Students passing university assessments in minutes using AI, regulator warns

Too many university students can use AI to complete assessments without staff finding out, the higher education regulator in England has said.

The Office for Students (OfS) said "a significant proportion" of assessments are unsupervised and many can be completed to a high standard with AI, sometimes in minutes.

It said this posed a "significant risk" to their credibility, and closed-book and practical exams were the most effective forms of assessments.

Universities UK said many institutions had "made substantial changes" to make assessments "AI-proof".

Universities that do not meet OfS quality standards could soon be banned from charging increased tuition fees or have caps imposed on their student numbers, under proposals that are now being consulted on.

The new research from the OfS and Advance HE, a charity that gives awards for teaching excellence, is based on the views of 244 higher education staff and 91 students from at least 127 universities.

It said "a significant proportion of assessments" were in "unsupervised, non-controlled formats where AI can be accessed by students completing them".

"Many of these can be completed to a high standard using AI tools with limited engagement from students," it added.

It also concluded it was "frequently possible" for students to use AI "in ways that cannot be reliably detected".

Unsupervised assessment can include coursework, but also remote online exams. They were rolled out widely during Covid, and research from Swansea University, external last year suggests 93 universities in the UK still use them in some form.

Josh Fleming, director of strategy and delivery at the OfS, said there were "fantastic" examples of universities seizing opportunities presented by AI, but there should be "far greater use of AI-free assessment".

"It also presents a generational risk to the system as it stands, threatening to undermine students' learning and institutions' ability to assess them," he said.

Kathryn Harrison-Graves, deputy chief executive at Advance HE, said students wanted "greater clarity about what is expected of them" but staff had "varying levels of confidence and support".

The OfS said it had heard of cases where students were completing entire assessments within minutes using AI and receiving similar grades to those who had not.

Some staff, meanwhile, were receiving lots of assignments that looked the same, and did not think their institution's assessments were "fit for purpose".

Other staff described a "polarised atmosphere" between students who used AI and other "conscientious objectors" who avoided it on environmental and other grounds.

The research said AI literacy for students was important during and after university, and some institutions were clearly communicating to students where AI can and cannot be used in assessments.

But it said there was "an urgent need" to ensure that remote or "non-secure" assessments "maintain their validity despite the availability of AI tools, meaning they effectively assess the knowledge and skills they are designed to measure".

"If it becomes possible to complete an assessment using AI without the knowledge and skills being tested, the assessment should be replaced," it added.

Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, said universities were "making significant progress" adapting to AI.

"There is further to go but many have made substantial changes to how they assess students. This includes more in-person exams, presentations, vivas, process-based assessment and assessments that integrate AI in a controlled way," a spokesperson said.

"Different subjects will require different approaches, and universities should have the flexibility to adopt assessment methods that best support learning outcomes."

Lewis Wilson, from the National Union of Students, said AI was threatening "traditional" ways of learning that students and staff "have long said is not fit for purpose" - including essay questions, handouts and slideshows.

"It's time to get rid of the outdated methods, that have been kept around in the name of tradition, and instead encourage the innovative practice we see across the sector, co-designed with students based on what they want from higher education," he said.