Applications of artificial intelligence in higher education

Panelists: Miguel Valle del Olmo, Spain Government, Director-General for AI and Digital Enabling Technologies; Maritza Rondón, Rector University Cooperativa Colombia; Juan Pablo Mena, CEO uPLanner; Maha Gmira, Chair Women and Science professor EUROMED University of Fez; Andrés Pedreño, President of Torre Juana Open Space 1MilllionBoot; Siyuan Feng Co-Director, International Institute of Online Education Management Centre – ICHEI.

Moderator: Yuma Inzolia, Academic Coordinator, UNESCO IESALC 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to address some of the biggest challenges in education today, innovate teaching and learning practices, and ultimately accelerate the progress towards SDG 4. But also, the potential to accelerate progress towards all SDGs and the higher education sector needs to play a fundamental role here, by promoting and doing research where private companies don’t.  

-The main objective was to reflect on the relationship between AI and Higher Education, to explore what AI can do to help HEIs, and also the role of HEIs in promoting and developing AI, especially toward SDGs  

-Covid has greatly accelerated change in the educational ecosystem around the world in a very short space of time. Skills and digital technology have taken a very important role in HE around the world  

-To guarantee a safe and inclusive digital future for everyone we need to have AI in HE becomes a public good, aligned with UNESCO’s fundamental values of inclusion and equity.  

-UNESCO IESALC has been researching on supporting the implementation of AI, on a series of materials and reports which are meant to provide practical guidelines for different stakeholders.  

-A manual with different concepts of AI and how it may be applied to make learning, management administration and research, more effective was shared.