Best Practices in the use of Generative AI in Higher Education Institutions. A Documentary Analysis

Abstract

 This study applies a qualitative documentary analysis to examine 22 guidelines, laws, and reports published between 2022 and 2025 by international, European, and national bodies (UNESCO, EU, INTEF, OEI, universities, etc.) on the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in higher education and research. The overall objective is to conceptualize a corpus of good practices and guide education policy makers. The systematic search in institutional repositories was governed by criteria of authenticity, credibility, representativeness, and meaning. The selected documents were inductively coded following a reflexive thematic analysis, which generated ten key dimensions: regulation and governance, research, ethics, curriculum design, teaching methodology, teacher training, institutional management, assessment, administration, and social impact. The findings show regulatory convergence around the need for transparency, human oversight, data protection, and risk assessment. Good practices are identified such as public disclosure of GenAI use (name, version, prompts), prior ethical review, and ongoing training of teachers in technical and critical aspects. Likewise, uses of high risk, low risk, and prohibited uses are mapped in accordance with the European AI Regulation, and new teaching roles centered on critical facilitation and co-creation with AI are outlined. The study concludes by proposing actionable regulatory guidelines for governments and institutions: creation of participatory observatories, integration of AI ethics into curricula, and development of open repositories of projects using GenAI. Among the limitations, the rapid obsolescence of regulations and unequal access to non-public documents are acknowledged.