Designing a model of sustainable education based on artificial intelligence in higher education

Artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education (HE) plays a role in promoting the sustainability of society by fostering innovation and preparing students for the digital age. In this regard, the aim of the present research has been to design an AI-based sustainable education (SE) model in HE. The research method was a monomethod design with multiple sequential, qualitative and qualitative phases. In the first part of the qualitative section, the meta-synthesis approach has been used in accordance with the findings of Springer, Emerald, and Elsevier international journals from 2000 to 2024. A total of 213 articles were reviewed and 39 articles were entered the final analysis. In the second part of the qualitative section, the focus group method was used to check the validity and discover gaps in the findings. For this purpose, five faculty members of the Education and Technology Department performed data analysis based on open, axial and selective coding in MAXQDA software. The results showed opportunities and challenges of AI in SE in seven main categories and 24 sub-categories, which include organizational structure (human resources, financial resources, facilities and equipment, rules and regulations), curriculum (tools and approaches to planning, curriculum design, curriculum development and change), global citizen (responsibility, global competence and global civil participation), continuous learning (adaptive learning, collaborative learning, personal learning and automatic learning), creativity and innovation (initiative, educational innovations, creative thinking and innovation in methodology), teaching and learning process (tools, methods, evaluation and feedback) and communication (interaction and international communication, scientific communication, emotional communication and social communication). Therefore, there are challenges and opportunities in using smart AI tools for fostering digital-age graduates and ensuring sustainable social and economic developments. Therefore, improving opportunities and reducing such challenges can promise a sustainable future for the global community