Artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education (HE) is transforming policy and practice across educational institutions. On 1 June, the Malta College of Arts, Science, and Technology (MCAST) hosted a workshop focusing on the Challenges and Opportunities of AI in the context of Vocational and Profession Education and Training Assessment (VPET) assessments.

The College management team and Professor Alexiei Dingli discussed how the use of AI tools has impacted vocational education and how a shift of approach needs to take place for assessment to capture better the learning that has taken place. The participants included the Principal, Deputy Principals, Institute Directors, Institute Deputy Directors, Director of Education & Training Programmes, Director of Quality Assurance, Applied Research and Innovation Centre, and the Registrar’s Office.

In his intervention, the MCAST Principal & CEO Professor Joachim James Calleja insisted on how the future of education is about integrating AI and humans, where technology can support and assist in making education accessible and more accurate, thus improving a person’s lifelong learning capacity.

Prof Alexiei Dingli shared the most recent developments and applications of AI and encouraged all education institutions to integrate AI into their approach to teaching, learning, and assessing.

The College intends to keep developing this discussion to implement actions that address these developments that need to be used consciously and with careful planning for integration. As discussed during the seminar, it is amply clear that we must rethink policy and practice as AI influences change in education. There is a growing need for management and staff at HEIs to increase their knowledge and awareness of AI developments and stay on top of the ever-evolving world of technology.

HEIs need to make themselves aware of developments like those mentioned here and stay on top of the ever-evolving world of AI in higher education. Keep an eye on OpenAI’s updates of ChatGPT (text-based AI), DALL-E (image-based AI) and Whisper (voice-based AI) to monitor the future of AI.