By: Madhavi Shankar, CEO & Co-founder of SpaceBasic
University life is a mix of chaos and survival. Students wake up groggy, realise their hostel ran out of hot water again, rush to class half-asleep, only to find out it’s been canceled. Getting a few of these basic maintenance fixes can take anything from a few days to weeks. The typical maintenance process requires a lot of manual tasks and coordination to find a fix.
But thankfully, some universities are actually waking up to the fact that students shouldn’t have to deal with outdated systems and unnecessary stress. Thanks to tech, things are slowly becoming smoother.
Universities can now have automated maintenance systems that let students log complaints instantly. Some hostels even have smart sensors that detect leaks, electrical faults, and water wastage before they become a problem. Less waiting. Less nagging. More actually fixed things.
Demand forecasting to ensure less food wastage
There are days when the canteens run out of food before the students even get in line. The next, they make way too much, and trays of untouched food get thrown away. It’s mostly unnecessary food waste that has significant environmental impact. Now, campuses are using data to predict food demand, some even let students pre-book meals through apps. That way, the kitchen knows exactly how much food to prepare, reducing waste and making sure one actually gets their meal.
With AI, universities can now take a macro look at past data on student’s meal consumption patterns, variations in preferences and seasonal differences. This can help them forecast daily meal requirements. In addition, it helps facilitate food preparation with utmost precision, optimise workforce during peak and non peak hours, and manage inventory much more efficiently.
Room allotment: a smoother process
With smart allocation systems, universities are considering factors like preferences, room conditions, and even energy efficiency to assign rooms fairly. Some hostels have automated energy tracking, meaning the system adjusts power use based on whether people are actually in the room. Meaning, less unnecessary power waste, lower electricity bills, and no more random room assignments.
Campus security becomes hassle free
Nobody enjoys long ID checks at every entry point. It’s slow and time consuming because most of the time it’s done manually. With digital ID systems and biometric access, universities can skip the whole manual check procedure.Instead, students just scan a card, use facial recognition, or tap their phones to get in.
In addition to this, AI can analyse past incidents and anticipate any potential threat by studying patterns. This can help campuses take preventive measures to avoid any untoward incidents. There are also AI-powered chatbots that can allow students to report any security related issues within campus. Through AI, campuses can become much more safer and efficient in their security systems.
Remove redundancy from admin work – Bring in efficiency in administrative tasks
If you’ve ever had to get an official document from the university office, you know the struggle.
Now, universities can finally move everything online: fee payments, document requests, schedule changes, even complaint submissions. Some have AI chatbots that answer student queries instantly, so you don’t have to wait in a never-ending queue just to ask a basic question.
With AI, university administrators can prioritise and delegate tasks that need immediate attention. All this can be done without any manual follow up. The personnel responsible for the tasks can receive and update any maintenance-related work orders in real time through their phone. This approach can result in quicker response rates and lesser delays in resolving maintenance issues. Students no longer need to rely on manual systems to log their maintenance complaints.
Furthermore, this data collected through maintenance logs can help hostel administrators make data-driven decisions and take preventive measures that reduce the frequency of these maintenance issues cropping up.
Managing environmental resources efficiently
From tracking water usage in campuses to implementing energy efficient systems, technology can help universities to be aware of their water consumption patterns and energy usage. With AI integration,advanced analytics can provide automated alerts on consumption thresholds and identify wastage patterns in real time. It can also forecast future water requirements and help universities to manage their resources efficiently.
At the core of a smart campus is AI powered analytics which is crucial to achieve a truly paperless administration process. AI Allows administrators to go through massive amounts of data and use it as insights that can be put to use. It can help them to identify specific patterns and arrive at suggestions that are backed by data and thereby make significant improvements in operations.
In conclusion
There’s still a long way to go. But at least universities are finally realising that students and staff shouldn’t face difficulties due to outdated processes. With tech making hostels easier to manage, food less unpredictable, security smoother, and admin work more efficient, things are improving. This can allow students to truly enjoy university life, while staff worry less about ops heavy, redundant manual processes.
