TOWARDS RESPONSIBLE GENAI USE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A Collaborative Governance Perspective From Sweden

Abstract

Generative AI (GenAI) is transforming higher education by enabling new forms of academic assistance and content generation. While much attention has been given to institutional efforts to protect academic integrity, it remains underexplored in the literature how students and educators can collaboratively shape responsible GenAI practices at the classroom level. This thesis examines how responsible GenAI use can be govemed through inclusive, course-level processes in Swedish higher education. The study focuses on take-home exams and draws on semi-structured interview data from students (n = 7) and educators (n = 9) across multiple disciplines and institutions, analysed using the Gioia method. The proposed govemance framework consists of three interdependent processes: dialogue, AI literacy, and AI-resilient assessment design. Theoretically, this study extends collaborative govemance theory to the classroom level by conceptualising responsible GenAI use as an adaptive, participatory process grounded in these three practices. Practically, it introduces a framework that provides educators and students with actionable strategies to foster trust, shared understanding, and openness.