University of the Punjab's AI Admission Assistant Chatbot

On 3 June 2026, the University of the Punjab in Lahore — Pakistan's oldest and largest public university — inaugurated an AI-powered admission assistant chatbot, built in-house by the university's own Faculty of Computing and Information Technology using internal resources. Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ali led the launch, describing it as a significant achievement and directing that it be expanded to other departments; the Admission Committee chairman, Prof. Dr. Mahmood Saleem, and the Dean of Computing, Prof. Dr. Shahzad Sarwar, jointly briefed attendees on its capabilities.

The chatbot operates in three languages — English, Urdu and Roman Urdu — reflecting the linguistic reality of Pakistani applicants who often prefer to communicate in Urdu or transliterated Urdu rather than English. It answers questions on programme eligibility criteria, admission-test logistics, hostel facilities, scholarships and financial aid, and quota-based admission schemes (which govern access for various regional and social categories in Pakistani public universities), and pushes updates on official announcements. University officials and the state Associated Press of Pakistan news agency describe it as the first such public-facing chatbot launched by a public-sector university in Pakistan.

As of publication, this is a brand-new deployment: no usage statistics, accuracy figures, satisfaction data, or any outcome evaluation (e.g. effect on application volumes, applicant satisfaction, or admissions-office workload) have been published by the university or independent researchers. It should be read as a real, well-corroborated launch of a practical multilingual access tool, not as an evidence-backed practice with measured impact — a status the catalogue records honestly pending future evaluation.

Read the full analysis: https://pu.edu.pk/home/section/exam/17164