New HEPI report on GenAI and universities

A major new Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report by Dr Doug Specht and Professor Gunter Saunders examines how universities can put human capabilities at the heart of an AI‑rich future.

The report, Being indispensable: Capabilities for a human-AI world, the ‘FUTURES’ framework, argues that universities must move beyond short-term, piecemeal responses to generative AI (GenAI) and instead adopt more robust, institution-wide approaches to its integration. As GenAI becomes embedded in everyday and academic life, the authors contend that strengthening human competencies should be higher education’s top priority if the sector is to harness AI’s benefits while mitigating its risks.

Specht and Saunders note that 75% of young people aged 13 to 18 have already used GenAI, with similar patterns now visible across higher education. They highlight major opportunities – from personalised learning and reduced staff workload to widening access to support – alongside substantial risks, including bias in training data, deepening inequalities of access, erosion of independence and originality, and growing concern about environmental impacts.

The report calls for a dual approach to GenAI-enabled learning that embeds human–AI collaboration across curricula while ensuring that ethical reasoning, critical thinking and wellbeing remain central to academic development. It stresses the need for practical governance, comprehensive staff and student training, and equitable access to AI tools, so that technological adoption remains grounded in academic values and student success.

To support universities, the authors introduce the FUTURES framework, a practical model for integrating GenAI while strengthening the human capabilities that AI cannot replace. FUTURES spans seven domains: Fluency in AI and Digital Systems; Understanding Self and Wellbeing; Technology Ethics and Responsibility; Understanding Others and Social Intelligence; Resilience and Adaptability; Emerging Technology Awareness; and Society and Professional Engagement.

The FUTURES framework is designed to help institutions turn high-level AI principles into day-to-day educational practice, including in modules, assessment design and staff development. The authors suggest that FUTURES can sit alongside existing tools such as Jisc’s AI Maturity Framework to guide deliberate capability-building for students and staff as co‑workers with AI.

Dr Doug Specht, Head of the School of Media and Communication and CAMRI member, emphasises that GenAI is already woven into students’ everyday lives, meaning universities “cannot afford to sit on the sidelines”. He argues that curricula, assessment and support must be redesigned so that human judgement, ethics and wellbeing are strengthened rather than eroded by AI tools, inviting the sector to adopt a coherent, human-centred approach through FUTURES.

Professor Gunter Saunders, Director of Digital Capability Development and AI Leadership at Westminster, underlines that as GenAI becomes commonplace, distinctly human qualities such as imagination, creativity, integrity and collaboration become even more valuable. He insists that universities have a responsibility to intentionally develop these capabilities so that graduates are equipped to shape the future, not simply respond to it.

HEPI Director Nick Hillman notes an unmatched appetite across the sector to understand how best to use AI, but also a landscape marked by confusion, uncertainty and funding pressures. He describes the report as a “very practical” contribution that can support governors, managers and staff as they seek to capture the advantages of AI while maintaining a clear focus on human capability and educational purpose.

Being indispensable: Capabilities for a human-AI world, the ‘FUTURES’ framework is available to download from the HEPI website. CAMRI and the University of Westminster will continue to engage with the framework’s implications for media, communication and digital education, contributing to sector-wide debate on what it means to be “indispensable” in a human–AI world.

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