Investigating the higher education institutions’ guidelines and policies regarding the use of generative AI in teaching, learning, research, and administration

Abstract This study examined the guidelines issued by the top 50 U.S. universities regarding the use of Generative AI (GenAI) in academic and administrative activities. Employing a mixed methods approach, the research combined topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and qualitative thematic analysis to provide a comprehensive understanding of institutional responses to GenAI. Topic modeling identified four core topics: Integration of GenAI in Learning and Assessment, GenAI in Visual and Multimodal Media, Security and Ethical Considerations in GenAI, and GenAI in Academic Integrity. These themes were further explored through sentiment analysis, which revealed highly positive attitudes towards GenAI across all institution types, with significant differences between faculty and student-targeted guidelines. Qualitative thematic analysis corroborated these findings and provided deeper insights, revealing that 94% of universities had faculty guidelines emphasizing the importance of establishing and communicating course-specific GenAI policies. This analysis also highlighted recurring themes such as academic integrity and privacy concerns, which aligned with the security and ethical considerations identified in the topic modeling. The study highlights the rapid evolution of GenAI guidelines in higher education and the need for flexible, stakeholder-specific policies that address both the opportunities and challenges presented by this technology.