Conference Agenda

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has garnered increasing attention, particularly regarding its integration in supporting decision-making processes. This study aims to compare two research investigations – Hungarian and Polish – that examine the role of AI in educational contexts, focusing on comparing decision-making methods and outcomes applied by public administration and business management students compared to ChatGPT. The central research question addresses the extent to which ChatGPT's decision-making methods and outcomes differ from those chosen by students and how these similarities or discrepancies impact student satisfaction. The research explores whether the methods proposed by AI complement or replace traditional human decision-making approaches within an educational setting. A mixed-methods approach, combining both quantitative and qualitative techniques, is applied. Statistical analyses are used to assess the differences and similarities between the decision-making methods chosen by students and ChatGPT, while content analysis is applied to evaluate user feedback. This hybrid methodological framework enables a comprehensive, multidimensional understanding of decision-making processes in the context of AI integration. The findings indicate that although statistically significant differences exist between the methods chosen by ChatGPT and those selected by students, the decision outcomes largely converge. In particular, student satisfaction is strongly linked to the degree of alignment between AI-generated decisions and human decision-making. The study highlights that AI can serve as an effective tool in supporting decision-making in education while also emphasizing the need for further research to address the ethical and reliability issues arising from its integration.

This research aims to analyze the impact and potential of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration teaching, redefining the pedagogical paradigm in the digital age. Through a systematic review of the specialized literature, a bibliometric analysis and a questionnaire addressed to public administration students, the study explores both the benefits and risks associated with the use of AI technologies in the educational process.

The main findings highlight that AI can facilitate the personalization of instruction, increase efficiency and access to updated information, thus increasing student interactivity and engagement. At the same time, risks such as excessive dependence on technology, potential algorithmic bias and ethical issues in the use of data are noted.

The added value of the research consists in identifying clear directions for the responsible implementation of AI in public administration education, providing recommendations for the integration of digital technologies in an ethical and efficient manner. Limitations of the study include the small sample size and lack of longitudinal data, aspects that will be addressed in future research, which will integrate experimental methods to validate and extend the results obtained.

A conversational chatbot named ChatGPT, launched in November 2022, was one of the first artificial intelligence (AI) tools to become widely accessible and easy to use. Its swift adoption by higher education students highlights its emerging role in supporting learning outcomes. In the context of modern public administration, where professionals are expected to work effectively in uncertain and digitally oriented environments, ChatGPT presents significant opportunities for enhancing higher education. However, its application within public administration education has received little empirical attention and remains insufficiently explored. Therefore, this study addresses this gap by analysing how public administration students in Slovenia perceive the potential of ChatGPT to improve learning outcomes, with a particular focus on how their views have evolved over time. Using descriptive statistics and independent-sample t-tests, the study compares survey data from 289 students in the academic year 2023–2024 and 288 students in 2024–2025. Results show that public administration students view ChatGPT as most effective for enhancing knowledge, improving study efficiency, and supporting skills development, while seeing it as less useful for motivation, personalised learning, and career readiness. Over time, perceptions have declined for knowledge and productivity benefits but increased for skills, extracurricular engagement, and personal growth, reflecting a shift from early optimism to a more balanced, experience-based view of its value. These insights offer evidence-based guidance for educators and policymakers as they adapt public administration education to the evolving digital landscape.

The emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), as part and parcel of the fourth industrial revolution presents an unavoidable predicament that requires institutions of education, or the higher learning institutions/universities, to adapt to the changes and possibly evolve while ensuring that the quality of teaching, learning and research remains unaffected. In South Africa, most universities are still grappling with ensuring that AI does not affect quality output especially in critical and advanced level of studies such as the post graduate qualifications. The few universities that have adopted AI related policy so far, are yet to ‘convincingly’ deal with the question of ensuring quality [original] research, ethics, integrity, and knowledge production in key disciplines like social sciences. It must be acknowledged that universities that use plagiarism detectors have so far been able to identify AI written research reports. This much is helpful but, it does not necessarily provide holistic solution to the use AI in post-grad research. This article aims to contribute to the emerging discourse of AI in the higher education sector, by examining the key challenges facing universities in their post-graduate research, as well as the prospects for success. For contextual and methodological settings, a South African University will be selected, and the data collection will follow a mixed-methods research approach involving utilisation of semi-structured online questionnaires. Post-grad students, Office and supervisors will be key participants in the study.