Ethical AI Leadership In Education From The Global South
AI is redrawing how students learn, how teachers teach, and how institutions make decisions. The real issue now: who sets the guardrails so progress serves equity and public value-especially across the Global South.
A clear signal of this influence is LinkedIn's Top 200 Voices in Education, which highlights thinkers moving policy and practice forward. Among them is Professor Letlhokwa George Mpedi, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Johannesburg, recognized for advancing responsible AI in higher education.
From scholarship to institutional direction
Mpedi's research sits at the intersection of law, governance, and emerging technologies, with a hard focus on ethics and regulation. His work tackles the questions education leaders face daily: how to govern AI amid fast change, protect human rights, and prevent new tools from deepening inequality.
This agenda is consistent with global policy frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which call for inclusive institutions, decent work, and responsible innovation. It also fits Africa's reality, where technology is expected to accelerate development while correcting long-standing structural gaps.
The University of Johannesburg's stance
Under Mpedi's leadership, the University of Johannesburg has leaned into a societal mandate. Its Strategic Plan 2035 centers economic, societal, technological, and environmental impact-treating AI as part of a wider mission: inclusive growth, ethical governance, and public value.
That approach moves AI beyond labs and lectures. It connects with law, healthcare, business, and public policy-an interdisciplinary, human-centered model built for complex development challenges.
What educators and leaders can do now
- Set governance early: establish an AI ethics committee, a risk register, and clear decision rights for approvals, audits, and incident response.
- Update curriculum: weave data ethics, AI law, and algorithmic accountability into general education and professional programs.
- Invest in staff capability: fund training, peer labs, and micro-credentials so faculty can teach with and about AI confidently.
- Rework assessment: prioritize authentic tasks, process evidence, and clear policies on generative AI use; design beats detection.
- Build the student skill stack: technical fluency plus legal literacy, ethical reasoning, and civic responsibility.
- Tighten data practice: privacy-by-design, procurement standards for AI-enabled tools, and bias checks for models and datasets.
- Partner with industry and communities: co-create projects that deliver public-interest outcomes, not just prototypes.
- Measure outcomes that matter: track access, equity, completion, and employability against shared targets linked to SDGs.
Policy anchors you can use
Map your strategy to the UN Sustainable Development Goals so access, inclusion, and decent work stay front and center. For implementation detail, draw on the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of AI to guide transparency, accountability, and rights protections across your institution.
Why the Global South is setting direction
Voices across Africa and the wider Global South are moving the global conversation from theory to practice. The core message: innovation counts only if it expands opportunity and justice. Local realities must inform global rules-so policy, procurement, and pedagogy work for diverse contexts, not just a few hubs.
A 12-month playbook for senior leaders
- First 90 days: audit current AI use; publish a baseline policy; launch staff training and student orientation.
- Six months: pilot a cross-faculty AI clinic; add ethical review to edtech procurement; publish model cards for institutional AI tools.
- Twelve months: release an annual AI impact report; join or convene a regional policy consortium; embed AI ethics modules across all first-year programs.
Practical resources
For hands-on guidance, see AI for Education for course ideas and classroom integration. Senior leaders can explore AI for Executives & Strategy for governance, policy, and institution-wide planning.
As Mpedi argues through public engagement, the point isn't technology for its own sake. It's using AI to advance inclusion, justice, and sustainable development-so learners, educators, and societies move forward together.
Your membership also unlocks:
