Philippine universities must teach students ‘professional judgment’, as artificial intelligence (AI) policies reshape academic workflows, according to an AI-powered writing and research platform.
“Universities should teach AI as part of professional judgment,” Jenni AI Solutions Architect Alex Spezowka told BusinessWorld in an email interview.
“CHED’s (Commission on Higher Education) framework gives universities permission to teach that openly,” he added. “Graduates need to know how to define a problem, select reliable evidence, direct a tool, test its output, and defend the result.”
CHED earlier established Memorandum Order No. 21, a national framework for using AI in teaching, learning, research, and institutional operations across tertiary education.
The policy enables Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to create their own safeguards to ensure the technology supports each school’s learning and institutional needs.
HEIs must also establish guidelines for transparency in AI use and human oversight in grading, admissions, scholarships, student progression and faculty evaluation.
While the policy gives schools more flexibility in implementing the new technology, Mr. Spezowka underscored that different institutional policies could leave graduates with different AI skills.
“One student may learn how to verify sources, disclose assistance, and defend a research decision,” he said. “Another may learn only how to avoid a detector.”
“Both enter the same labor market, but only one has learned a durable professional workflow,” he added.
To address the problem, the AI expert said students must learn to evaluate AI-generated work while maintaining independence and decisive thinking.
“The same workflow applies beyond university…The student chooses the literature, develops the argument, checks every source and decides which suggestions survive,” he said. “AI accelerates the work without removing the decisions that build expertise.”
He noted that schools must clearly identify which activities require independent student work and how teachers should address AI-powered requirements to balance digital and critical thinking skills.
“Every syllabus should say when AI is permitted, what must be disclosed, and what the student must still do independently,” he said. “The institution should define how faculty will review disputed work, which information cannot be uploaded, and who owns the final academic decision.”
“Universities should convert CHED’s principles into a workflow students and faculty can follow,” he added.
The CHED framework on AI covers 2,366 higher education institutions and 188,261 faculty members, and is projected to benefit over 5.8 million students nationwide. — Almira Louise S. Martinez