The Penetration of Generative AI in Higher Education: A Survey

Context: The global teacher shortage crisis is a severe challenge. The crisis also rises in Indonesia, where the problem extends to unequal teaching quality and learning facilities. This situation seriously threatens the Indonesian 2045 vision of being a developed country with knowledgeable human resources. The advancement of AI brings opportunities to address the challenges. In recent years, there has been a wave of generative AI (GenAI) technologies and their adoption in education. However, there is no research on the penetration of such technology in our learning environment. Objective: In this study, we investigate the penetration of GenAI by students in a higher education setting. Method: We surveyed 1,157 students of Institut Teknologi Del, a private university in western Indonesia, and developed local knowledge based on the responses. Results: Our results show that most students are well aware of GenAI technologies (70.96%) and have used them to support their learning (98.96%). The top five most used GenAI tools are GitHub Copilot, OpenAI ChatGPT, Codex, Grammarly, and ChatPDF. Conclusion: GenAI is already part of the daily learning process. We believe that, sooner or later, GenAI will be one of many deciding factors in our future education systems, and we must be ready to adapt to it.