Social, collaboration, opportunities, preparedness, and ethics model for artificial intelligence in higher education (SCOPE-AI4HE)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly integrating across societal domains, emphasising its urgent incorporation in higher education. AI technologies offer solutions to global challenges, such as reducing educational disparities and fostering innovation for sustainable development. Preparing students for AI-driven labour markets is therefore crucial. However, existing frameworks remain limited in capturing the complex interaction between perceived barriers, attitudinal processes, and socially oriented outcomes in AI adoption. The SCOPE-AI4HE model addresses this limitation by proposing a structured, integrative, and context-sensitive framework that links AI potential with practical application in higher education. It integrates five interconnected pillars – Social, Collaboration, Opportunities, Preparedness, and Ethics – and evaluates nine factors, including threats (THT) and anxiety (ANX) as barriers, and opportunities (OPP) and self-efficacy (SEF) as incentives, mediated by attitudes (ATT). Attitude (ATT) acts as a central pivot influenced by networking (NET), learning by doing (LBD), and ethical awareness (ETH), ultimately leading to social benefits (SBF). Applied to a 2024 study of 749 Mexican students using PLS-SEM, findings highlight the central role of ATT and the relevance of experiential and contextual factors, positioning SCOPE-AI4HE as a robust framework for AI-driven sustainable development.