ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-ENABLED DIGITAL GOVERNANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: OPERATING MECHANISMS, RISK BOUNDARIES, AND AN ADAPTIVE GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

Artificial intelligence is increasingly becoming a part of the governance of universities. While there has been a significant amount of research discussing the applications of artificial intelligence in higher education and the ethics of artificial intelligence, there has been less discussion of how artificial intelligence impacts the governance of universities. This article reviews 36 sources relating to artificial intelligence and higher education to develop a framework for understanding artificial intelligence-enabled digital governance in higher education. The article identifies four mechanisms through which artificial intelligence functions within higher education governance: data-driven sensing, cognitive augmentation in decision-making, coordinated execution, and recursive institutional learning. These mechanisms create risks for higher education institutions, including data extraction and purpose drift, algorithmic bias and opacity, automation dependence and responsibility diffusion, and misalignment with educational values. To manage these risks, the article develops an adaptive governance framework that includes risk-tiered authorization, impact assessment, human oversight, decision logging, audit, contestability, and institutional updating. The framework is applied to major university functions. The article argues against the use of artificial intelligence as an autonomous decision maker in higher education and against presenting artificial intelligence as a neutral productivity device. The article suggests that the appropriate role for artificial intelligence in higher education is to strengthen institutional judgment within a dual closed loop of feedback. This article contributes to the field of digital governance and provides a framework through which universities may use artificial intelligence while protecting student rights, academic values, and public trust in higher education.