Leading Through Uncertainty: Inclusive and Ethical Postdigital Leadership for AI-Enabled Higher Education

Abstract

Global education is being reshaped by converging disruptions, including climate pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence, aligned with international agendas for sustainable and inclusive development. These dynamics are transforming higher education into complex, datafied, and platformised ecosystems that are not only technological but also epistemic and ethical. This paper advances a conceptual leadership framework for AI-enabled higher education, grounded in postdigital and sociomaterial perspectives. It introduces an extended conceptual leadership framework for inclusive and ethical AI integration in higher education – the “Three Cs” leadership framework: Care, Curiosity, and Challenge – reinterpreted through the lens of human–AI co-agency and responsible AI governance, grounded in postdigital and sociomaterial perspectives. The Three Cs are presented as a model for navigating complexity and ensuring equity, accessibility, and human-centred values in AI-enabled environments. By integrating theoretical insights with practical implications, the framework offers guidance for inclusive and ethical AI implementation and helps bridge the gap between technological adoption and leadership practice. The contribution of this chapter is primarily conceptual, normative, and position-based, rather than empirically grounded.