Regulator warns AI lets students pass university assessments without detection

Centre · 1The Office for Students (OfS), England's higher education regulator, said too many university students can use AI to complete assessments without staff finding out. 1 Centre · 1It said "a significant proportion" of assessments are unsupervised and many can be completed to a high standard with AI, sometimes in minutes, and that it was "frequently possible" for students to use AI "in ways that cannot be reliably detected". 1 Mixed · 2The findings come from research by the OfS and Advance HE, a charity, which the BBC says drew on 244 higher education staff and 91 students from at least 127 universities; the Guardian describes it as interviews with more than 300 students and staff at 127 universities and colleges this year. 1 2

Mixed · 2The report described students completing whole assessments in minutes and getting similar grades to peers who did not use AI, and some students being unable to recall basic details of work they had just submitted. 1 2 Mixed · 2Staff reported receiving many submissions that looked the same, referenced the same literature or were written in the same style, and some said their institution's assessments were not fit for purpose. 2 1 Mixed · 2Josh Fleming, the OfS's director of strategy and delivery, called AI a "generational risk to the system as it stands" and called for "far greater use of AI-free assessment", while noting "fantastic" examples of universities seizing AI's opportunities. 2 1

Centre · 1The OfS said closed-book and practical exams were the most effective forms of assessment, and that an assessment that can be completed with AI without the intended knowledge and skills being tested should be replaced. 1 Left · 1The Guardian reports that the regulator warned institutions that failing to design valid and reliable measures of students' knowledge and skills could breach their conditions of registration and lead to sanctions. 2 Centre · 1The BBC adds that universities not meeting OfS quality standards could soon be banned from charging increased tuition fees or have student number caps imposed, under proposals now being consulted on. 1

Centre · 1Unsupervised assessment includes coursework and remote online exams widely introduced during Covid; Swansea University research suggests 93 UK universities still use them in some form. 1 Centre · 1Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, said universities were making significant progress, with more in-person exams, presentations, vivas, process-based assessment and controlled integration of AI, and argued different subjects need different approaches. 1 Left · 1The OfS also noted that many institutions have already redesigned assessment, including critiquing or editing AI output. 2

Left · 1The Department for Education said it expects universities to take the issue seriously and expects the OfS to enforce existing standards and make its framework explicit, strong and durable on AI. 2 Centre · 1Lewis Wilson of the National Union of Students said AI is threatening "traditional" learning methods that students and staff have long said are not fit for purpose, and urged replacing them with innovative practice co-designed with students. 1 Centre · 1Advance HE's Kathryn Harrison-Graves said students wanted greater clarity on expectations while staff had varying levels of confidence and support. 1