Two-fifths of UK universities do not have a publicly accessible artificial intelligence policy, according to a new report that criticises the lack of a shared approach across the sector.
Many institutional policies that do exist “use the language of education while operating as compliance instruments”, says the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) paper published on 21 May – something that will be “uncomfortable” for universities.
Author Sam Illingworth, professor of creative pedagogies at Edinburgh Napier University, used AI to scrape the internet for university policies that could be read by prospective students, parents and external bodies such as regulators.
Of the 163 institutions with degree-awarding powers analysed, 96 had publicly accessible AI policies.
The other 67 – 41 per cent – either had no discoverable policy or one that was “locked behind authentication walls”, for example on a university intranet that requires a login.
