The NSW Audit Office reports the State’s universities have between five and 600 AI tools, but of the six that have documented their resources, none have a clue what they all do.
The AO surveyed university adoption of AI to find universities use AI for:
- research and consulting: “personalised learning, transcription, thematic analysis, research and coding assistance”
- education and teaching: “personalised learning, transcription, thematic analysis, research and coding assistance”
- student support: inquiry chatbots, automated scheduling, survey analysis and churn prediction
- operations and admin: scheduling, code management, IT support enquiries
Of the State’s ten public universities, three do not have formal AI policies or have embedded it into governance documents. But nine have developed guidance for students
The takeout: “the absence of a unified strategy for the adoption of AI could significantly hinder universities from fully leveraging the potential benefits that AI offers.
“Without a clear and cohesive strategy, universities may struggle to coordinate their AI initiatives, leading to fragmented efforts that lack synergy.”