The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, has urged universities to rethink their assessment methods as artificial intelligence makes it increasingly easy for students to generate essays and answers without demonstrating genuine understanding.
She said universities needed to place greater emphasis on assessing students' reasoning, practical skills and ability to apply knowledge, rather than relying heavily on conventional examinations and written assignments.
"If a student can generate an apparently competent essay in seconds, what exactly are we assessing when we ask for that essay?" she asked.
Professor Amfo was delivering the keynote address at the formal opening of the University of Lagos International Week 2026, held at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium. The event, which ran from October 12 to 17, had the theme, "Re-imagining Pedagogy and Teaching for Higher Education in the 21st Century."
Personalities at the event included Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, represented by the Lagos State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Mr Tolani Sule; the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, represented by Mrs Elizabeth Ogundipe; and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Abdullahi Ribadu, represented by Dr Ayoteju Ogun. Also present were the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria, Ms Elsie Attafuah, and the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Professor Folasade Ogunsola.
Delivering the keynote, Professor Amfo said the growing use of AI in education presented universities with an opportunity to reconsider how they taught students and measured learning outcomes.
She recommended greater use of oral examinations, project-based assessments, portfolios, presentations and practical demonstrations to establish whether students understood the concepts they were expected to learn.
"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.
She cautioned against treating AI solely as a threat to academic integrity or celebrating it uncritically as a solution to educational challenges.
"The real challenge is to ask how AI can strengthen learning without weakening the intellectual capabilities that education is supposed to develop," she said.
Professor Amfo urged universities to incorporate digital literacy and applied AI into their curricula across disciplines, saying graduates needed to understand the technologies reshaping contemporary life.
She said technological competence must be accompanied by an understanding of the social inequalities, ethical considerations and responsibilities associated with developing and using such technologies.
According to her, universities should produce graduates who could think critically about technology rather than merely use it, adding that African institutions should contribute to shaping AI systems instead of remaining passive consumers of technological innovation.
A linguist, Professor Amfo raised concerns about the limited representation of African languages in the databases and technologies underpinning AI systems. She said some AI tools struggled with local names, accents, expressions and culturally specific meanings, warning that growing reliance on such systems could reinforce existing linguistic and knowledge inequalities.
"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 urged African universities to contribute their languages, knowledge systems, research and ethical perspectives to the development of AI technologies.
Professor Amfo called for a shift from teaching methods that treat students largely as recipients of information to approaches that encourage them to construct, test and apply knowledge.
She said problem-based learning, case studies, simulations, collaborative projects, fieldwork and community-engaged learning could help students connect classroom knowledge with real-world challenges.
Using public health as an example, she said students needed more than technical knowledge to address situations in which communities resisted health advice because of local beliefs, economic realities or experiences with public institutions. Such situations, she said, required communication skills, cultural sensitivity, ethical judgment and the ability to work with communities.
She said the University of Ghana's student venture support programme was designed to help students develop entrepreneurial ideas and translate them into viable initiatives. Beyond establishing businesses, she said, such initiatives helped students learn to identify problems, test assumptions, communicate ideas, respond to criticism, collaborate and manage uncertainty.
She also cited the Tetremapa Initiative, which explores how artificial intelligence and speech-recognition technologies can reduce communication barriers for people with speech impairments while taking Ghanaian languages into account. The initiative, she said, requires collaboration among linguists, technology experts and other stakeholders, demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary learning.
The vice-chancellor advocated inclusive teaching practices that accommodate students with disabilities, those from disadvantaged backgrounds and students whose first language differs from the language of instruction.
She said universities needed to provide accessible learning materials, appropriate assessment arrangements, supportive technologies and institutional systems that enabled all students to participate fully in academic life.
"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.
Professor Amfo called on university leaders to support innovation in teaching through faculty development, appropriate incentives and institutional policies that recognise teaching excellence alongside research productivity. She said universities should learn from global best practices while adapting them to local realities, including large classes, limited resources and students' varying access to internet connectivity and digital devices.
