York University has received a 2025 CAUBO Quality and Productivity Award for YU-AURA (Automated University Response Assistant), its proprietary generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform that supports the University's vision of becoming an AI-powered institution and leader.
The Quality and Productivity (Q&P) Award is given by the Canadian Association of University Business Officers (CAUBO) in recognition of effective and innovative administrative practices that enable excellence in the management of resources at Canadian post-secondary institutions. CAUBO itself is a non-profit professional organization that supports senior administrative and financial leaders at more than 100 universities and affiliated colleges across Canada.
The recognition comes less than a year after York formally launched YU-AURA, which was developed in-house by the IT Innovation team within the University Information Technology department. The Q&P Award also marks the fourth award YU AURA has received in the past five years of its development, notes Vidur Kalive, York's AI architect lead, who collaborated on the project with Patrick Thibaudeau, director of IT innovation.
"Not only does this latest award keep us motivated, but it also tells us that we are heading in the right direction with our innovation efforts and the strategic moves we are making to embrace AI," Kalive says.
YU-AURA was designed to offer the University community a secure, customizable and cost-effective tool to streamline operations, enhance productivity and support research and teaching. With a user-friendly interface that allows faculty, staff and students to build and train AI solutions for specific needs, it was designed to support teaching, learning, research and administrative work, while exemplifying York's leadership in socially responsible AI innovation.
Current use cases for the platform fall into three broad categories: research, teaching and administration. Faculty have used YU-AURA to create research assistants that can query customized databases of scholarly material. Others have built course assistants linked to eClass that answer common student questions about readings, deadlines, academic integrity and more. Administrative teams have deployed YU-AURA to respond to frequently asked questions, reducing the burden of high-volume email traffic.
The platform has already attracted interest from other Canadian universities. York plans to open-source YU-AURA, enabling institutions across the country to implement and help evolve the technology. The collaborative approach will allow more post-secondary institutions to adopt AI affordably and responsibly, in line with York's vision for sector-wide innovation.
For Kalive, the latest recognition for the University's in-house AI speaks to the realization of that vision - and its future. "YU-AURA helped position York as the AI innovation leader in the education sector," he says. "This award confirms that position, and as leaders, others will look to us to see how we build on AURA's current state."
Learn more about York's AI tools.
This story was originally featured in YFile, York University's community newsletter.
