OfS tells universities to use more AI-free assessment
England's higher education regulator says many unsupervised assessments can be passed with AI tools. It has listed the approaches it expects, including exams and vivas designed to prevent AI use.
The Office for Students (OfS), which regulates universities and colleges in England, published research on AI in higher education on 11 November 2026.
The report, written with Advance HE, draws on 244 staff and 91 students and student representatives from at least 127 institutions. They took part in roundtables, workshops, interviews and online prompts between June and September 2026. The report says the participants chose to take part, so they may not represent all students and staff.
We need to see far greater efforts to tackle these risks, including far greater use of AI-free assessment.
The report says many unsupervised assessments can be completed to a high standard with AI tools. Students can do this without showing the knowledge the assessment is meant to test. Some students told researchers that peers finished assessments with AI in minutes and got similar grades to those who did the work. The report also says AI detectors do not reliably identify AI use.
Alongside the report, the OfS listed approaches it considers likely to comply with its quality conditions. These include secure assessments designed to prevent AI use, such as in-person exams, presentations, vivas and practical tasks. Courses should also keep up with AI in their subject. For computer science, its example is considering what machine learning means for computing. Times Higher Education reported that the regulator stopped short of requiring AI-free assessment.
For students, the OfS expects each institution to say clearly whether and how AI may be used in each assessment. The report found many students struggled to understand their university's AI rules. Students also asked for more AI skills training, which the report says is uneven. The OfS says it can fine institutions that fall short or suspend their funding.
The OfS rules apply only in England. The report gives no figure for how many assessments can be completed with AI.
Sources
- Office for Students Universities should help students develop AI skills while protecting confidence in degrees
- Office for Students Making AI work for students: reflections on institutional practice
- Office for Students Effective institutional practice in AI
- Times Higher Education OfS pushes in-person exams to 'protect sector's reputation'