Framework Overview
A higher-education-native operating model for AI strategy and governance: eight pillars that define what an institution must build, four application domains where AI is put to work, and the AI Strategic Compass for choosing initiatives.
One framework, adapted to your institution
This is a reference to adapt, not a mandate to adopt wholesale. No two institutions share the same starting point, and the right version of every pillar, policy, and practice depends on who you are. Read the framework through your own context and right-size accordingly, these are the axes that should bend it:
Scrutiny and effort should scale with risk and capacity, not a checklist. Two tools right-size the framework to you: Find your starting point reads your maturity and capacity, and Sample strategies sequences it by institution type. Throughout, treat every artifact as a starting point to tailor, not a rule to copy.
Framework architecture
The Campus AI Framework has two complementary halves: the pillars that build the institutional structure, and the AI Strategic Compass, the engine that turns that structure into governed decisions. Strategic alignment connects them, translating mission into action.
Institutional Pillars
Mission-aligned structures for AI readiness and practice, what an institution builds and sustains.
AI Strategic Compass
Guiding alignment, ethics, and impact, identifying, selecting, and prioritizing AI initiatives.
- Strategic fit
- Ethics, legal & compliance
- Financial viability
- Operational efficiency & innovation
- Stakeholder impact
- KPIs (outputs)
- OKRs (outcomes)
- Efficacy (validated impact)
- Assess, prioritize & approve
- Plan
- Track
- Reflect
- Readiness: governance, trust, capacity
- Maturity: adoption, integration, scale
The eight pillars
Each pillar is something an institution builds and sustains. Open any pillar for the concept, the signals that tell you it's working, and the concrete practices that operationalize it.