Advance HE and Inspera forum considers assessment, AI and student trust

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Advance HE's 23 July 2026 account of The Assessment Forum describes a Manchester event jointly organised with assessment supplier Inspera, involving more than 50 senior academic leaders from across the UK.

The account reports discussion of trust, possible regulation and digital education. It does not announce a new OfS rule or establish that the participants represent a sector-wide consensus.

What the panellists discussed

The first panel argued against an automatic return to closed-book examinations. Judy Williams described a staged approach at Queen's University Belfast, and Tansy Jessop discussed programme-level assessment at Bristol. Peter Alston argued for security proportionate to the capabilities being assessed and the consequences of error. These are reported professional arguments and examples, not comparative outcome findings.

In a panel framed around a possible 2028 regulatory horizon, Jo Coward warned that an inadequate sector response could lead to new OfS conditions concerning auditable AI assessment policies. That was a conditional prediction, not an OfS announcement or a confirmed 2028 deadline. OfS regulation concerns England; the event's participants came from across the UK.

A third panel discussed discipline-specific AI literacy, equitable access, interactive rubrics and student trust. These topics suggest questions for assessment design without prescribing one model for all subjects.

The event report's status

The original account said a short paper would follow. By 7 September 2026, the page also offered a fuller report of the discussions. This article reviews the public event account, not that subsequent report or an evaluation of the approaches discussed.

A supplier's involvement is relevant context when reading an event about assessment technology. It does not invalidate the discussion, but readers should distinguish professional views and product interests from independently tested effects.

A practical institutional review

For a programme considering changes, map what students are expected to demonstrate and which tools they may use. Check that assessment briefs explain any restrictions, the reasons for them and the required acknowledgement. Appropriate differences between subjects or tasks should be explained; variation alone is not evidence of inconsistent treatment.

Ask students whether they could find and understand the instructions before starting. If a comment identifies conflicting advice, check the brief and consult the responsible team. These are our practical recommendations, not a new evidence burden created by the forum.

The governance checklist can help define who reviews feedback and how concerns are escalated. The NSS open-text methodology describes an approach to interpreting comments, but NSS, module surveys and representative discussions retain different contexts and limits.

What comments cannot establish

Comments can describe confusion or a helpful explanation. They cannot alone prove a policy's effectiveness, establish an academic-integrity breach or represent every student. Combine them with appropriate operational and assessment evidence, and test proposed responses with the people affected.

There is no basis in this event account for promising that software-supported analysis will increase trust, prevent regulatory intervention or make one assessment model superior.

FAQ

Was a new 2028 rule announced?

No. The regulatory discussion was conditional speculation by panellists.

Who organised the forum?

Advance HE and Inspera jointly organised it. The account reports more than 50 senior academic leaders attending in Manchester.

Is the follow-up paper still forthcoming?

The page now offers a fuller event report, checked on 7 September 2026. It has not been independently reviewed in this article.

Correction, 7 September 2026: Added Inspera's role, clarified the speculative and England-specific regulatory discussion, and updated the follow-up report's availability. Removed unsupported claims of a rising evidence requirement and demonstrated benefits from comment analysis.

References

Advance HE: Choices, not policing — reshaping assessment for the AI era, 23 July 2026; current page checked 7 September 2026.