Article’s

Educational institutions across the globe are challenged by the sheer volume of enquiries received from prospective students, current students, and parents regarding admissions, academic courses, fee structures, campus facilities, placement statistics, and departmental services. Conventional enquiry handling methods such as telephone helplines, email correspondence, and in-person visits to administrative offices are not only time-intensive but also inconsistent in quality and unavailable beyond working hours. The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) has opened new avenues for automating such interactions through intelligent conversational agents. This paper introduces EduMate, a personalized, AI-driven college enquiry chatbot developed to bridge the communication gap between students and educational institutions. EduMate harnesses state-of-the-art NLP techniques to accurately interpret user intent and deliver contextually appropriate, real-time responses. Built on the Python programming ecosystem with a Streamlit-based graphical interface, the system provides an intuitive and accessible platform for interaction. A distinctive feature of EduMate is its bilingual capability, supporting both English and Tamil, which greatly broadens its reach among diverse student communities in Tamil Nadu and beyond. Additionally, the integration of Speech-to-Text (STT) and Text-to-Speech (TTS) technologies enables voice-driven interaction, further enhancing accessibility for users who prefer verbal communication. Evaluation results confirm that EduMate achieves significant improvements in enquiry response time, accuracy, and user satisfaction, while substantially reducing the operational burden on administrative personnel.