Lecturers at four Singapore universities use AI to grade students’ work

Four Singapore universities use AI tools to grade students' work, while others cite accuracy concerns. Read more at straitstimes.com.

SINGAPORE – Marking technical workings on mathematics and physics paper scripts can be laborious.

In recent times, lecturers at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) have turned to an artificial intelligence tool called Gradescope.

The tool scans the handwritten answers, and groups similar ones together, so the human examiner can assign the same grade to every student with similar workings. Batch assigning helps the human save time as he does not need to pore over every single script.

NTU and SUTD are among the four public universities here that have allowed the use of AI tools to grade students’ work that contributes to their final scores. The other two are the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).

Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) do not allow the use of AI to grade students’ work that counts towards their year-end results, citing accuracy and reliability as key concerns.

Broader discussions around AI’s role in higher education surfaced in 2025 when NTU penalised three students for their use of AI in assignments. While all six universities here generally allow students to use generative AI to varying degrees, they have to declare when and how they use such tools for academic integrity.