Cross-national insights into responses at system and institutional levels
Workshop W4 – UNIRAI
Date: June 17
Time: 14:00 – 18:00
The UNIRAI workshop will explore how universities are responding to the rapid and widespread adoption of generative AI. The discussion will focus on the interplay of three key forces: the adoption of generative AI by individual actors, institutional (university) governance, and system-level governance, with an emphasis on the latter two. It will be framed by the distinctive nature of universities as organisations (Musselin, 2007; Seeber et al., 2014; Eaton & Stevens, 2020) within modern high participation higher education systems (Marginson et al., 2018) and the recognition of the transformative potential of generative AI.
The generative AI boom is driving changes in academic practices – including teaching, learning, research and administration – while reshaping universities’ core mission of knowledge and skills transfer. Meanwhile, national and regional policies are engaging in a ‘race to AI’ as a new space race (Ulnicane et al 2021), pushing universities to align their strategic goals with evolving policy priorities. Universities are not only adapting to these policies, but also actively contributing to their development.
The workshop has two main objectives: (1) to share and discuss insights from country-specific case studies (from e.g. Brazil, China, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, the UK and the US), and (2) to facilitate a broader discussion on the supranational dimensions of the implications of generative AI for higher education governance.
Presentations will be given by scholars from the international network, united by a common interest in AI-related institutional responses in higher education. The workshop will also be open to the wider HEAd conference audience, allowing those who are not presenting to take part in the discussions and brainstorming. Participants with leadership roles in higher education institutions are particularly encouraged to share their comments, taking into account practical experiences.
Organizer
Daria Platonova is Programme Coordinator and Research Analyst at Constructor University, Bremen (formerly Jacobs University). As a higher education researcher, Daria has a strong publication record and significant experience in both academic research and the organisation of academic events (LinkedIn).
Over the past decade, she has contributed to and managed several large-scale international projects, including the study of post-Soviet higher education. This project, involving over 30 authors, included workshops at major conferences such as CIES and ECER, and the publication of the book 25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries: Reform and Continuity (Springer Nature, 2018), edited by Huisman, Smolentseva and Frumin. As another example, Daria also contributed as an editor and co-organised discussions for the project leading to the book Assessing the Contributions of Higher Education (Edward Elgar, 2023), co-authored with Marginson, Cantwell, and Smolentseva (these workshops were mainly held in online formats due to Covid).
During her work as Head of the higher education research unit at the Institute of Education, HSE University (2017-2020), organising the annual International Russian Higher Education Conference (e.g. RHEC 2019) and other academic events was on her list of responsibilities.