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Universal AI Literacy in Chinese Higher Education: Current Landscape and Optimization Pathways

Author(s)

Xinling Wu1,2, Youyun Wen2

Affiliation(s)

1School of Education, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China 2South China Business College, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China

Abstract

Being the central impetus of the new wave of technological revolution and industrial change, artificial intelligence (AI) has made universal AI literacy a strategic concern in the reform of higher education in China, and a set of national policies have significantly broadened the scope of AI literacy education in domestic universities and created a collaborative development model that comprises national top-level design, regional characteristic innovation and diversified school-level practices. In order to fully sort out the realistic development landscape of universal AI literacy education in Chinese higher education institutions, this paper will take two research approaches, policy text analysis and multi-case comparative research. Based on systematic investigation and comparative analysis, this study finds five significant bottlenecks limiting high-quality education development: ambiguous course positioning, fragmented curriculum systems, insufficient faculty capacity, absent evaluation frameworks, and superficial university-industry collaboration. To address these challenges, this study suggests improved trajectories based on the “national guidance - local adaptation - university initiative” model.

Keywords

AI Literacy Education; AI Literacy; Higher Education; Curriculum Reform

References

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