Beyond Ethical Principles: A Comparative Review of National and Institutional AI Policies in Higher Education

The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education has produced a proliferation of ethical guidelines, national strategies, and institutional policies. Yet convergence around principles such as transparency, fairness, and accountability has not produced consistent governance outcomes across contexts. This chapter offers a comparative review of national and institutional AI policies in higher education, examining how ethical commitments are translated into regulatory frameworks and operational practice. Drawing on policy texts and institutional guidance from multiple regions, the analysis traces how governance logics shift as they move from ethical aspiration to national strategy and, ultimately, to institutional implementation. This chapter argues that national AI strategies consistently frame higher education instrumentally as part of workforce development and technological competitiveness agendas, while institutional responses remain shaped by organizational capacity, fiscal constraint, and fragmented governance. A cross-national comparison reveals that differences in regulatory philosophy matter less than variations in institutional design and resource distribution. This chapter concludes by identifying methodological implications for comparative education research and outlining a future agenda focused on policy translation, capacity building, and the uneven global distribution of educational risk associated with AI.