AI in Education — Between the Promise and the Reality

Artificial intelligence has arrived in higher education — in policies, in curricula, in assessment debates, and in students' hands. But the gap between institutional ambition and classroom reality remains wide, and the systemic challenges involved are not yet well understood across the sector: questions of data safety and equity of access, the environmental and ethical costs of current AI tools, the concentration of power in a handful of commercial providers, and the risk that AI support for students becomes a shortcut rather than a scaffold for learning.

This session moves beyond the familiar debate about whether universities should engage with AI. Instead, it asks: what would genuinely good AI integration at university look like — and what is standing in the way? The panel explores the challenges that rarely make it into official strategies, as well as the practical approaches and tools that already exist and that educators can draw on now.

Our panel brings together Marko Lukic, Head of the AI Team at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, speaking from the perspective of institutional strategy and policy, and Gunda Mohr, from the Hamburg Center for University Teaching and Learning (HUL) at Universität Hamburg, who brings a pedagogical practice perspective grounded in her work supporting educators and students in meaningful, critically informed AI use. The session will be chaired by Gregor Ross Dørum Maxwell, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.

This event is streamed live from the EUGLOH Conference on Pedagogical Development taking place in Alcalá, where around 200 educators, researchers, students, and staff involved in teaching administration from European university alliances meet to share innovative practices and reflect on the future of teaching and learning in transnational higher education.

The conference aims to strengthen collaboration among teachers, students, educational developers, and academic support staff across institutions, promoting pedagogical innovation, joint course design, and the professional development of academic staff. Students play a central role as co-creators and active contributors, bringing their perspectives, experiences, and ideas to the ongoing transformation of higher education within European alliances.

The link to the event will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.