In 2025, the typical undergraduate doesn’t ask if they should use AI — they ask how far they can take it. They’re drafting essays with ChatGPT, testing hypotheses with Copilot, and summarising academic papers in seconds. But while students are moving at the speed of GenAI, the systems built to support them are stuck in last decade’s mindset.
Universities were built for knowledge distribution. But knowledge today is no longer scarce — it’s on-demand, auto-summarised, and personalised. The new challenge isn’t access, it’s agency: how to help students use AI meaningfully, ethically and confidently. That requires bold rethinking. Not just of tools and training, but of what education itself should look like in an AI-native world.
The Student Mindset Has Shifted. Systems Haven’t.
Recent research from HEPI shows that 92% of undergraduates now use AI tools — up from 66% last year. More than half use it to enhance learning, summarise complex content, or generate ideas. Yet only 36% say their institution has supported them to build AI skills. The message is clear: students are building AI capability with or without permission.
This isn’t about students “cheating the system.” It’s about students navigating a system that hasn’t caught up. One student put it perfectly: “They dance around the subject. It’s not banned but not advised, it’s academic misconduct if you use it but lecturers tell us they use it. Very mixed messages.”
Therein lies the problem. Universities are focused on detection, while students are looking for direction. Without clear guidance, they’re left to guess what’s acceptable — and guesswork leads to risk, inconsistency, and digital inequality.
AI Has Become the New Digital Divide
When we talk about the digital divide, we no longer mean access to Wi-Fi. We mean access to confidence.
In the HEPI data, students from wealthier backgrounds are more likely to use AI creatively — summarising, structuring, and even editing work with advanced tools. Meanwhile, students from less advantaged backgrounds often use AI less — not because they don’t want to, but because they’re unsure how to use it “correctly” or can’t afford premium tools.
What we’re seeing is the emergence of a new hierarchy: those who are AI-literate, and those who are not. Those who know how to prompt with precision, cross-check for hallucinations, and build hybrid workflows — and those who avoid AI altogether, fearing misconduct accusations.
Unless institutions take proactive steps to embed GenAI into their ecosystems, this confidence gap will become a competence gap — and later, a career gap.
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The Solution Isn’t to Ban AI. It’s to Design for It.
AI isn’t a problem to eliminate — it’s a capability to harness. Universities that treat AI as a threat risk missing the bigger opportunity: to design systems, experiences, and support models that empower students to use it wisely and effectively.
That’s why at Calls9, we’ve created the AI Fast Lane Programme — a structured, strategic framework that helps education institutions (and ambitious organisations more broadly) move from uncertainty to capability, fast. It’s built to address exactly the kind of gaps HEPI identifies — and to give universities a clear path forward.
Here’s how we do it:
1. Audit and Understand the AI Landscape
We begin with a clear-sighted audit of your institution’s current AI readiness. This includes:
- Mapping where students and staff are already using GenAI (both formally and informally)
- Identifying strengths, risks, and gaps across departments
- Surfacing unmet needs across disciplines and demographics
This data-driven approach replaces assumptions with insight, ensuring any strategy is built on the real behaviours and needs of your community.
2. Co-create a Responsible AI Strategy
Once we understand where you are, we work with you to shape where you're going. That includes:
- Setting clear GenAI goals for teaching, learning, support and operations
- Building robust risk frameworks to address bias, hallucinations, compliance, and academic integrity
- Developing a practical roadmap for delivery, aligned to your institutional mission and values
It’s about transforming policy into practical action — and helping institutions lead with confidence, not fear.
3. Identify and Prioritise High-Impact GenAI Use Cases
We bring together cross-functional teams to pinpoint the areas where GenAI can deliver the greatest value. That might include:
- Improving the student experience with AI-powered feedback or learning support
- Enhancing administrative efficiency
- Exploring new forms of assessment, or personalised content delivery
Each use case is assessed for feasibility, strategic fit and impact — and prioritised accordingly.
4. Deploy the Right Tools — Securely and Equitably
Technology choices matter — but so do trust, equity and accessibility. We help institutions:
- Select secure, privacy-compliant GenAI tools tailored to education
- Ensure fair access for all students, regardless of course, background or device
- Enable secure platforms like Kalisa to provide safe, accurate, on-demand academic support
This ensures students have access to the tools they need — and the confidence to use them.
5. Upskill Educators and Support Staff
Great tools are wasted without great capability. That’s why we focus on empowering staff across the board:
- Practical, hands-on training for teaching and administrative teams
- Custom toolkits for integrating GenAI into course design
- Support in redesigning assessments for an AI-native student body
By investing in staff fluency, we help institutions create consistency and clarity across every student touchpoint.
6. Launch, Learn and Evolve
Finally, we don’t stop at strategy — we stay with you through delivery. AI Fast Lane includes:
- A clear implementation roadmap
- Ongoing support for testing, learning and iteration
- Continuous review to keep pace with changing technology, regulation and student needs
In a fast-moving space, adaptability is essential. We help institutions stay agile, relevant, and resilient.
The Future is AI-Native. Let’s Build Systems That Are Too.
Imagine a university where every student — regardless of background — has access to AI tools that match their field of study. Where educators have the confidence to embed AI into their pedagogy. Where assessment is designed to test thinking, not typing. Where digital confidence is not a luxury, but a given.
It’s possible. But it won’t happen by chance.
It will happen through leadership, experimentation, and collaboration.
At Calls9, we believe every institution should have access to the strategy, tools and expertise needed to navigate this shift — no matter where they’re starting from. That’s what AI Fast Lane is built for. Whether you're a department head, innovation lead or CIO, we’ll help you identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and build AI capability that’s fit for the next decade — not the last one.
The students are ready.
Are you?
Learn more and book a free AI Consultation
* This articles' cover image is generated by AI
