The 25th edition of the University-Society Awards of the Board of Trustees of the Universitat de València has recognised the XatUV project promoted by the Website and Marketing Unit (UWM) in the Digital Humanism category.
Along with the UWM, this year's awards also recognised the company Dacsa in the University-Business Collaboration category, the Cell Physiopathology Unit of the Universitat de València with the Innovation award, the entrepreneur and researcher Damià Tormo with the Alumni Plus 'Insigne UV' award, and the lecturer in Procedural Law at the Universitat de València Alicia Armengot with the Teaching Excellence award.
The awards ceremony, held on Thursday January 27th in the assembly hall of the University-Business Foundation ADEIT, was attended by the counsellor for Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society of the Valencian Government, Carolina Pascual; the Principal of the Universitat de València, Mª Vicenta Mestre, and the president of the Board of Trustees of the Universitat de València, María Emilia Adán, as well as prominent personalities from the Administration and the university environment.
In his speech, the head of the UWM, Josep Gonzalbo, made a reference to the UV services that have participated, developed and promoted the XatUV project: Student Services, SEDI, Doctoral School, ADEIT - Internships, Information Systems Service, The International Relations and Cooperation Service, UVocupació, UVemprèn, UVesports, and Libraries Service.
As Josep Gonzalbo explained, the project, led by the UWM of the UV, has consisted of the development of a hybrid Chatbot type service system, through which users have a floating icon on any of the corporate websites of the UV from which, when clicked, a pop-up window that enables interaction is displayed. Through this window, users choose the topic on which they want to ask their question or query. Initially, the consultation is received by a bot, which allows continuous attention 24 hours a day, every day, but if the user wishes, he or she can receive synchronous attention with an online agent from Monday to Friday, mornings and afternoons.
"Thus, thanks to the bot, this service allows the automation of frequently asked questions, optimising the productivity of human capital, and at the same time, thanks to the online agents, it offers synchronous, personalised and at the same time specialised attention", explained the head of the UWM, who also highlighted the collaboration of the private sector in the development of an application of the UV that allows this attention via chatbot. The application integrates a translator that allows agents to deal with online queries in Valencian, Spanish and English.
Josep Gonzalbo expressed the satisfaction of "the 250 people from the UV involved in this project", and added that "this recognition once again highlights the capacity of a public university such as the Universitat de València to generate innovation from the potential, from the driving force, from internal collaboration with the support of external collaboration, to generate new management and communication tools that are ultimately designed to meet the new expectations of our users: students, future students, technical and administrative staff, researchers, teaching staff and society in general", he concluded.
On her part, the president of the Board of Trustees of the Universitat de València, María Emilia Adán, highlighted at the closing ceremony of the prize-giving ceremony that "we need a quality University, with a strong research and demanding side. In times of crisis, education is an essential investment".
Finally, the Principal, Mª Vicenta Mestre, congratulated the people, institutions and services that have been awarded in this edition, and highlighted "the task of connection between University and Society attributed to the Board of Trustees". She also highlighted the role of the Board of Trustees in "promoting business initiatives, professional careers and tools that improve, day by day, everything that the University offers to the society in which it is imbricated".
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