Navigating the Future of Higher Education with AI 2024 ICDE Leadership Summit Policy Dialogue Report

This policy report is the outcome of the ICDE leadership Summit hosted by Globethics in Geneva, from 5 to 7 June 2024, in partnership with UNESCO-ICHEI, under the title: Ethical Leadership in the Age of AI: Rethinking Futures of Education. 

Throughout the three days, 126 participants and 60 speakers from 35 countries contributed to enriching the reflection, from theoretical and practical perspectives, about the future of higher education in the fourth industrial revolution era.

The report does not mirror the Summit’s programme, but captures the outcomes from the presentations and discussions and presents them under five titles: 1) Ethical Implications of AI in Higher Education, 2) A Culture of Innovation, 3) Equitable Leadership, 4) Social Justice, and 5) Future Praxis. 

Hence, the report aims to be “an accessible tool to shine a light on some of the key challenges and opportunities that are before us,” ensuring a critical engagement with AI in educational spaces, that fosters accessibility, equity, and quality.

Furthermore, the Summit demonstrated how much the context is critical for this type of reflection. There is no one roadmap or plan that applies everywhere. The inextricable relationship between artificial intelligence and higher education is reshaping policies and practices in very diverse ways. 

This reality invites those who are in leadership roles to be mindful of both their own situation and the experiences of others. Engaging with AI in higher education requires one to be contextually and culturally situated, globally connected and informed, and ethically anchored. The four types of component of the report guide towards this attitude, combining 6 Navigating the Future of Higher Education with AI policy reflection with case studies, recommendations, and questions for further reflection.

The Camerise Project funded by Heritage Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Education was showcased at the ICDE leadership Summit. The Case Study on Camerise presented by Dr. Dominique Scheffel-Dunand is highlighted in the report p. 32.