Welcome to Phoenix University AI Policy
PHOENIX UNIVERSITY, AGWADA, NIGERIA

POLICY ON THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)
| Document Control | |
| Policy title | Policy on the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) |
| Version | [1.0] |
| Approved by | Governing Council |
| Date of approval | 14th November, 2025 |
| Policy owner | Office of the Vice Chancellor |
| Next review date | 13th November, 2030 |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION AND DEFINITIONAL ISSUES. 5
PERMISSIBLE USES OF AI FOR CATEGORIES OF STAFF AND STUDENTS. 8
2.1 Acceptable uses by academic staff. 8
2.2 Acceptable uses by students. 8
2.3 Acceptable uses in research. 9
2.4 Acceptable uses in administration and professional services. 10
2.6 Assessment-specific rules. 11
APPROVED TOOLS, DISCLOSURE AND CITATION.. 12
3.1 Tool selection and approval 12
3.5 Authorship and accountability. 15
DATA PROTECTION, SECURITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT. 16
4.1 Protection of personal and confidential information. 16
4.2 Human review and consequential decisions. 16
4.3 Bias, accessibility and reliability. 17
4.4 Intellectual property and licensing. 17
MONITORING, ASSESSMENT AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY.. 18
5.2 Approved Detection Tools. 18
5.3 Limits of AI-detection tools. 19
COMPLIANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND DISCIPLINE.. 20
RESPONSIBILITIES AND GOVERNANCE.. 22
7.2 Policy owner / AI governance function. 22
7.3 Deans, Heads of Department and course leaders. 22
7.4 Academic staff and researchers. 23
7.6 ICT, Library, Quality Assurance and support units. 23
IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS. 25
8.1 Communication and awareness. 25
8.2 Training and AI literacy. 25
8.3 Curriculum integration. 25
APPENDIX A: AI-USE DISCLOSURE TEMPLATES. 28
A3. Student project or thesis declaration. 28
APPENDIX B: QUICK GUIDE FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF. 29
PHOENIX UNIVERSITY, AGWADA
POLICY DOCUMENT GUIDING THE USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN PHOENIX UNIVERSITY, AGWADA
Introduction
Phoenix University, Agwada (the University) has as its Vision “Phoenix University shall mobilize the best human and material resources available to provide highly qualitative and affordable education with the philosophical orientation, distinct leadership competence and lifelong skills that will equip students adequately to solve contemporary and emerging challenges in their societies.”. Its Mission is “To be a leading centre of excellence renowned and respected for the generation, dissemination, application and advancement of knowledge and committed to character development in the service of humanity”. The University, being desirous of leveraging Artificial Intelligence to enhance its research, teaching, and administrative processes, hereby prepares this AI Policy to guide the responsible and ethical use of AI technologies in the University. This Policy outlines the principles, governance structures, and implementation strategies to ensure that AI is leveraged in a manner that aligns with the University’s values, enhances its core functions, and benefits the broader community.
This Policy applies to all staff and students within the University.
SECTION ONE
Artificial Intelligence (AI): Computer-based systems that generate predictions, recommendations, classifications, content or decisions from data or encoded rules to achieve specified objectives.
Generative AI: AI systems that generate text, code, images, audio, video, summaries or other content in response to prompts or other inputs.
AI-assisted work: Work in which AI contributes to one or more tasks, while a person remains responsible for the final content, judgement and submission.
Hallucination: An AI output that appears plausible but is inaccurate, unsupported, fabricated or inconsistent with reliable evidence.
Academic integrity: The principles of honesty, fairness, trust, respect, responsibility and proper acknowledgement in learning, assessment and research.
Sensitive information: Personal data, student records, staff records, credentials, unpublished research, confidential institutional documents, security information or other information requiring protection.
Human oversight: Meaningful review by a competent person who can question, correct, reject or stop an AI-assisted process.
AI disclosure: A clear statement describing the AI tool used and the material tasks for which it was used.
High-impact AI use: Use that may materially affect admission, grades, progression, employment, discipline, access to services, safety, rights or significant institutional decisions.
SECTION TWO
Subject to course requirements, confidentiality rules and professional judgement, academic staff may use AI to:
The following uses are prohibited unless a formally approved, lawful and narrowly defined exception applies:
The lecturer or assessment setter must state whether AI use is prohibited, limited or permitted for each assessment where this distinction matters. Students must follow the stated rule. Where instructions are silent and the permitted extent is unclear, students should seek clarification before submitting work. Assessment design should, where practicable, evaluate understanding through explanations, demonstrations, drafts, oral discussion, practical work or other evidence in addition to a final written product.
SECTION THREE
The University should maintain a current register of AI services approved for specified purposes. Approval should consider terms of service, data retention, privacy, security, accessibility, cost, age restrictions, intellectual-property terms and whether institutional accounts or contractual protections are available. Listing a tool does not guarantee that every use of it is appropriate.
Until a formal register is established, users must apply this Policy and any applicable ICT, data-protection, research-ethics and assessment rules. Users should prefer institutionally managed or privacy-protective services for University work and must not assume that a free service is suitable for confidential information.
The following table lists approved AI tools for each area, along with their respective URLs. These tools have been evaluated and deemed appropriate for use in academic work as of the time of framing this Policy (September, 2026).
| Area | Approved AI Tool | URL |
| Literature Search | Elicit | elicit.com |
| Typeset.io (SciSpace) | typeset.io | |
| PubMed | pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | |
| Google Scholar | scholar.google.com | |
| Semantic Scholar | semanticscholar.org | |
| Knowledge Search | Research Rabbit | researchrabbit.ai |
| Litmaps | litmaps.com | |
| Connected Papers | connectedpapers.com | |
| Wolfram Alpha | wolframalpha.com | |
| IBM Watson | ibm.com/watson | |
| NotebookLM | notebooklm.google | |
| Perplexity | perplexity.ai | |
| Writing Improvement | Grammarly | grammarly.com |
| Referencing/Citation | Mendeley | mendeley.com |
| Zotero | zotero.org | |
| EndNote | endnote.com | |
| RefWorks | refworks.proquest.com | |
| Paperpile | paperpile.com | |
| JabRef | jabref.org | |
| BibMe | bibme.org | |
| EasyBib | easybib.com | |
| Citavi | citavi.com | |
| Administration | Otter | otter.ai |
| ChatGPT | chatgpt.com | |
| Microsoft Copilot | copilot.microsoft.com | |
| DeepSeek | deepseek.com | |
| Claude | claude.ai | |
| Gemini | gemini.google.com | |
| Personal Tutor | Llama Tutor | llamatutor.together.ai |
This list is subject to revision at any time within the life span of this Policy. Tools not listed may be used only with the written approval of the AI Policy Committee.
| Category | Examples | Minimum expectation |
| Low-risk assistance | Grammar, brainstorming, practice explanations, formatting | Check outputs; disclose where assessment or publication rules require. |
| Moderate-risk use | Coding, data analysis, research synthesis, draft feedback | Verify results; document tool and task; protect data; obtain supervisor/lecturer guidance where needed. |
| High-impact use | Admission, grading, discipline, employment, student risk profiling, safety-related decisions | Prior approval, documented risk review, privacy/security assessment, meaningful human oversight and an appeal route. |
Students and staff must disclose material AI assistance in assessed work, theses, dissertations, research outputs, grant applications or official documents whenever required by the assignment, supervisor, department, publisher, funder or University rule. Disclosure should identify the tool, the task for which it was used and the human verification undertaken. Routine spelling or accessibility assistance need not be separately disclosed unless a specific rule requires it.
AI-generated output is not a substitute for citing the original source of factual claims. Users must verify sources independently and cite original publications, datasets or other evidence. Where the AI tool itself is material to the method or output, describe it in the format required by the relevant discipline, journal, publisher or style guide. Record the tool name, provider, version or access date where relevant, and the task performed. Follow current publisher guidance for AI-assisted manuscripts.
AI systems must not be listed as authors where the relevant publisher or academic standard requires authors to take responsibility for the work. Human authors remain responsible for the accuracy, originality, permissions, citations and integrity of all submitted material, including AI-assisted portions.
SECTION FOUR
4.1 Protection of Personal and Confidential Information
4.2 Human Review and Consequential Decisions
AI output must not be the sole basis for a consequential decision about a person’s admission, academic result, discipline, employment, access to support or rights. An authorised person must review relevant evidence, consider context and limitations, document the rationale where appropriate, and provide a meaningful route for correction or appeal. Automated scores and classifications must not be treated as inherently objective.
4.3 Bias, Accessibility and Reliability
Users must consider whether an AI system performs differently across language groups, genders, disabilities, socio-economic groups or other relevant contexts. Important outputs should be tested against reliable evidence and suitable local conditions. AI must not replace reasonable accommodations or established professional standards.
4.4 Intellectual Property and Licensing
Users must respect copyright, licences, confidentiality, ownership agreements and research-participant permissions. Do not upload unpublished manuscripts, third-party copyrighted content, code, examination questions or proprietary materials to an external service unless authorised. AI-assisted work should be checked for close imitation, unlicensed reproduction and conflicts with project or funder agreements.
Before deploying an AI system in a University service or using it for high-impact purposes, the responsible unit should document its purpose, data sources, expected benefits, foreseeable harms, affected persons, security controls, bias testing, human oversight, fallback procedure, vendor terms and review date. The system must not be deployed until the designated University authority has approved the assessment.
SECTION FIVE
MONITORING, ASSESSMENT AND ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
The University may use proportionate and lawful methods to review compliance, including examination procedures, oral verification, review of drafts and working files, code demonstrations, source checking and approved similarity or AI-analysis tools. Monitoring must respect privacy, procedural fairness and applicable University rules.
The following tools are approved for detecting AI use:
5.3 Limits of AI-Detection Tools
AI-text detectors and automated indicators are imperfect and may produce false positives or false negatives. A detector score alone must not be treated as conclusive proof of misconduct or be the sole basis for a penalty. Any concern should be examined alongside the assessment instructions, the student’s explanation, drafts or notes where relevant, source evidence and other fair indicators.
SECTION SIX
COMPLIANCE, ACCOUNTABILITY AND DISCIPLINE
All members of the University community are expected to comply with this Policy and with applicable course, research, ICT, privacy, intellectual-property and professional requirements. Users are responsible for checking the conditions attached to the AI tools they use and for verifying material outputs.
A breach may lead to education or corrective action, reassessment, withdrawal of access, a formal investigation or disciplinary proceedings, depending on seriousness, intent, impact, repetition and applicable University rules. Any sanction must be imposed only through the University’s authorised procedures, with due process and applicable rights of review or appeal. This Policy does not create penalties that are inconsistent with the University’s statutes or existing regulations.
Concerns about unsafe, deceptive, discriminatory or unauthorised AI use should be reported to the relevant lecturer, Head of Department, Dean, supervisor, ICT/security officer, data-protection contact, research-ethics body or other designated University authority. The University should provide a clear reporting route and protect reports from unnecessary disclosure or retaliation, subject to due process.
The Policy should be reviewed at least every three years and sooner where there are material changes in AI capability, law, regulation, institutional systems or academic practice. Amendments must be approved through the University’s formal governance process.
SECTION SEVEN
RESPONSIBILITIES AND GOVERNANCE
7.2 Policy Owner / AI Governance Function
7.3 Deans, Heads of Department and Course Leaders
7.4 Academic Staff and Researchers
7.6 ICT, Library, Quality Assurance and Support Units
SECTION EIGHT
IMPLEMENTATION AND SUPPORT SYSTEMS
8.1 Communication and Awareness
The University should publish this Policy through official channels, include it in staff and student orientation, and make it available in an accessible format. Course handbooks, research guidance and administrative procedures should refer to the Policy where relevant.
Departments should consider how AI literacy and discipline-specific AI competence can be integrated into curricula. Students should learn not only how to use AI tools, but also how to evaluate their outputs, identify limitations, protect data and explain the reasoning behind their own work.
Where feasible, the University should provide equitable access to suitable tools, training and library resources. No student should be unfairly disadvantaged because a paid AI subscription is unavailable, unless access to a specified tool is an approved and clearly communicated requirement. Alternative arrangements should be considered where needed.
The designated policy owner should establish a contact point for questions, incident reporting and suggestions. Feedback from students, staff, researchers and administrators should inform periodic review and improvement.
| Phase | Key action | Responsible lead | Indicative timing |
| 1. Approval | Consult stakeholders; revise and approve policy | University Management / designated committee | Before commencement |
| 2. Set-up | Name policy owner; establish contacts and tool-review process | University Management / ICT | First 1–2 months |
| 3. Communication | Publish policy and assessment guidance | Registry / Deans / Departments | First 3 months |
| 4. Training | Deliver staff and student AI-literacy sessions | Policy owner / Library / ICT | First 6 months; then annually |
| 5. Review | Collect feedback, incidents and implementation evidence | Quality Assurance / policy owner | Annually; formal review at least every 3 years |
APPENDIX A: AI-USE DISCLOSURE TEMPLATES
“I used [name of AI tool and, where available, version] to assist with [specific task(s), such as brainstorming, language editing, coding support or data visualisation]. I reviewed and verified the relevant outputs and remain responsible for the accuracy, originality and final content of this work.”
“During this research, [tool/provider] was used for [specific task and stage of the research]. The use of the tool was limited to [scope]. Outputs were checked using [verification method, source data or independent review]. The authors take responsibility for the methods, interpretation, conclusions and integrity of the reported work.”
A3. Student Project or Thesis Declaration
“This submission is my own work except for the AI assistance declared here: [tool and purpose]. I have checked the accuracy of material claims and references, followed the assessment and University rules, and retained responsibility for the submitted work.”
These templates should be adapted to the requirements of the department, supervisor, publisher, funder or assessment. A disclosure does not make otherwise prohibited AI use acceptable.
APPENDIX B: QUICK GUIDE FOR STUDENTS AND STAFF
| Before using AI | Before submitting or acting on AI output |
| Check the assessment, supervisor or workplace rules.Confirm that the tool is appropriate for the task.Do not enter confidential or personal data without authorisation.Decide whether disclosure is required. | Verify facts, calculations, quotations and references.Review for bias, errors, omissions and inappropriate content.Check copyright, originality and privacy implications.Disclose material assistance where required and retain accountability. |
