Strategic goals for artificial intelligence integration among STEM academics and undergraduates in African higher education: a systematic review

There is a strong demand for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Africa, which is crucial in driving the industrial revolution. Efforts to promote STEM education have led to innovations in the teaching–learning process where emerging technologies are injected into instructional processes. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been at the forefront of changing approaches to instructional activities in higher education. In African higher education, academics and undergraduates utilize AI tools for various purposes. After consulting various studies, a systematic literature review approach was used to examine the strategic goals of AI integration among STEM academics and undergraduates in African higher education. The systematic review was carried out using the PRISMA procedure. Our objective was to identify the existing gaps and challenges to provide research guidance to aspiring researchers seeking to contribute significantly to integrating AI into STEM education in African higher education. We searched for reports covering ten years (2015–2024) on the topic, but we could identify and analyze only 12 available studies that were published within three years (2022–2024). Based on our findings, AI tools are strategically utilized by STEM academics in African higher education to engage students in learning activities, administrative processes, information searches, content generation, paraphrasing academic content, grammar checks, teaching, and research. Similarly, STEM undergraduates utilize AI tools for information searching, self-learning, content generation, paraphrasing, grammar checking, and research. The most used AI tool by both STEM academics and undergraduates for various purposes is the ChatGPT. We hold an optimistic position that AI literacy advocacy and advancements in research on adopting AI tools for STEM education in African higher education will enhance the output of STEM education, contributing to the pursuit of sustainable development driven by African higher education.