Introducing UCT’s AI in Education Framework

Dear colleagues and students

Artificial intelligence technologies are becoming part of our daily lives, and starting to reshape teaching and learning in universities. Staff and students are using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini in innovative and productive ways; while at other times these technologies present significant challenges, requiring us to rethink teaching pedagogies, assessment practices and the fundamentals of what a university experience should be, and what our qualifications should signify in a changing world.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is committed to providing an enabling environment and systematic approaches to shape and support staff and students in responsible and ethical use of these technologies, and I am thus pleased to announce the endorsement of the UCT AI in Education Framework by Senate’s Teaching and Learning Committee in June 2025.

This framework, focusing primarily on generative AI, represents an institutional position at this moment in time on how UCT’s teaching and learning community can best respond to and shape the advent of AI technologies. Given the rapid development and take-up of AI technologies, the framework provides both a set of overarching principles for ethical and responsible use and promotes three pillars for AI engagement:

1. Promoting AI literacies for staff and students
2. Promoting and ensuring assessment integrity
3. Exploring and investing in AI-enabled opportunities for innovation in teaching, learning and curriculum design

The pillars are designed to give focus to core initiatives that can support the UCT teaching community through providing a roadmap of activities for the short- and medium-term, as well as outlining the roles and responsibilities for different stakeholder groups in operationalising the framework. Responding to AI in teaching and learning will require the commitment of the entire teaching and learning community as we come together to shape our future with intention and integrity.

The framework was drafted by the Online Education Subcommittee in September 2024 and finalised in June 2025 after extensive engagements with faculties, support departments, student representatives and the UCT AI Initiative. Some key messages from the consultations were to foreground academic integrity practices, ensure equity for staff and students in accessing AI technologies in teaching and learning, and promote staff and student AI literacies and capabilities.

I want to thank all the stakeholders who have engaged with this important process and whose views and suggestions have enriched the framework. Given the rapidly changing space, the framework’s roadmap and set of activities will be updated regularly to keep pace with new developments via the framework webpage.

I encourage you to read and engage with the framework.

An important related issue is the use of the Turnitin AI Score, which flags passages of writing in student work considered to be AI-generated. AI detection tools are widely considered to be unreliable, and can produce both false positives and false negatives. The continued use of such scores risks compromising student trust and academic fairness. The Senate Teaching and Learning Committee has now agreed that use of the AI Score should be discontinued, and this feature in Turnitin will no longer be available at UCT from 1 October 2025.

• Staff and students are reminded to consult UCT’s AI Guides for guidance as well as enrol in the AI Literacies self-paced modules.

Sincerely

Professor Brandon Collier-Reed
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements