Beyond the Chatbot: Leadership Dinner on AI, Student Support & the Realities of Scale

​At the QS Reimagine Education | The Future of Higher Education Conference, AI is everywhere: in keynotes, in product demos, and in every corridor conversation.

But behind the hype, leaders are wrestling with much more practical questions:

• ​How do we move beyond small AI pilots and turn them into institution-wide capabilities?

• ​What does “AI for student support” look like when you already have existing service desks in place such as Salesforce, ServiceNow or TopDesk?

• ​How do we improve student experience and retention without simply adding more tools and complexity for staff?

​About this dinner

Join LearnWise for an intimate, invite-only leadership dinner a short walk from the QEII Centre in Westminster on Tuesday 2 December, immediately after the conference day.

Over good food and candid conversation, we’ll host a roundtable on how universities are rethinking service desks, student support and knowledge management in an AI era, with a focus on what’s actually working in practice, not just on slides.

This is not a product pitch or a panel. It’s a space for decision-makers to compare notes, pressure-test ideas, and learn from peers facing similar constraints and ambitions.

We’ll explore:

• ​Beyond “yet another chatbot” – what a modern, AI-enabled service layer looks like when you already have ticketing, CRM and knowledge tools in place.

• ​From tickets to outcomes – connecting support experience to retention, engagement and institutional priorities (not just deflection metrics).

• ​Making sense of fragmented content – LMS, portals, SharePoint, knowledge bases and “shadow” documents: how to make AI genuinely helpful in this mess.

• ​Governance & risk – data, privacy, security and change management when rolling out AI across large, complex institutions.

• ​Build, buy or extend – how different universities are approaching AI strategy with constrained budgets and teams.

​Who this is for
This dinner is designed for senior leaders who are directly shaping the digital and student-experience agenda, including:

• ​CIOs / CTOs

• ​PVCs / VPs for Education, Student Experience, or Digital

• ​Heads of Student Services / Student Support

• ​Directors of Digital Learning, Learning Technology, or Student Technology

​Format & logistics

• ​When: Tuesday, 2 December — 19:00–22:00 (after the QS Reimagine Education sessions)

• ​Where: Private dining room near the QEII Centre, Westminster (full details upon confirmation)

• ​Format: Hosted roundtable and open discussion over a seated dinner

• ​Group size: Small, curated group to keep conversation practical, honest and useful

​Request an invitation
This is an invite-only gathering with limited seats to maintain a meaningful conversation.

If you’d like to join, please request an invitation via this page. We’ll review registrations to ensure a mix of roles, institutions and geographies, and will confirm your place along with venue details.

We look forward to an evening of real talk about AI, student support and the future of the university service desk.

​Learn more about LearnWise AI | Connect with us on LinkedIn

​Can't make it but want to get in touch? Contact Mike Quick | Madalina Bulumac