Exploring generative AI in Liberal Arts and Sciences programmes

The retreat brings together representatives from AUC’s Academic Core and Sabancı’s Foundations Development programme to explore how generative AI is reshaping higher education, with a special focus on the liberal arts and sciences.

The retreat is designed as a week-long conversation between faculty, students and policy-makers on the opportunities and challenges posed by generative AI in higher education. Topics of the week range from teaching and assessment to ethics, institutional transformation and the future of AI literacy. Sessions include both formal presentations and roundtable discussions, alongside student contributions, to ensure a diversity of perspectives on how universities can adapt to rapid technological change.

AUC, UvA and VU faculty participation and contributions

Participating members from AUC include Dora Achourioti (Head of Studies, Academic Core) and Academic Core faculty members Lotte Tavecchio, Joost Krijnen, Julia Hülsken and Breanndán Ó Nualláin. They are joined by colleagues from the VU and UvA: Silvester Draaijer (VU Centre for Teaching and Learning) and Jacqui Edwards (UvA Teaching and Learning Centre).

AUC colleagues will play a leading role in several sessions, including presenting experiments with chatbots in teaching, sharing institutional experiences with assessment in the age of AI and contributing to discussions on policy roadmaps for AI task forces. AUC will also bring forward the crucial question of what a liberal arts and sciences education should look like in a world transformed by generative AI. In addition, participants from AUC and the UvA/VU will help guide a forward-looking session on AI literacy, asking how it can be meaningfully integrated into core courses and curricula.

By contributing these perspectives, AUC demonstrates its commitment not only to critically engaging with new technologies but also to shaping how universities prepare students for the challenges and opportunities of the future. The retreat highlights the need for and importance of institutes such as AUC and Sabancı University to be places of innovation in international discussions on education, ensuring that liberal arts and sciences remain resilient and relevant in the age of AI.