Between Efficiency and Erosion: The Impact of Generative AI on Academic Professional Identity and Student Flourishing in Higher Education

Abstract

The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI or AI) into higher education has precipitated an Efficiency-Erosion Paradox, characterised by a significant tension between immediate operational gains and the potential long-term erosion of academic flourishing. This study explores this tension through the dual perspectives of staff and students at a university in the UK. Adopting a Students as Partners approach, the research utilised semi-structured interviews with fifteen participants (eight staff, seven students) to investigate how GenAI influences professional identity, wellbeing, and academic norms. The findings reveal a complex landscape where the pursuit of efficiency is countered by three primary tensions: the Digital Surveillance Paradox, the rejection of automated assessment, and the emergence of a Mastery Gap. First, applying Self-Determination Theory, findings show that a Digital Surveillance Paradox thwarts student autonomy, as automated detection creates systemic technostress and erodes the trust required for flourishing. Second, there is a distinct boundary regarding automated assessment, with both staff and students rejecting machine-led marking as a fundamental threat to the human-to-human relatedness essential for pedagogical flourishing. Third, the current state of institutional limbo encourages a reliance on approximate knowledge, creating a Mastery Gap where students bypass deep cognitive engagement in favour of algorithmic shortcuts, leading to the perceived devaluation of academic credentials. This study concludes that universities must transition toward Relational Governance, a co-created model of technology integration that restores trust and protects the reciprocal trust and human validation essential to the academic relationship.