The future of higher education in the age of GenAI — are we all doomed?

Abstract

This viewpoint addresses the concern expressed by some academics that GenAI is turning the works of higher education upside down and that our roles as educators will soon become redundant. It considers the academic literature on student academic misconduct and reflects on the many generations of acadmeics who have worried about this and written about it. While the internet was seen by some as “the end of the world”, we have survived (and event thrived). Plagiarism software was the next big skirmish in the academic integrity war. Generative AI provides some reasons why students “cheat” using software programmes such as ChatGPT, al all institutions are working hard to respond to recent developments. While some have chosen to ignore or even ban it, others have decided students will use GenAI in the workplace and therefore should be trained for that. The paper briefly outlines my institution’s response, which falls into the latter category. The article concludes with some recommendations based on personal experience of being an ‘Academic Integrity Officer’ — a role that did not exist just a few years ago.