AI in higher education discussed at the Online Café meeting
On December 18, ChallengeEU organized its first Online Café on Artificial Intelligence, bringing together professors from across the Alliance to share institutional practices, ethical guidelines, and innovative solutions for AI integration in higher education. ChallengeEU Online Café was dedicated to one of the most transformative topics in academia today: Artificial Intelligence in higher education. The aim of the meeting was to create a collegial and open space for discussion, where professors and academic staff could meet peers facing similar questions, exchange experiences, and gather ideas for their own pedagogical practice. The conversation was broadly structured around three overarching questions: how are institutions framing and supervising students’ use of AI?; in what ways can AI enrich teaching and course activities?; what governance, support mechanisms, and ethical frameworks are needed for responsible AI use? This session brought together four speakers from four ChallengeEU partner universities, each offering brief insights into AI-related initiatives developed at their institutions. Sara Gancho from Universidade Europeia de Lisoboa showcased institutional initiatives: AI Best Practices Awards, professor training and ethical guidelines. Florije Ismaili from Southeast European University presented AI@SEU, a system with three modules to streamline admissions, academic guidance, and research support. Ingus Šmits from Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies addressed challenges of generative AI in student work and lecturer training to ensure integrity. Etienne Bossy from ECAM LaSalle shared experience with AI detection tools and mandatory AI usage forms, aiming to balance transparency, ethics, and practical assessment in engineering education. These presentations were followed by breakout room sessions, which allowed professors to interact more deeply on this topic. In the future, further events from the Online Café series will take place. Photo: www.freepik.com
INCLUDO: How inclusive is Artificial Intelligence?
INCLUDO focuses on a highly topical issue: Artificial Intelligence and Diversity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises new opportunities – such as barrier-free tools or personalized learning offers. At the same time, cases of bias, discrimination, and stereotyping continue to emerge. How inclusive is AI, and what do we as users need to be aware of? We will explore these questions in an interactive workshop. Following an expert input from AI specialist Sonja Angehrn, we will jointly test various AI tools for their diversity competence and compare the results. What you’ll take away: Understanding: How does AI work – and where are its limitations? Competence: How can AI results be critically evaluated? Practice: Hands-on prompting – testing how AI responds to diversity topics Inspiration: Tools and strategies to make AI use more inclusive Date/Location: Tuesday, December 9, 2025, 4.30-6.30 PM, FHNW Campus Muttenz (Aula) or online via MS Teams (Link will be sent after registration) Program: 4:30 PM Welcome & Introduction to the topic 4:45 PM Expert input by Sonja Angehrn, Lecturer at ICAI – Interdisciplinary Center for Artificial Intelligence, OST 5:30 PM Group work: Testing AI tools 6:00 PM Discussion of results & take-home messages 6:30 PM Joint Apéro INCLUDO will be held in English and German. The event is part of the university alliance ChallengeEU.
