Unisa refutes AI ‘scandal’ allegations

The University of South Africa (Unisa) which has previously been involved in cheating scandals, has denied allegations of an AI scandal.

The institution stated that it has a balanced and reasonable approach to the use of Artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT by students.

In a statement on Friday, the university said it promotes the responsible and ethical use of AI tools, recognising both their benefits and risks in education.

“In line with the principles in the Policy on Academic Integrity, the responsible and ethical use of AI tools is promoted. Recognising both the potential benefits and risks of AI in education, Unisa is working on measures to ensure that students are guided accordingly against misuse or unethical use of AI,” the institution said.

Ensuring responsible AI use

The university said it uses several measures to guide students against misuse or unethical use of AI, including:

• Finalising the guidelines and Policy on Artificial Intelligence

• Introducing a compulsory course on Academic integrity in 2025 and amongst
  others, students will be equipped with the necessary skills to uphold the principles of
  academic integrity, including honesty, fairness, and accountability, as well as the
  responsible and ethical usage of Gen AI tools.
• Finalising the draft of the soon-to-be-approved comprehensive university position
  statement on the use of AI in teaching, learning, research and engaged
  scholarship.

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Securing academic integrity

Unisa highlighted the proactive measures it uses to proctor AI tools such as the Invigilator App, Moodle, and IRIS to secure academic integrity.

“The university also promotes the usage of Turnitin, a web-based text-matching software that has an AI content detector as one of its measures to protect academic integrity. The University remains satisfied on the efficacy of its measures in detecting acts of misconduct during its assessments,” the statement read.

As part of securing the institution’s academic integrity, Unisa said it implements student disciplinary procedures before conducting examinations and assessments.

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“Prior to the commencement of examinations, the examination rules, including rules about the usage of the proctoring tools, are clearly communicated to all students as part of our online examination rules and guidelines through various communication channels, including email, myUnisa announcements, SMS, and social media,” said Unisa senior media officers Tommy Huma.

According to the university, these rules are emphasised to students during the pre-examination training.

Student disciplinary procedures

Students who are suspected of cheating or violating the institution’s academic and examination rules are flagged.

When this happens, the flagged student is investigated to prove whether or not they cheated.

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If the investigation proves that the student cheated, they will be “referred to the Student Disciplinary Unit for the requisite action in line with relevant policies, including the Academic Integrity Policy”.

“Disciplinary measures are applied fairly and consistently; and without fear, favour or prejudice. To ensure that the principle of innocent, until proven guilty, is applied and that the affected students are not disadvantaged, students are allowed to register for other modules and/or remain in the system until the finalisation of the investigation and disciplinary processes,” Huma added.

Moreover, Huma said the university in respect of its students limits any correspondence and engagement between itself and the affected students.

“Students are also encouraged to direct any enquiries and/or concerns through the established channels of communication within the university. The university does not conduct student discipline through the media,” said Huma.