Legal and Policy Challenges in Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Selected Countries

Abstract

AI is transforming Higher Education with tools such as AI-powered assessment, learning analytics, virtual assistants, AI assistance for research, and generative capabilities, but legal and policy responses are varied between countries. The article analysed the challenges from the regulatory perspective of using AI in higher education by adopting a qualitative comparative approach that included selected national laws, policy documents, institutional guidelines and academic literature. The results indicated that data protection was more salient than transparency, explainability, appeal rights, academic integrity, IP rights, bias control and institutional liability. Universities generally adopted general legal provisions and rudimentary in-house guidance instead of in-depth internal guidance to educational AI. Additionally, disparities emerged in terms of enforcement, need for human oversight, safeguards for students, and accountability for harmful or inaccurate AI-driven decisions. The article proposes a coordinated government, regulatory, university, technology provider, teacher and student approach to responsible governance. There must be transparency and clarity in disclosure, authorship, privacy, fairness, risk assessment, complaint resolution and periodic review. The protection would also help to eliminate regulatory uncertainty and to foster uniform institutional application in the different legal and educational systems. There is a need for a flexible, rights-based approach that will enable innovation and maintain academic integrity, institutional accountability and public confidence in the higher education sector.