Generative AI is challenging traditional approaches in international education, raising questions and creating opportunities around how we interact with students, streamline processes, and provide personalised support. At ECCTIS, this transformation intersects directly with our mission to support the recognition and comparability of qualifications and skills worldwide. From credential evaluation to global benchmarking, AI tools, when expertly prompted, can enhance how we deliver insights, streamline workflows, and support learners and institutions across borders. Yet, amidst these technological possibilities, an important reality remains: the true potential and value of these innovations ultimately depend on the skills and judgement of subject matter experts.
At the core of this human-driven advantage is “prompting,” a skill that, despite recent hype, has long been fundamental to effective communication, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving. Far from a novel technical trick, prompting represents a refined form of the timeless practice of clearly and effectively articulating questions and instructions. It’s the modern iteration of foundational skills such as clarity, context-awareness, and nuanced judgement.
Beyond the Buzzword: Clarifying Prompting and Prompt Engineering
Although the term ‘prompt engineering’ has become widespread in academic and technical circles, it frequently conflates two related but distinct practices. At one end of the spectrum, prompt engineering involves specialised skills like fine-tuning model parameters, incorporating domain-specific datasets, or modifying architectural elements to enhance a Large Language Model’s (LLM) overall performance. In contrast, ‘prompting’ occurs at the user level and requires no advanced programming expertise. Prompting relies purely on crafting succinct, context-rich instructions or commands designed to elicit desired outputs from AI models.
In practical terms, prompting involves guiding AI models clearly and contextually to produce precise, relevant responses. Consider international recruitment: an ambiguous prompt like “Create a marketing message for international students” will yield generic, culturally insensitive results. However, a detailed, thoughtful prompt such as “Draft a culturally sensitive, engaging social media post targeting prospective STEM postgraduate students from Indonesia, highlighting our scholarships and alumni success stories” leverages the AI’s full potential.
Prompting demands deep domain knowledge, cultural insight, and strategic thinking—qualities inherent to education professionals, not AI tools. Through expert prompting, humans provide the essential context and subtlety that machines inherently lack.
| Classic Strength | How It Shows Up in Prompting |
| Clear communication | Crafting, instructions in the language a model can unambiguously follow |
| Design thinking | Iterating on outputs, framing problems from multiple angles |
| Critical judgement | Spotting hallucinations, bias, or cultural mis-steps |
| Subject-matter expertise | Supplying the context the model lacks, refining until the answer is right |
Why Prompting Matters for International Education
Internationalised education institutions face unique challenges, from navigating cross-border compliance and diverse cultural norms to maintaining equitable admissions processes. Poorly instructed AI risks amplifying biases, misrepresenting regulations, or creating communication blunders. Conversely, expertly prompted AI can:
- Generate culturally nuanced recruitment campaigns tailored to specific global regions.
- Enhance equity by identifying and mitigating biases in admissions algorithms.
- Foster intercultural understanding through carefully crafted educational content and student support tools.
Five Essential Prompting Practices for Educators
To leverage AI effectively, international education professionals must refine their prompting skills. Here are five habits of expert prompters:
-
Define the Purpose Clearly:
Move beyond vague instructions. Clearly articulate the strategic goal behind each prompt. -
Embed Deep Context:
Provide AI with the institutional knowledge and cultural context it lacks. Include explicit style guides, relevant regulations, or audience sensitivities. -
Iterate and Refine:
Treat prompting as a dialogue. Start broad, then progressively refine based on AI responses. -
Critically Evaluate Outputs:
Regularly interrogate AI-generated results for accuracy, bias, and cultural sensitivity. Prompt the model to explain its reasoning or translate outputs to different cultural contexts. -
Build a Prompting Library:
Capture and share successful prompts within teams, creating an institutional knowledge repository that supports ongoing learning and consistency.
From Personal Mastery to Institutional Capability
The true potential of prompting emerges when institutions embed this skill into their professional culture:
- Recruitment teams can use prompting to personalize outreach without reinforcing stereotypes.
- Admissions officers learn to critically assess AI-generated application evaluations for fairness.
- Advisors refine chatbot interactions, ensuring empathetic, culturally appropriate student support.
- Leaders employ strategic prompts to explore AI-informed scenarios before committing to new policies.
Incorporating prompting expertise into professional development, recognizing prompt champions, and fostering cross-team collaboration positions institutions to harness AI strategically and ethically.
A Call to Action for Education Experts
As AI evolves, the role of educators and subject-matter experts becomes increasingly crucial. AI excels at identifying patterns but falls short in interpreting context or navigating intercultural nuances. Prompting bridges this gap, aligning human expertise with AI’s computational power.
So, rather than simply adopting AI, education professionals should focus on mastering prompting as a foundational skill:
- Regularly practice crafting and refining prompts.
- Collaborate with peers to share insights and improvements.
- Maintain a record of effective practices and lessons learned.
Ultimately, the most impactful AI innovation is not found in the latest technological update but in the quality of the questions and instructions provided by human experts. By mastering the art of prompting, international education professionals ensure they thrive and lead ethically, strategically, and effectively in an increasingly AI-driven world.