Application of Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education An Evaluation of Opportunities and Challenges: A Prospective Study

The current study aims to reveal possible opportunities for applying artificial intelligence in higher education, and to identify the most important challenges that such application faces and the maximum benefits that can be acquired from employing artificial intelligence techniques in developing the educational process and the educational services in higher education institutions. This study followed the descriptive analytical approach in addressing the topic of applying artificial intelligence in higher education by reviewing the literature and previous studies that addressed this topic. The study concluded that it is possible to benefit from the application of artificial intelligence in higher education in the fields of teaching, learning, administration, research, and others, if the requirements of this application are dealt with effectively and the facilities that support the use of artificial intelligence techniques are provided. The study recommends confronting the challenges that weaken the effectiveness of the application of artificial intelligence in higher education. The most important challenges in this regard are: the lack of educational policies related to the application of artificial intelligence in education, the weakness of the infrastructure needed to supports the use of artificial intelligence techniques, the need to train academics and learners on how to deal with new applications, and the lack of due awareness of the importance of artificial intelligence applications and its role in developing higher education. KEY WORDS: artificial intelligence, higher education, opportunities, challenges, foreseeing the future