Abstract

Effective Communication between the students and the university management has long faced roadblocks, mainly because of the lack of adequate channels between both parties. The Redemmer's University Student Association (RUNSA) of Redeemer's University, created to be the bridge between both parties, has not lived up to its creation of an effective channel due to bureaucracy. With the global acceleration and adoption of chatbot technologies, chatbots have become a go-to for providing effective communication channels. The RUNSA Agent is a chatbot created to be the automated and physical solution to the lack of adequate and inaccessible channels and to foster positive rapport between students, RUNSA and the univeristy management.

Introduction

Origin of Universities

A university is a higher education institution that typically includes a college of liberal arts and sciences and graduate and professional schools. It can confer degrees in various fields, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees such as master's and doctorate. Universities are generally larger than colleges, offering a broader curriculum and more advanced degrees. Modern Western universities evolved from medieval schools known as studia generalia, recognised places of study open to students from across Europe. The first proper University in the West was founded at Bologna in the late 11th century, focusing on canon and civil law. The University of Paris, established between 1150 and 1170, became a model for other universities, including Oxford in England.

Evolution of Universities in Nigeria

Nigeria's higher education system includes over 400 universities and colleges, with English as the language of instruction. The system began with the establishment of University College at Ibadan and Yaba Higher College before independence in 1960. In the 1960s, the government founded additional universities, including the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Ahmadu Bello University, to promote regional educational development. In the 1970s and 1980s, the government aimed to establish a university in each state, but this plan was later abandoned. Since the 1990s, private universities have proliferated, established by individuals and religious organisations, particularly Christian churches, further diversifying the educational landscape.

Redeemer's University

Redeemer's University is a private university founded in 2005 by the Redeemed Church of God (RCCG) to produce graduates who can stand independently and adapt to the ever-changing situations in our dynamic society. In particular, the university will nurture the spirit of entrepreneurship so that its graduates can create jobs rather than rely on employment, which is now scarce. As the number of students grew in the university, it became necessary for management to find a way to maintain a relationship with the students. The Redeemer's University Student Association (RUNSA) was created in 2008 to bridge students and management. RUNSA has had several administrations with their accomplishments and legacy.

Problem

There has been a communication gap between RUNSA and the students they were elected to serve. Students complained about the lack of accessibility to the people meant to be their voices. This project aims to provide an effective and easy way for students to share their thoughts and issues. Leveraging Microsoft Copilot Studio, a RUNSA Agent chatbot was designed, trained, tested and deployed. RUNSA Agent enables users to communicate with it based on text. It allows students to share their issues, ensuring their voices are heard, which fosters a good relationship.

Methodology

Requirement Gathering

Students across various departments were engaged. They were asked about their relationship with RUNSA. Most of them mentioned that RUNSA has a distant relationship with the students. This step helped to understand that students want a product that is intuitive and easy to use

Tools Research

Copilot Studio is a graphical, low-code tool for creating an agent—including building automation with Power Automate—and extending a Microsoft 365 Copilot with enterprise data and scenarios. Microsoft Copilot Studio was chosen as the tool of choice to build the chatbot because:

• Incorporates generative AI capabilities into its functionality, enabling features like Knowledge Sources, Generative Answers and Generative Orchestration.
• Offers a user-friendly, low-code interactive authoring canvas for building chatbots with accessibility.
  *It allows access to knowledge sources like a public website, a SharePoint library, Dataverse, and other enterprise data through low-code support for Retrieval Augmented Generation using Azure ML prompt flow.
• Supports single sign-on (SSO) with Microsoft Entra ID for Microsoft Copilot Studio bots in Teams.
• It provides a built-in test of Copilot in Copilot Studio at design time and enterprise test automation capability with open-source projects such as the Copilot Studio Kit and Power Virtual Agent Test Framework.
• Enables versioning via source control and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) with Power Platform Build tools for Azure DevOps and GitHub Actions for Microsoft Power Platform.
• It can be deployed across channels like websites, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Facebook, Telegram, Slack, Line, GroupeMe, Directline Speech, and email.
• Integrates with Microsoft or third-party platforms such as Dynamics 365, ServiceNow, and SAP ERP using prebuilt data connectors from Power Automate.
• Connect data through Azure OpenAI service for generative answers.
• It provides an overview and can be directly published, simplifying production deployment.
• Allows updates within the Microsoft Copilot Studio authoring canvas, prompted with Power Platform Pipelines and published directly.
• Secures the conversation data as transcripts using Dataverse.
• Prebuilt analytics measure key performance indicators for the copilot.

Development

The development process of the RUNSA bot followed these steps:

Knowledge Training

Knowledge sources were added to the bot to train it and enable it to give the correct answers. The link to the sources included

• Redeeemer's University Website
• RUNSA X Page
• RUNSA IG Page

Topic Creation

Microsoft Copilot Studio is a SaaS, making it easy to develop solutions on the go without worrying about infrastructure. Microsoft has sorted out the design of the interface and underlying technologies. Nevertheless, there was a need to design the conversation orchestration, which is how the chatbot responds to messages from the user. Copilot Studio uses features called topics that define certain words that trigger the bot and the flow of how it responds. There are some default topics; additional topics had to be created, such as:

• complaints - which tell the bot to handle complaints from students
• RUNSA info - it tells the bot to handle any questions from students wanting to learn more about RUNSA
  The responses from users are stored in variables. An adaptive card was used to create a form for the complaints. Adaptive card is an open card exchange format feature enabling developers to exchange UI content familiarly and consistently.

Automation

A way was devised to store the variables in a database as the system clears when the users use the bot. Using Power Automate, a flow was developed to store responses from the adaptive card of the complaint topic to a list in a SharePoint site.

Testing

The chatbot was tested to ensure that it responded to users well. Bugs such as incorrect conversion orchestration were identified and fixed.

Publishing

The chatbot was published and made available after it had satisfied all the training conditions.

Results

The live chatbot is available here. The bot can be prompted with keywords such as "hello" and "complaints".

Conclusion

The RUNSA Agent is a reliable solution to inadequate and fostered communication channels. RUNSA can still be modified to include additional features such as voice conversations and AI-generated answers. This technology promotes inclusivity and ensures fairness and equality for all students.