Evaluating AI-Driven Cybersecurity in Academic Environments: A Multi-Dimensional Analytics Framework
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Abstract
This review article develops a multi-dimensional analytics framework for evaluating artificial-intelligence-driven cybersecurity in higher education institutions. Building on recent scholarship on AI-based information security in academic environments, the paper argues that universities should not assess cybersecurity transformation through detection accuracy alone. Instead, evaluation must integrate five dimensions: technical efficacy, operational practicality, privacy and governance alignment, institutional trust, and lifecycle sustainability. The article combines a structured review of recent literature with scenario-based analytical benchmarking to compare centralized, edge-based, federated, and hybrid deployment architectures across representative university conditions. The analysis shows three consistent patterns. First, deep and hybrid AI approaches outperform traditional rule-centric systems on detection quality and adaptability, but their advantages decline when privacy burdens, integration constraints, and staffing limits are incorporated. Second, governance maturity and academic trust jointly amplify the value of AI security investments, with hybrid architectures producing the strongest balanced scores under medium-to-high governance conditions. Third, the literature remains misaligned with operational reality: technical studies continue to privilege centralized architectures and laboratory evaluation, while universities increasingly require mixed architectures, human oversight, explainability, and institution-specific deployment criteria. Based on these findings, the paper proposes a Cybersecurity Transformation Effectiveness Index (CTEI) for academic environments and a priority roadmap for deployment-focused research and institutional practice. The study contributes a structured evaluative lens for researchers, IT leaders, and university administrators seeking to align AI-enabled cybersecurity with educational values, institutional legitimacy, and sustainable digital transformation.
