Digitalisation at the European Student Affairs Conference (ESAC) 2026
Digitalisation of student services was discussed thoroughly at ESAC 2026.
Throughout two different parallel sessions on the first day of the conference, we discussed student services in a digital world from the perspective of practical, innovative uses of digital tools as well as balancing opportunities with risks.
During the first session, titled Student Services in a Digital World, the focus was especially on the use of digital tools, robotics and AI in a practical, yet innovative way to improve student services:
- Magali Doyen: Student Housing in the Digital Age: simplified procedures, shared data, smart and connected services
This presentation offered a valuable perspective on supporting the digital transformation of student housing in French residence halls. Magali Doyen highlighted the three step process of Cnous in reducing unnecessary administrative procedures, improving student experiences, and strengthening the efficiency of student services in France. The three steps were as follows: streamlining procedures, integrating AI to automate tasks and improve service quality, expanding the range of services available to residents.
- Lucas Woll: The kitchen robot KAI – Robotics in Student Dining Halls – The kitchen robot KAI as an innovative example in dining services
In order to tackle the decreasing number of sales in student dining halls, a decline in staff, and changing eating habits, STW Kaiserslautern launched a pilot project that involves a cooking robot. The cooking robot KAI (Kaiserslautern Artificial Intelligence) can prepare up to 3 dishes per day at the touch of a button, combining cold storage, cooking, and rinsing in one device. At the moment, the Robotic Kitchen only works in conjunction with trained personnel as the human factor remains necessary.
- Deirdre Parker: Digitally enabled services for international students
This session shared learnings from the journey towards one‑to‑many, digitally enabled career programmes. Deirdre Parker specifically focused on Propel, a job market readiness programme for international students at the point of arrival. Through exploring engagement patterns, teaching methods, practical challenges and unexpected learnings, this session posed interesting questions on how student feedback and data can be used to strengthen the impact of such programmes.
The second session titled Digitalisation of Counselling Services focused particularly on the new opportunities offered by digitalisation for students as well as student counselling. But the question was, how can we balance the opportunities and risks?
- Lea Hildermeier: Well-Being and Mental Health in a Digital Era
This session combined perspectives in mental health and digitalisation, exploring the role of digitalisation in the changing mental health situation. Lea Hildermeier pointed out that 1 in 3 students in Germany suffer from mental health disorders and 8 in 10 students would like professional help, yet only 1 in 4 make use of support services. The presentation also addressed the impact of digitalisation such as technostress, loneliness & isolation, and AI chatbots for emotional support. Presenting possible solutions and good practice examples, she concluded the importance of putting needs before tools, seeing the use of digital tools as an entry point, not replacement, and evaluating the safety and reach of such initiatives in order to digitalise in a responsible, accessible and student-centred way.
Considering the ever-changing landscape of technological developments as well as the AI boom, we need to consider the opportunities and risks involved with digital tools in student services critically. It's important to ensure that the needs of students remain a priority while exploring the potential benefits of digitalisation to meet these needs quicker and more effectively.
If you're interested in finding out more about these sessions and delving into the content more in-depth, take a look at the documentation on the ESAC 2026 website to access the full presentations: