The role of artificial intelligence in tertiary education for global competitiveness in Nigeria

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly relevant to tertiary education by supporting teaching, learning, research, communication, and institutional processes. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study consisted of 250 respondents comprising 50 ICT personnel, 75 non-academic staff, 75 students, and 50 academic staff from seven tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Data were collected using the Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Schools Environmental-Factor Survey (AI-SEF), a 16-item instrument adapted to the higher-education context from the AI-in-higher-education literature. The instrument was validated by three experts, one in counselling and two in educational technology. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and the overall coefficient was 0.80. Descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and independent-samples t tests were used for data analysis. The findings showed that awareness of AI was relatively high, while perceived benefits did not differ significantly across stakeholder groups, while organizational readiness differed between public and private universities. The difference in environmental factors between urban and rural institutions was not statistically significant. The study concludes that stakeholder perceptions and organizational conditions are important considerations for responsible AI adoption in Nigerian tertiary education.