Staffordshire University to launch AI-powered bot for students

Last year, Staffordshire University broke into the UK university top 50 league table for the first time. Director of Digital Services at the university, Andrew Proctor, attributes this success to the digital transformation he has overseen and an IT strategy that has seen the organisation put AI front and centre. The university has formulated a digital vision that paves the way up to 2030 and Proctor claims that 18 months ago, Staffordshire was the first university to migrate to the cloud - an important strategic move that has fuelled digital innovation. This cloud strategy allowed the university to more effectively meet targets such as the increasing use of data to drive business, and boosting automation as a means of reducing the volume of repetitive tasks. "We have a lot of very, very talented academics," says Proctor. "It doesn't make sense for them to be buried down in painful work and really low-level work."