UCAS 2026: The 'AI-Cognisant' School-Leavers Join HE
- Charlotte Gorse
- Aug 26
- 1 min read
As we enter into the throes of the September enrolment cycle, a Higher Education Policy Institute article cuts through the noise. It reminds us that the next university intake (applying from September) has experienced the majority, if not entirety, of their secondary school education alongside AI.
There is nuance in the learning that they will bring: while some schools embrace artificial intelligence as a tool to enhance and challenge their students’ thinking, others police it. This will have left a significant differential to those joining university next year:
those with safeguarding rails in place, with ‘stronger AI-augmented reasoning’
others more experienced in evading detection than in interrogating the content
The first group learned to think with AI. The second group learned to hide that they were using it.
How can universities effectively prepare for this entrance to higher education, ensuring both safely develop complex critical thinking quickly and effectively prepare for an augmented workplace? It is now the time to focus our thinking on the first year of learning, setting a scene that is confident and relevant for future ways of working.
For the author Roney Lima do Nascimento, the answer is clear: while universities may want to reach for detection tools, all this does is teach students how not to get caught, rather than to develop strategies of reasoning.
Consider your institutional position before the next intake, on digital transformation tailored by faculty, school and subject, pre-empt AI-confidence variables, support gaps and double the benefit of offering students a truly unique, future-proofed provision.
