Hebrew University is urging departments to rethink assessment because AI tools can make take-home work a poor measure of what students know. Its committee recommends more oral exams and in-person presentations, alongside a significant reduction in unsupervised assignments.
Watch Desk analysis
What happened
A university committee concluded that take-home assignments and unsupervised exams can no longer reliably measure academic performance when students can use AI to complete them. The university’s Standing Committee adopted the proposals earlier this week, according to CTech.
The recommendations include more oral examinations, in-class tests and exercises, and requiring students to present seminar papers and their research progress. The committee also calls for lecturers and departments to review their assessment methods and for the university to support staff in developing alternatives.
The committee does not suggest abandoning written work or complex assignments. It distinguishes using AI to improve a student’s thinking from submitting work written entirely by AI, which it considers plagiarism. A university survey cited in the report found that 87% of students use AI frequently; 38% said they use it to complete coursework.
Why it matters
This is a concrete institutional response to a problem that reaches beyond detection tools: if work can be generated at home, universities need ways to assess students’ understanding and ability to apply what they learn. Presentations followed by questions, for instance, are intended to test whether students can explain their work rather than simply submit it.
Oral exams are not a tidy fix. The committee warns that standardising them may be difficult and that they could disadvantage students whose first language is not Hebrew, students with speech difficulties, and shy students. The university is weighing assessment validity against fairness, not simply swapping one format for another.
Our read
The useful distinction here is between banning AI and changing what assessment asks students to demonstrate. Hebrew University’s proposals put supervised discussion and explanation alongside written work, while acknowledging that oral assessment brings its own fairness problems. The test will be whether departments can make those alternatives consistent without turning every course into an oral examination marathon.
What to watch
- How departments change assessment methods and reduce reliance on unsupervised take-home work.
- Whether the university publishes guidance or support for lecturers implementing the recommendations.
- How it addresses fairness concerns around oral exams and presentations.
Discussion spark: Should universities shift more assessment into supervised presentations and oral exams, even if those formats risk disadvantaging some students, or should they focus on making take-home work AI-aware?
Sources and evidence
- Hebrew University turns to oral exams as AI challenges traditional grading | Ctech (5 November 2026, 12:41 UTC)
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