Article Details

This study examines the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on education in Nigeria, with a specific focus on the University of Calabar (UNICAL) between 2020 and 2025. It explores how AI technologies have influenced teaching, learning, research, and administrative practices within the institution, situating these developments within Nigeria’s broader digital transformation agenda as articulated in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (2020–2030). The research adopts a descriptive-analytical methodology, drawing on qualitative data from institutional records, interviews with faculty and postgraduate students, and scholarly literature on AI integration in higher education. The primary aim is to assess how AI adoption has enhanced educational outcomes and institutional efficiency at UNICAL. Specific objectives include identifying the extent of AI utilisation across academic and administrative functions, evaluating infrastructural and ethical challenges, and assessing the prospects for sustainable AI integration within the university’s educational framework. This study is underpinned by the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, which elucidate the behavioral, institutional, and systemic factors affecting the adoption and integration of AI technologies by lecturers, students, and administrators at UNICAL in educational and administrative settings; and highlights both the opportunities and threats posed by AI, ranging from personalized learning, data-driven research, and plagiarism detection to ethical dilemmas such as AI dependency, academic dishonesty, and data privacy risks. The findings of this study reveal that AI adoption at UNICAL has improved research productivity, digital literacy, and administrative efficiency but remains uneven due to infrastructural deficits, low AI literacy, inadequate training, and weak institutional governance. Unreliable internet access and insufficient policy guidance limit the actual use of AI among lecturers and students, despite high levels of acceptance. The study concludes that sustainable AI integration requires coordinated investments in infrastructure, human capacity development, and ethical governance. The study recommends, among other things, that AI deployment aligned with local realities and academic standards, such as those at the University of Calabar, can transform artificial intelligence into a sustainable driver of inclusive, innovative, and ethically grounded education in Nigeria.

Artificial Intelligence, Higher Education, University of Calabar, Educational Technology, Digital learning,