Where it fits
The Campus AI Framework is a practitioner's playbook for AI strategy and governance in higher education. The AI Strategic Compass complements its eight pillars as the decision-making component, prioritizing individual initiatives by risk and impact.
The decision-making component
The Campus AI Framework has three parts. The eight pillars are what an institution builds and sustains to govern AI well. The four domains are where AI is applied. The AI Strategic Compass complements the pillars as the framework's decision-making component: where the pillars build the capacity to govern AI, the Compass puts that capacity to work on real decisions: which initiatives to pursue, in what order, and how carefully to review each one.
- 1Campus Mission & Vision
- 2AI Principles
- 3AI Policies & Guidelines
- 4Governance, Risk, Compliance & Data Governance
- 5AI Engagement & Collaboration
- 7Roles & Responsibilities
- 6Campus Readiness
- 8Implementation & Operations
- Teaching & Learning
- Research & Innovation
- Operations & Infrastructure
- Student & Community Engagement
Which initiatives to pursue, and how carefully to review them. Takes one proposed initiative in a domain, scores it on five dimensions grounded in the pillars, and maps it to a proportionate-review band.
Among the framework's tools
The framework groups its tools into two sets: tools to assess where you stand, and tools to decide and operate. The Compass is in the second set. What sets it apart is what it evaluates.
| Tool | Evaluates | Question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Assess where you stand | ||
| Find your starting point | The institution | Are we nascent, emerging, or established? |
| AI Maturity Assessment | The institution | How mature are we across the eight pillars? |
| AI Governance Question Guide | Governance practice | What should we be asking across the nine governance domains? |
| Decide and operate | ||
| AI Strategic Compass This site | An initiative | Should we pursue this, with what safeguards, and how will we know it worked? |
| AI Tool Evaluation Matrix | A tool and its data | Is this tool appropriate for the data it may touch? |
| Playbook, adoption pathways, run it | Approved work | How do we roll it out, support it, and keep it running? |
Used together. Maturity results tell you how much your institution can safely take on. The Compass decides which initiatives to take on. The Tool Evaluation Matrix checks whether the specific tool fits the data involved. Selected initiatives then move into the playbook.
From decision to documentation
The Compass decides; the Campus AI Registry documents. Once an initiative is approved, its record moves into the registry, a layered set of governance documents, risk profiles, service, system, and model cards, and supporting evidence, published under visibility labels.
Campus AI Framework
Eight pillars: mission, principles, policies, GRC, engagement, roles, readiness, operations.
AI Strategic Compass
Score, route, and decide each initiative with proportionate review.
Campus AI Registry
Record approved AI in profiles, cards, and evidence, with visibility labels.
What carries over
Each part of a Compass record has a home in the registry, so nothing is written twice.
| From the Compass | Into the Campus AI Registry |
|---|---|
| Description, purpose, domain | System card: purpose, context, and intended users |
| Domain and dimension scores | Risk profile for the context (teaching, research, administration, agentic use) |
| Total and review band | Risk tier on the system card; sets the depth of documentation |
| Conditions and safeguards | System card controls and required mitigations |
| Decision, decider, rationale, dissent | Review record in supporting evidence |
| KPIs, OKRs, efficacy measures | Monitoring section and evaluation evidence |
| Exit criteria and re-review triggers | Reauthorization schedule and material-change review |
Proportionality carries over too. A Low initiative may need only a short entry in a service catalog. A High or Critical one needs a full system card, risk profile, and review evidence. The registry's visibility labels then decide which parts are public.
Dimensions and pillars
Each Compass dimension draws most heavily on particular pillars. This mapping is an interpretation to aid discussion, not part of the framework itself.
| Compass dimension | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic alignment & value | ||||||||
| Ethics, legal & compliance | ||||||||
| Financial viability & resources | ||||||||
| Operational efficiency & innovation | ||||||||
| Stakeholder impact & reputation |
- 1Campus Mission & Vision
- 2AI Principles
- 3AI Policies & Guidelines
- 4Governance, Risk, Compliance & Data Governance
- 5AI Engagement & Collaboration
- 6Campus Readiness
- 7Roles & Responsibilities
- 8Implementation & Operations
Initiatives are tagged to one or more of the framework's four domains: Teaching & Learning, Research & Innovation, Operations & Infrastructure, and Student & Community Engagement.