In this latest episode of the Think Education Podcast Judith discussed her recent attendance at Going Global, a panel discussion she attended on Europe – which links to one of our previous episodes, and in particular a plenary session she attended on AI in international higher education.

We talked about the nature of fear regarding the use of AI in education and the need to regulate that formed many of the early conversations about AI and how this is changing to focus on the need for relevant training and support. Chris talked about a recent HEPI study (linked below) that highlights student concern over the use and integration of AI in their learning and the fact that we need to consider how to leverage and integrate AI to support teaching and learning.

Chris talked about his work with Dr Tendai Charles on AI in teaching and learning and the UAE initiative, earlier this year, on the integration of AI at all levels of curriculum. We discussed different possible applications for AI in teaching and learning – and some of the downsides of phantom knowledge/citation creation. Chris outlined the UAE’s approach to leading on the use of AI in both education and wider society.

We talked about the ethical use of AI and how we can attempt to harness AI for tomorrow.

• Link to Teacher Incubator Programme Middlesex session and ENAI

We did talk about access and engagement and the realisation that this is not the solution to everything as it is not available to everybody. Not all TNE projects can fully incorporate online learning due to national regulatory frameworks and accreditation processes.

We are not at a crossroads anymore, AI is here to stay, but we are perhaps in a constant state of crossroads. This ongoing conversation is a good thing as it is forcing us to reflect and think about this in a meaningful manner, even if we can’t keep up with the level of progress.

What is the nature of learning? What are skills? How long does the traditional schooling approach of memorisation have in the age of AI?

The ongoing debates about AI are forcing us to engage with the deeper conversation about the value, application and impact of education. In the international space – working across cultures, languages and space – we need to think about this even more so.

Hill, C., & Lawton, W. (2018). Universities, the digital divide and global inequality. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 40(6), 598–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2018.1531211 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1360080X.2018.1531211

HEPI survey https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/08/11/student-wellbeing-in-the-ai-era-stress-confidence-and-connection-a-global-snapshot/

Xidian University Conference ICAI 2025: https://en.xidian.edu.cn/info/1063/2372.htm

Going Global: https://www.britishcouncil.org/going-global

https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/new-uae-school-year-brings-ai-curriculum-unified-holidays-and-updated-exams-1.500243448