A UNESCO survey shows widespread use of AI in higher education, prompting experts to call for urgent reforms in assessment, ethics, and student preparedness for an AI-driven world.
By Dominic Tomalin
A recent global survey by UNESCO provided some insights into the way that AI is being used in higher education. Nine in ten respondents reported using AI for research and writing, while almost half applied it in teaching tasks such as lesson planning, marking, and plagiarism checks. Others used it for administration and professional development. Although the use of AI is now widespread, there is a limited understanding of its impact on human rights, democracy, and social equity. Barriers include ethical concerns, limited access, disciplinary restrictions, and philosophical objections. Many institutions also report ethical challenges such as the undermining of academic integrity, disputes over authorship, and research bias.
The current incarnation of AI tools is far from perfect; they yield inaccurate and sometimes amusing results. Recently, I experimented with an AI tool and sought its help in writing a biographical note for a conference. Interestingly, the end result was an unfounded assertion that I had been an educational leader in every domicile between Cambridge in the UK and Bhopal. This shows that even though we live in an era of AI, it has altered our relationship with knowledge. Today, the challenge for education is to facilitate the development of discernment.
Young people need to leave school and university armed with the skills and knowledge needed to distinguish fact from fiction, recognise bias, and think independently when machines can generate answers faster and sometimes more accurately than they can. This will require a change in mindset from those who develop and regulate the qualifications that ultimately determine the curriculum taught in our schools and universities. These are areas that need to be addressed with much more urgency than they are currently being given.
Limitations Of Past Models
Mass education models emerged during the Industrial Revolution to supply factories with workers who could read, follow instructions, and arrive on time. Schools became centres of discipline, drills, and testing, shaping minds, bodies, and behaviour for the industrial economy. Philosophers, however, have always asked deeper questions: who should govern, what is virtue, and what is knowledge? In The Republic, Plato distinguishes philosopher-kings, guardians, and others, each with different educational needs. Philosopher-kings must understand truth and justice, warriors require courage and discipline, and others contribute through crafts, commerce, or manual work.
Modern education inherited this sorting model: identify the best, place them at the top, and assign the rest to tracks of utility and conformity. In the age of AI, that approach is inadequate. The current pace of technological change is far faster than human and societal evolution can cope with. We are now being asked not only to adapt but to reflect, decide, and discern. Holistic education is essential in this context; it is the only way we can guide students towards self-discovery, ethical judgement, and understanding what truly matters—how they can contribute, how they can be good humans at a time when much of what we had thought would be the sole preserve of humanity is being eroded by intelligent machines.
Evolving Collaboratively
Sadly, our higher education admission systems remain relics of a past era. Applicants are tested under timed conditions to demonstrate they can recall information already readily available online. Exams measure memory rather than understanding, and conformity rather than curiosity. Schools follow this approach because universities and employers demand it. If education is to meet the challenges of AI, universities and employers must lead in redefining what matters.
This requires collaboration between universities, employers, and education systems to develop qualifications, assessments, and admissions that reflect the skills needed in a world shaped by AI. Real work that combines human creativity with AI use should be recognised, along with the assessment of critical thinking, ethical judgement, and digital awareness. Students must also learn the limits of AI, including bias, lack of verified sources, and confident errors.
Dealing With Technological Invasion
Our sense of purpose has already been disrupted. Social media—these algorithm-driven, attention-craving machines—push us towards instant validation, short-form content, outrage, and constant comparison, leaving little room for contemplation, reflection, moral growth, or a sense of purpose beyond likes or feeds. Even if ignored, this is now reality. AI is also entering traditional areas of human contribution, including routine knowledge work, many creative roles, and administrative tasks. This displaces jobs and diminishes the traditional economic meaning of work. If machines perform tasks once considered uniquely human, what remains of our identity and dignity when opportunities to contribute are limited?
These technologies risk weakening our ability to think deeply and reason through the challenges they create. A recent Economist article, “The Desperate Search for Superstar Talent," warns that as AI and automation advance, much human endeavour may serve primarily the interests of the super-rich. Creativity, wealth, and opportunity could concentrate among a few, leaving the majority as spectators, consumers, or service providers.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that by 2030, 170 million new jobs may be created globally, even as 92 million are displaced, resulting in a net gain of roughly 78 million roles. Nearly 40 per cent of the skills required in these roles are expected to change. Human skills such as creativity, resilience, flexibility, and adaptability will remain essential alongside technical skills, including AI literacy, data analysis, and cyber security. These findings highlight the type of person we must prepare: someone who can learn continuously, adapt quickly, and develop moral, critical, and imaginative capacities rather than relying solely on rote knowledge.
Changing Roles Of Educators
As educators, we must prepare young people not for the world we once knew, but for the one they will face—especially when the examinations, curricula, and qualifications they follow were designed for a slower, less automated era. Alongside digital literacy and understanding how technologies work, I propose introducing “Whole-Human Qualifications" or “Humanity Streams" within existing frameworks. These would include ethics, epistemology, and philosophy to teach how to think, know, and choose; reflective digital literacy covering AI bias, hallucinations, and information provenance; vocation and purpose modules to explore values and calling beyond economic productivity; and civic, community, and creative projects that demand human empathy and imagination.
Admissions policies for universities and employers must recognise these human-centred qualifications. Selection should value identity, character, purpose, and moral agency alongside grades and scores. Models such as the Shrewsbury School’s “Floreat" ideal and the virtues of the Salopian Way emphasise full personal development—academically, morally, and socially. Similarly, the World Economic Forum report highlights human skills that will matter by 2030, including creativity, flexibility, analytical thinking, and resilience.
