The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Nana Aba Amfo, has urged universities across Africa to fundamentally rethink how they assess students, as artificial intelligence (AI) tools increasingly enable the generation of essays and answers without genuine understanding.

Amfo said the traditional reliance on written assignments and conventional examinations is no longer sufficient to measure learning in an era where competent-looking essays can be produced in seconds.

She raised the question: “If a student can generate an apparently competent essay in seconds, what exactly are we assessing when we ask for that essay?”

She made the remarks in her keynote paper delivered at the formal opening of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) International Week

In her address, Amfo said the rapid adoption of AI in education should not be viewed solely as a crisis, but as an opportunity to interrogate teaching methods and redefine learning outcomes.

She recommended a shift towards assessment formats that test reasoning and application, including oral examinations, project-based assessments, portfolios, presentations and practical demonstrations.

“We must distinguish between a student who can produce an answer and one who understands how to arrive at, evaluate and defend that answer,” she said.

Amfo cautioned universities against two extremes – treating AI only as a threat to academic integrity or celebrating it uncritically as a fix for challenges in the sector.

According to her, the central question for higher education is how AI can be deployed to strengthen learning without eroding the intellectual capabilities that education is meant to build.

“The real challenge is to ask how AI can strengthen learning without weakening the intellectual capabilities that education is supposed to develop.”

She urged institutions to embed digital literacy and applied artificial intelligence across all disciplines, arguing that graduates must understand the technologies reshaping work, governance and everyday life.

She added that technological competence alone is inadequate without an understanding of the social inequalities, ethical concerns, and responsibilities associated with the development and deployment of such technologies.

Universities, she said, should produce graduates who can think critically about technology, not just use it, and African universities must move from being passive consumers of innovation to active contributors in shaping AI systems.

The university administrator expressed concern over the marginal representation of African languages in the datasets that power most AI models.

She observed that many AI tools still struggle with local names, accents, expressions and culturally specific meanings.

She warned that as these systems become more central to education, they risk deepening linguistic and epistemic inequalities rather than expanding access to knowledge.

“If these systems become increasingly central to education, we must ask whether they will expand access to knowledge or reinforce existing linguistic and epistemic inequalities,” she said.

She called on African universities to contribute their languages, indigenous knowledge systems, research outputs and ethical perspectives to the global development of AI.

The vice-chancellor also called for a pedagogical shift away from models that treat students as mere recipients of information to approaches that encourage them to construct, test and apply knowledge.

She identified problem-based learning, case studies, simulations, collaborative projects, fieldwork and community-engaged learning as methods that can help students link classroom knowledge to real-world challenges.

Using public health as an example, she said technical knowledge alone is insufficient when communities resist health advice because of local beliefs, economic pressures, or distrust of public institutions.

Such scenarios, she said, demand communication skills, cultural sensitivity, ethical judgment and the ability to work collaboratively with communities.

Amfo cited two initiatives at the University of Ghana to demonstrate applied and interdisciplinary learning. She said the university’s students venture support programme is designed to help students develop entrepreneurial ideas into viable initiatives. Beyond business creation, she said, it trains students to identify problems, test assumptions, communicate ideas, respond to criticism, collaborate and manage uncertainty.

She noted that the project requires collaboration among linguists, technologists and other specialists, underscoring the value of interdisciplinary teaching and research.

On inclusion, Amfo advocated teaching practices that accommodate students with disabilities, students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those whose first language differs from the language of instruction.

She said universities must provide accessible learning materials, appropriate assessment accommodations, supportive technologies and institutional systems that allow all students to fully participate.

“Inclusion is not achieved simply by opening the university’s gates. Access gets students into the university, and inclusion determines whether they can participate, belong and succeed once they arrive,” she said.

She further urged university leadership to support teaching innovation through sustained faculty development, proper incentives and policies that reward teaching excellence alongside research productivity.

While encouraging institutions to learn from global best practices, Amfo said such practices must be adapted to local realities, including large class sizes, limited resources and uneven student access to internet connectivity and digital devices.