10/09/2026
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Universities must shape how artificial intelligence transforms teaching and assessment so that it advances quality, equity and student success rather than undermining critical thinking.
Those were the sentiments shared by the keynote speaker, Professor Francis Sifiso Nyathi, during the second day of the Higher Education Quality Assurance Forum (HEQAF)
Prof Nyathi, who is the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Academic and Research at Welwitchia University in Namibia, said the real question facing higher education was no longer whether technology would change universities, but whether institutions would steer that change.
โThe real question facing higher education today is no longer whether technology will transform universities; it is whether universities will shape that transformation in ways that advance quality, equity and student success,โ Prof Nyathi said.
He warned that generative AI could either deepen learning or erode it, depending on how it was used.
โThe same tool that will allow people to learn more than ever could also lead to many people learning less,โ Prof Nyathi said.
He said quality assurance should not police AI, but should ask whether standards, curricula and assessments measured what graduates actually needed to know and be able to do.
โNow, the task for quality assurance is not to police AI, but it is to ask whether standards, curricula, and success on the scale measure what a graduate actually needs to know,โ Prof Nyathi said.
Prof Nyathi argued that assessment had to move from product to process, with marks awarded for stages of work, critique of AI outputs, oral defences and reflection, so that studentsโ cognitive abilities were triggered rather than bypassed.
