Beyond Compliance: Emerging Practices and Opportunities for Generative AI in Student Support and Success in Higher Education

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly influencing higher education, offering new opportunities to enhance student support, engagement, and success across the learning lifecycle. However, current institutional approaches remain largely fragmented and often focused on risk mitigation rather than strategic integration. This paper presents a structured review of recent literature on the integration of GenAI-enabled student support systems in higher education, examining its role across five key domains: academic support, pastoral support and wellbeing, inclusivity and accessibility, data analytics and early intervention, and employability. The findings indicate that while GenAI demonstrates strong potential to provide scalable, personalised, and adaptive support, its effectiveness is highly dependent on pedagogical integration and institutional context. Across the reviewed studies, the most impactful applications are those that scaffold learning processes, support self-regulation, and operate within hybrid human–AI models. Based on these insights, the paper synthesises key considerations for AI-enabled student support, integrating data, AI systems, institutional services, and human oversight. The study contributes to the ongoing discourse by shifting the focus from isolated tool adoption toward holistic, lifecycle-oriented approaches to AI integration in higher education.