that the student use of AI has surged in the last year, with almost all students (92%) now using AI in some form, up from 66% in 2024, and some 88% having used GenAI for assessments, up from 53% in 2024.

“ The main uses of GenAI [by students] are explaining concepts, summarising articles and suggesting research ideas, but a significant number of students – 18% – have included AI-generated text directly in their work."

In an interesting article on RTÉ’s Brainstorm site, Barry Hayes, a lecturer in UCC’s school of engineering, writes about how he asked GenAI to attempt some of the exam questions he had previously given to his undergraduate students. GPT-4o mini, scored 90%, while DeepSeek-R1 scored 94%. In comparison, the average performance across the 61 UCC students that sat this exam in May 2024 was 63.8.

However, when he tested ChatGPT and DeepSeek on more advanced and specialised engineering topics (for example, Masters-level exam papers), the results were mixed. He notes: “Strange errors and logical inconsistencies emerged when they were presented with more challenging engineering problems.”

Designing assessment in the age of GenAI

During her presentation Dr Farrell emphasised the importance of having an informed perspective, clear communication, transparency and a culture of integrity when reconsidering assessment in the age of GenAI.

Dr Farrell was quick to point out the need to focus on the process, and not just the end product. She said: “Process-based assessments not only focus on an end product, but also on how the learners arrive at their conclusions. This is particularly valuable in preparing students for complex, real world challenges where the journey is just as important as the destination.”

In her excellent article titled ‘Assessment Redesign Framework’, Dr Farrell notes: “The goal of assessment redesign is to develop robust, fair, valid, and effective methods that can withstand the potential misuse of AI tools, while also providing students with the opportunity to demonstrate their learning meaningfully.” Dr Farrell gives examples of assessments that are more difficult for GenAI to simulate such as assessments involving critical thinking, decision-making, and personal reflection.

Moving forward what do we need to do?

Dr Farrell concluded her webinar by emphasising the need for universities to collaborate rather than compete if they are to lead the way in technologydriven education and be successful in adapting to AI fully. She ended on a positive note by saying: “AI doesn’t replace our creativity, it empowers it.”