NZ's Uni of Canterbury collaborating with Microsoft

Christchurch’s University of Canterbury has entered a collaboration with Microsoft aimed at enhancing the student experience, research capabilities and the employability of graduates.

The agreement will cover joint initiatives including the development of a dedicated University of Canterbury chatbot, which will use Microsoft Azure OpenAI technology to extract answers based on complex questions.

Data fed to the chatbot will remain held in private data storage at the university, sourced from its library and contact centre teams.

University of Canterbury Chief Digital Officer Michael Oulsnam said the chatbot is initially being enabled to answer some of the university’s most frequently asked questions. “This could include asking where to find study spaces across the campus and how to book them,” he said.

“As the chatbot is used for more interactions, the Digital team will be able to improve its responses and continue refining the ever-expanding knowledge base that the chatbot has access to.”

The collaboration will also explore opportunities for expanding the university’s existing use of Microsoft technologies, according to the university’s Executive Director of Planning, Finance and Digital Services, Keith Longden.

“With deep industry expertise in gaming, film production, cloud services and artificial intelligence, we are excited about the joint opportunities that exist between both organisations,” he said.

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