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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
Volume 10 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1505856
This article is part of the Research Topic AI's Impact on Higher Education: Transforming Research, Teaching, and Learning View all 6 articles
Embracing or Rejecting AI? A Mixed Method Study on Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Artificial Intelligence at a Private University in China
Provisionally accepted- 1 Qingdao City University, Qingdao, China
- 2 Institute of International and Comparative Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- 3 Philippine Normal University, Manila, Philippines
- 4 Jimei University, Chengyi College, Xiamen, China
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly ChatGPT, has transformed educational landscapes globally. Moreover, the Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education and the 'Pact for the Future' propose that AI can support UNESCO in achieving development goals, especially focusing on SDG 4, which emphasizes quality education. Thus, this study investigates undergraduate students' familiarity with and attitudes toward AI tools, such as ChatGPT, as well as their perceived risks and benefits of using these tools at a private university in China. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was employed with an online survey of 167 students, followed by a qualitative analysis of openended responses. Data were analyzed using the one-sample Wilcoxon signed-rank test and thematic analysis, supported by ATLAS.ti 25. The findings revealed that students demonstrated moderate familiarity with AI tools and willingness to use them in coursework. Positive attitudes toward AI's value in education were evident, although concerns such as dependence and reduced independent thinking, algorithmic bias and ethical concerns, accuracy and information quality, data security, and privacy concerns were observed among students. Students also perceived AI's benefits, such as personalized learning, efficiency and convenience, career and skill development, and support for independent learning. This study contributes to the discourse on AI integration in higher education by highlighting students' nuanced perceptions and balancing their benefits with potential risks. The findings of this study were limited by the small sample size and institution. Future research should explore diverse contexts to develop comprehensive AI implementation frameworks for higher education.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, Familiarity, Attitude, Beijing consensus, Private university, higher education, China
Received: 03 Oct 2024; Accepted: 31 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Castulo and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Nilo Jayoma Castulo, Institute of International and Comparative Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
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