England's University Regulator Says AI Threatens Degrees and Calls for AI-Free Assessment

The Office for Students published the findings on Wednesday with Advance HE, a charity that works on university teaching and governance. Researchers interviewed more than 300 students and staff at 127 universities and colleges this year about how AI is used in teaching and assessment. Students told them that peers who used AI received grades similar to those who did the work themselves.

The regulator framed the problem as one of credibility. If coursework no longer shows what a student knows, the value of a degree to employers is at stake. Josh Fleming, the OfS director of strategy and delivery, said AI use "presents a generational risk to the system as it stands, threatening to undermine students' learning and institutions' ability to assess them". He added that the sector needed "far greater use of AI-free assessment".

The OfS made clear that this is a compliance matter and not only guidance. Institutions must ensure their assessments are valid and reliable measures of students' knowledge and skills, which the regulator said will often require secure, AI-free assessment. Providers that fall short could be found in breach of their conditions of registration, and the OfS said its enforcement tools include specific conditions, monetary penalties and suspending access to student support or OfS grant funding. It said it would clarify how its existing requirements apply to AI.

The report found that assessments designed to limit AI use, such as closed-book exams, presentations and practical tasks, probably give the most valid measure of what students have achieved. Many institutions have already moved in that direction, the OfS said, through in-person written exams and oral examinations known as vivas, tasks in which students critique or edit AI-generated output, and process-based assessments in which they document how they researched and produced their work.

The interviews describe how far AI has spread through coursework. One academic told researchers that coursework "is now overwhelmingly written in part, or exclusively, with the help of AI". Another staff member said pervasive AI use "may render our assessment of students close to impossible in some areas". Staff reported batches of submissions that looked alike, cited the same literature and used the same style, and some students described peers who could not recall basic details of work they had just handed in.

The findings cut both ways. Students said AI skills matter for employment and want more chances to build them, and the OfS said courses must stay current and develop relevant skills. But students also found institutional AI policies hard to understand, and some felt staff use of AI had lowered the quality of teaching materials. AI literacy training for staff was limited, mostly voluntary and poorly attended, the report said, and AI use among staff varied widely within and between institutions.

The Department for Education said it expects universities to take the issue seriously and the OfS to enforce existing standards and make its framework on AI "explicit, strong and durable".

Advance HE said it will launch an AI-focused Change Academy for member institutions in early 2027 to help leaders develop institutional AI strategies, and will update its guidance on ethical AI use. The OfS said it will share good practice and carry out further research.