Virtual Helpdesks, a new service to video chat with the University administration

With this service you can make an appointment or video chat directly with staff during opening hours.

The University of Bologna is gradually opening Virtual Helpdesks for all of its services. In the Virtual Helpdesks area or in the contacts area of the service webpage, you can check whether the Virtual Helpdesk is already running.

Log on to Virtual Helpdesks

How to log on

You can log on to Virtual Helpdesks with:

  • Your institutional credentials (name@surname@unibo.it or name.surname@studio.unibo.it): if you are not a Unibo student yet, log on to Studenti Online, go to the “REGISTER” section and fill in the mandatory fields to obtain your institutional email address.
  • SPID (Italian Public Digital Identity System).

Direct access or appointment

Through Virtual Helpdesks, you can video chat with a Unibo service (student administration office, international desk, etc.) in two ways:

  • Direct access during the office opening hours: you will join a queue and be able to view your position. You can of course leave the queue at any time.
  • Appointment (if available): you can book an available slot with a specific service. You can view your appointment on the service webpage, and you can of course cancel it if you no longer need it. You will speak to the office staff on the day and at the time of your appointment.

How Virtual Helpdesks work

Getting started

  • If you are connecting from a PC, please disable the popup blocker in your browser.
  • If you are connecting from a mobile device, first download and install “ZOOM Meetings” from Google Play (Android) or the App Store (iOS).

Direct access/appointment selection

Once you have logged on to Virtual Helpdesks:

  1. Select the office you need to speak to and click on ‘Go ’.
  2. Now you can view the office opening times. Click on ‘Go’.
  3. If the office is open and you want to join the queue, please select ‘Direct access’ then click on ‘Go’. If, on the other hand, you want to book a slot, please select ‘Make an appointment’ and click on ‘Book’.

Direct access

  1. Select the relevant topic and click on ‘Join the queue’.
  2. Wait for your turn.
  3. As soon as an operator is available, you can start a video chat.
  4. On a mobile device, you can access the video chat through the ZOOM app. To do so, you need to allow microphone and webcam use.
  5. You will now be in the ZOOM room. To leave the meeting, just click on ‘Log out’.

Appointment

  1. Please select a date and time slot.
  2. Select the relevant topic and click on ‘Confirm booking’.
  3. You can now view a summary of your appointment.
  4. The ‘Book’ button will now be replaced by ‘Go’.
    If you try and access the helpdesk on a different day or time from that of your appointment, you will see the appointment summary.
    You can view your appointment in the ‘Appointments’ section of the Virtual Helpdesks homepage, or by clicking on the calendar icon on the left-hand side, or on the review page.
  5. On the day and time of your appointment, you will be able to start a video chat with a dedicated operator. To leave the meeting, just click on ‘Log out’.

Remember: if you are unable to turn up, please cancel the booking so that the slot can be used for other students.