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Good practice Imported

Cara — University of Galway's 24/7 AI Student-Services Chatbot Reaches 98% Query Resolution

Ireland · Galway · See the Ireland profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 89% 27/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Live since November 2021, University of Galway's Cara chatbot grew from 30,000 queries (91% resolved, by 2023) to 50,000+ a year with 98.75% resolution and 4,167 staff hours saved, per the university and its vendor — though the strongest figures remain self-reported.

30,000+
Queries answered (to Oct 2023) (by Oct 2023)
91 %
Self-resolution rate (to Oct 2023) (by Oct 2023)
50,000+
Queries answered (later 12-month period)
98.75 %
Successful resolution rate (later 12-month period)
4,167
Staff hours saved
Cara — University of Galway's 24/7 AI Student-Services Chatbot Reaches 98% Query Resolution

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
University of Galway, with Galvia (formerly Chatspace)
Period
November 2021 – present
Region (NUTS)
IE04
Keywords
higher education, student services, chatbots

Context

University of Galway, Ireland, deployed Cara, an AI chatbot built by Irish startup Galvia (formerly Chatspace), in November 2021 as a 'virtual extension' of its Student Enquiry Centre, answering questions ranging from bike parking and classroom locations to wellbeing and mental-health signposting.

Activities

By October 2023, Cara had answered over 30,000 queries with a 91% self-resolution rate.

Results

Over a later 12-month period, the vendor reports 50,000+ queries with a 98.75% successful resolution rate and 4,167 staff hours saved, alongside a claimed 40% reduction in repetitive manual tasks. University of Galway was the only Irish higher-education institution shortlisted for a Times Higher Education award for the innovation.

Conclusions

The most recent resolution-rate and hours-saved figures originate from Galvia's own vendor case study rather than an independently audited source, so should be read with that caveat. Cara is a general student-services and engagement tool, not a dedicated dropout-prediction or admissions algorithm.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Vendor (Galvia) subscription/service model; specific cost not disclosed.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Deployed November 2021; figures reported through a later 12-month period.
Staffing & skills
University of Galway Student Enquiry Centre, Galvia (vendor)

Conditions for success

  • Positioned as a virtual extension of an existing Student Enquiry Centre rather than a replacement

Common failure modes

  • Most recent resolution-rate and hours-saved figures come from the vendor's own case study, not an independent audit

Where it fits

Governance type
university student-services deployment with an external vendor
Scale
single institution (University of Galway)
Income level
high-income EU member state

Commonly funded by

Own resources / municipal budget

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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