Expanding access to AI tools and education will help students build confidence and skills needed in the workforce.
UNSW Sydney has announced a strategic partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT Edu to more than 80,000 students and staff as part of the University’s broader approach to responsible AI.
The collaboration, one of the largest AI education deployments in the Asia-Pacific region, aims to help ensure graduates are equipped to use AI critically, ethically and effectively.
The OpenAI partnership forms part of UNSW’s strategy to explore and evaluate a range of AI technologies. The University is designing a multi-model AI environment that will enable students and staff to experiment with different AI tools and approaches as the technology evolves.
This week, access to ChatGPT Edu is being extended to Higher Degree Research candidates and casual academic staff, building on existing access for professional and academic staff.
UNSW is also working towards expanding access to AI tools across the entire student community ahead of the 2027 academic year.
“Our ambition is to produce AI-capable graduates,” UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Education and Student Experience, Professor Sarah Maddison, said. “To do that, we need to ensure all students have equitable access to a range of AI tools to help develop their capability and improve their exposure and experience with AI tools. This includes tools that are being used in the industries to which they will likely go into.”
For Nalin Iyer, a second-year student in the Master of IT program, it is important for the University to embrace the capabilities of AI and support students in using the technology responsibly and confidently.
“AI is here to stay. The technology is only getting better, so it’s about learning how to use it effectively rather than rejecting it altogether,” said Iyer, Vice-President of Engineering with the UNSW AI Society. “In the past, you could learn a programming language and feel confident it would help you get a job. Now, things are moving much faster. It’s important to understand what industry is looking for and how AI fits into that, because it’s becoming part of the way we work.”
OpenAI Managing Director for Asia Pacific Kiran Mani said UNSW was setting a benchmark for the AI-native graduate.
“Australian students want to do more than learn about AI. They want to use it to build companies, advance research and solve real-world problems,” he said. “UNSW is setting a new benchmark for the AI-native graduate: someone who enters the workforce experienced in using AI responsibly to research, analyse, create and build. This collaboration is designed to connect education directly with opportunity, strengthening Australia’s AI talent pipeline and helping the next generation turn ambitious ideas into new businesses, discoveries and solutions.”