09 Jul 2026 /
Joey Chen
Shoring Up Qualification Value: Why Reverting to In-Person Exams Is Not a Stand-Alone Fix for AI Misuse
Press release: FE News 07-July-26
LONDON, UK – As further and higher education providers face unprecedented pressure to protect learner credibility, some institutions are responding to generative AI by retreating to traditional, on-site pen-and-paper exams.
However, a critical sector paradox remains: exam-hall policing fails to protect or build the integrity of the formative weeks of continuous coursework and portfolio development, where core critical thinking and practical skills actually develop.
Addressing this gap, Richmond American University London has established an alternative systemic pathway, finalising a comprehensive three-year partnership with global educational infrastructure platform Studiosity. Rather than relying on high-friction "police and punish" models, the institution is embedding a holistic learning framework that guides, captures, and validates authentic student thinking throughout the entire educational journey - long before the final assessment.
Professor Rebecca Bunting, Studiosity Academic Advisory Board member and former Vice-Chancellor, notes:
“The ‘detection’ landscape is increasingly irrelevant in a post-GPT era. We should be embracing solutions that are rigorous, scalable, and non-punitive. Studiosity’s focus on growing higher order critical thinking and validating original effort, rather than policing.”
By operationalising academic integrity policy directly within the day-to-day student workflow, institutions can ease faculty burden and lower learner anxiety. Recent data shows that 75% of students experience significant stress over the fear of being wrongly flagged by unreliable AI detectors*; shifting the focus to student-led validation replaces a culture of suspicion with one of visible effort.
Professor Kelly Coate, Provost at Richmond American University London, explains the university’s forward-thinking approach:
“When students turn to AI for answers, it’s our job as educators to ensure they can think through problems and make critical assessments on their own. A university might have a great AI policy on paper, but probably needs help to operationalise it meaningfully for teaching and learning, and graduate credibility. Our degrees must remain valuable to our students, to industry, to the public.
Our teachers do not want to be the 'AI police', as it is unconstructive and time-consuming. Studiosity's infrastructure is needed across the entire student journey to operationalise our strong institutional integrity and assessment policies, moving students up the cognitive levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy that they need to demonstrate as graduates.”
Isabelle Bambury, Managing Director for UK and Europe at Studiosity, adds:
“The debate surrounding assessment security is unlikely to be solved by simply retreating to the exam halls of the past. To preserve the value of a qualification, we must protect the writing and critical thinking process. Academic integrity thrives when you empower student agency and give educators data-driven transparency, rather than relying on suspicion.”
About Richmond American University London: Richmond American University London is a unique, dual-accredited institution in west London that blends the American liberal arts system with the British higher education framework. Students can simultaneously graduate with both a US-accredited and a UK-recognised degree.
About Studiosity: Studiosity partners with education providers globally to deliver scalable, ethical, and pedagogy-first academic support and learning validation infrastructure. Grounded in a "help, not answers" policy, Studiosity empowers student agency, protects institutional credibility, and improves life chances for students worldwide.
*For reference purposes: Studiosity/YouGov UK 2026 Student Wellbeing Research