London, United Kingdom – January 28, 2026 – The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in higher education has been a topic of discussion for many years, with some viewing it as a potential threat to the traditional teacher-student relationship. However, new insights from PagePeek, an AI-powered academic workflow and assessment platform, are showing how AI can actually bridge the gap between teachers and students in higher education.
These insights were shared by PagePeek at the Bett UK conference, held from January 21-23, 2026 at ExCeL London. As one of the world’s largest education technology events, Bett UK brought together global education leaders, universities, policymakers, and over 600 education technology providers to explore the impact of AI on teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education.
According to the official Bett UK 2026 agenda, this year’s discussions heavily focused on responsible AI, assessment design, academic integrity, and the future of learning systems. This shift in focus signals a clear move away from using AI as a content-generation tool and towards utilizing it as an institutional capability.
Through three days of discussions with university leaders, faculty members, teaching and learning centers, and academic support teams from the UK, Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, PagePeek observed a growing consensus: the true value of AI in education lies in assessment, not just automation of writing.
Institutions are no longer debating whether to adopt AI, but rather how to redesign assessment frameworks to ensure fairness, transparency, and alignment with academic standards in the era of generative technologies. These themes were echoed across Bett UK’s conference sessions and practical labs, where assessment quality, feedback consistency, and explainable AI repeatedly emerged as priority concerns for universities.
One of the most common concerns raised at Bett UK 2026 was whether AI assessment tools might become opaque systems that distance teachers from students. However, PagePeek’s on-site conversations revealed the opposite. When thoughtfully designed, AI assessment tools are increasingly seen as bridges rather than barriers – enhancing communication between educators and learners rather than replacing human judgment.
For educators, AI assessment can surface recurring issues across student work, transform repetitive feedback into structured insights, and allow faculty to focus on higher-value academic guidance without relinquishing grading authority. For students, AI assessment provides a safe and repeatable self-review mechanism, enabling them to understand assessment criteria, academic expectations, and areas for improvement before submission. This shared understanding creates a common evaluation language – reducing misunderstanding, improving feedback quality, and strengthening learning outcomes.
Another common issue raised at Bett UK 2026 was that many students lack clarity on what academic assessment standards truly require. Faculty members consistently noted that issues in student essays stem less from lack of knowledge and more from weaknesses in structure, argumentation, and academic expression. As a result, significant instructional time is spent repeating similar explanations – feedback that does not always translate into long-term learning improvement. This is why students often search for “grade my essay” – not just for a score, but for clarity, explanation, and guidance. AI assessment, when aligned with academic standards, addresses this gap.
Across conversations with IT departments, academic leadership, and teaching and learning centers, three requirements surfaced repeatedly: transparency, explainability, and alignment with academic standards. Universities expressed strong caution toward “black-box” AI systems, and tools that cannot explain evaluation logic or demonstrate alignment with curriculum objectives are unlikely to be integrated into formal assessment workflows. This is why many institutions are shifting focus towards AI systems that support academic judgment rather than replace it.
PagePeek’s perspective on the future of AI assessment aligns with these requirements. The company believes that AI should not make final academic decisions, but instead, it should help educators articulate standards more clearly, support consistent evaluation, and enable students to engage more actively with feedback. In PagePeek, assessment is designed as a continuous feedback system embedded throughout the academic workflow – amplifying academic judgment rather than diminishing it.
Bett UK is one of the world’s leading education technology events, bringing together educators, institutions, policymakers, and solution providers to shape the future of learning. The 2026 edition featured over 600 global education technology companies, as listed on the Bett UK Solution Providers page.
PagePeek is an AI Academic OS designed to support academic research, writing, assessment, and feedback within a single integrated system. By focusing on transparency, academic rigor, and explainable AI assessment, PagePeek aims to help institutions improve learning outcomes while preserving academic integrity.
