Download this FREE special report to explore GenAI’s potential to enhance learning, as well as the risks it poses to the fundamental mission of higher ed, the production of authentically skilled and credible graduates.
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In the nearly three years since it went mainstream, generative AI (GenAI) has transformed how many of us access information—and maybe even work and think. For higher education, in particular, this has proved a double-edged sword. On one edge: immediately accessible, tailored information and feedback that can augment, personalize and ultimately enhance learning. On the other: a temptation to bypass the mental strain intrinsic to, and required for, real learning.
For colleges and universities, the promise and peril of GenAI has given way to an evolving set of expectations, practices and problems that individual instructors must daily confront. And while this new classroom reality is complex, there are already instances of GenAI enhancing learning and teaching—especially where openness and a willingness to adapt are present.
This special report explores GenAI’s potential to enhance learning, as well as the very real risks it poses to the fundamental mission of higher education, the production of authentically skilled and credible graduates.
Through research, expert insights and a series of institutional case studies, it dives deeper into what practitioners and leaders can do to support students and faculty using GenAI in service of higher education’s highest goal: promoting and certifying real learning.
The report will cover the following:
- How to balance academic innovation with integrity, including implications for assessment
- Building institutional trust around generative AI
- Faculty- and institutional-level approaches to using generative AI for real learning
- What it means to be an authentically skilled graduate today—including how colleges can ensure students continue to develop durable, human-centered skills
Get a copy of the special report by clicking the "Download" button above. And don't forget to register for the live webcast on Thursday, November 6, at 2 p.m. E.T., featuring Inside Higher Ed's Colleen Flaherty and the report's author, Ben Upton, along with higher education experts, as they discuss the report's findings in greater detail.
Number of Pages: 25 (9.16 MB PDF)
Date Released: Thursday, October 9, 2025
About the Author: Ben Upton is a freelance journalist based in Washington. He served as Times Higher Education’s Europe reporter between November 2021 and October 2023 and previously covered European research policy for Research Professional News. Before graduating from City, University of London’s journalism school in 2017, he worked in academic publishing and taught at a private university in Wuhan, China.
This report was made possible in part by the financial support of Studiosity.
Support: Please email store@insidehighered.com with questions regarding the report or your download.