Governing Generative AI in Higher Education: A Global Delphi Study on Policy and Practice

Authors

• Helen Crompton, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Diane Burke, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Christine Nickel, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Aras Bozkurt, Anadolu University, Turkey
• Fengchun Miao, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France
• Mike Sharples, The Open University
• Jeffrey Alan Greene, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• David Parsons, University of Canterbury
• Lucy Gill-Simmen, Royal Holloway University of London
• Adam Edmett, British Council, Doha, Qatar
• Mark Pegrum, University of Western Australia
• Inge de Waard, InnoEnergy, Brussels, Belgium
• Curtis J. Bonk, Indiana University Bloomington
• Manuel B. Garcia, Korea University, Seoul
• John H. Curry, Idaho State University
• LeeAnn Lindsey, Northern Arizona University
• Mohan Yang, Texas A&M University
• Stephen Marshall, Victoria University of Wellington
• Maha Bali, American University in Cairo
• Nellie Deutsch, Democritus University of Thrace
• Suzaan Le Roux, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
• Mourad Benali, Regional Center for Education and Training Professions in the Oriental Region
• Mohd Ali Bin Samsudin, Universiti Sains Malaysia
• Hasan Tinmaz, Woosong University
• Matthew L. Bernacki, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Mari van Wyk, University of Pretoria
• Lenandlar Singh, University of Guyana
• Agnes Chigona, Cape Peninsula University of Technology
• Lance Eaton, Northeastern University
• Junhong Xiao, The Open University of Shantou
• Johanna Velander, Linnaeus University
• Jinhee Kim, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Francisco Bellas, University of A Coruña
• R. Rajalakshmi, St. Joseph's College for Women
• Andréia de Bem Machado, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina
• Agnieszka Palalas, Athabasca University
• Sean Yu, Excuse Me Dallas, Taipei City, Taiwan

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1186/s41239-026-00602-z

Publication Title

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education

Volume

23

Issue

1

Pages

21

Abstract

As GenAI technologies become more pervasive in higher education (HE), scholars call for guidance on AI governance. To meet this need, a Delphi technique and collective writing was used in gathering expert perspectives from across 22 countries/locations and six continents. This resulted in the development of a HE GenAI policy/guidelines framework with eight core areas: (1) academic integrity, (2) ethical use and responsible use, (3) privacy and protection, (4) equitable access, (5) GenAI literacy, (6) integration strategy, (7) human oversight and accountability, and (8) institutional support and infrastructure. In addition, a six-part framework was developed to ensure that policies remain current and relevant: (1) creating a dedicated GenAI Committee, (2) conducting regularly scheduled policy reviews, (3) providing ongoing professional development and support, (4) communicating with all stakeholders, (5) evaluating the effectiveness and impact of GenAI, and 6) monitoring external developments. By providing a robust, eight-part framework for policy and guidelines, alongside a six-part mechanism for continued review, this study offers faculty, students, administrators, educational leaders, policymakers, and funders a responsible, adaptable, and consensus-driven blueprint for navigating the integration of GenAI in HE, ensuring that technological innovation serves pedagogical excellence.

Rights

© The Authors 2026.

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

Data Availability

Article states: "No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study."

Original Publication Citation

Crompton, H., Burke, D., Nickel, C., Bozkurt, A., Miao, F., Sharples, M., Greene, J. A., Parsons, D., Gill-Simmen, L., Edmett, A., Pegrum, M., de Waard, I., Bonk, C. J., Garcia, M. B., Curry, J. H., Lindsey, L., Yang, M., Marshall, S., Bali, M.,…Yu, S. (2026). Governing generative AI in higher education: A global Delphi study on policy and practice. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 23(1), Article 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-026-00602-z

ORCID

0000-0002-1775-8219 (Crompton), 0000-0002-8214-0386 (Burke), 0009-0009-6420-3716 (Nickel), 0000-0002-3365-7354 (Kim)

Repository Citation

Crompton, Helen; Burke, Diane; Nickel, Christine; Bozkurt, Aras; Miao, Fengchun; Sharples, Mike; Greene, Jeffrey Alan; Parsons, David; Gill-Simmen, Lucy; Edmett, Adam; Pegrum, Mark; Waard, Inge de; Bonk, Curtis J.; Garcia, Manuel B.; Curry, John H.; Lindsey, LeeAnn; Yang, Mohan; Marshall, Stephen; Bali, Maha; Deutsch, Nellie; Roux, Suzaan Le; Benali, Mourad; Samsudin, Mohd Ali Bin; Tinmaz, Hasan; Bernacki, Matthew L.; Wyk, Mari van; Singh, Lenandlar; Chigona, Agnes; Eaton, Lance; Xiao, Junhong; Velander, Johanna; Kim, Jinhee; Bellas, Francisco; Rajalakshmi, R.; Bem Machado, Andréia de; Palalas, Agnieszka; and Yu, Sean, "Governing Generative AI in Higher Education: A Global Delphi Study on Policy and Practice" (2026). STEMPS Faculty Publications. 435.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/stemps_fac_pubs/435