At Microsoft Build 2025, we unveiled a new wave of agentic innovations that are reshaping how higher education institutions use AI. From intelligent agents to unified data platforms, these advancements empower higher education leaders to confidently accelerate digital transformation. A key part of this evolution is the role of Azure AI Foundry in education, which helps institutions build secure, scalable AI solutions tailored to their academic goals.
With these advances in AI, institutions now have a powerful new opportunity: to use agents that can automate routine tasks, assist faculty and staff, and provide real-time, contextual insights to support teaching and learning. As more institutions begin their journey to this next frontier, AI agents will support individuals and teams by automating tasks and delivering instant, contextual insights.
This means that with data-focused AI tools from Microsoft, your institution can:
- Develop scalable, intelligent agents using Azure AI Foundry, trusted by enterprises and customized for higher education compliance and innovation.
- Turn data insights into action with AI-powered analytics, addressing challenges in student success, research productivity, and operational agility.
Accelerate agentic AI with Azure AI Foundry
Azure AI Foundry Agent Service empowers institutions to securely design, deploy, and scale agents with ease. Enhance your team’s efficiency with agents that simplify academic and operational workflows with robust security and trust features built in. This provides key tools and resources to help you:
- Create domain-specific agents to automate complex tasks.
- Use enterprise-grade identity for agents and built-in trustworthy AI.
- Deploy and scale agents quickly with managed infrastructure.
Create and scale domain-specific agents
With Azure AI Foundry Agent Service, your team can create domain-specific agents tailored to your unique needs. It helps you design, deploy, and scale agents that are ready for real-world use. This fully managed service handles infrastructure and orchestration. It includes ready-to-use templates, actions, and connectors for more than 1,400 enterprise data sources, including SharePoint, Microsoft Fabric, and third-party systems. For instance, you can design and deploy agents to help onboard new students with personalized guidance and support administrative teams with instant responses to common questions.
Institutions like Stanford Medicine are already using the healthcare agent orchestrator in Azure AI Foundry alongside Microsoft Copilot Studio. This integration enhances the efficiency of tumor board meetings through customized clinical workflows.
Secure and manage your agents
Creating agents is just the beginning—managing them responsibly plays a critical role in their effective use. With Microsoft Entra Agent ID, you can:
- Gain complete visibility and control over agents’ actions.
- Assign unique identities for each agent.
- Share identity management with your team members.
- Define access controls and permissions for each agent.
Trustworthy AI is a foundational commitment for Microsoft and for our customers. We’ve introduced new capabilities to help institutions discover, protect, and govern AI systems from the start.
On the security side, Azure AI Foundry integrates with Microsoft Defender for Cloud to provide real-time alerts and insights when threats arise. For compliance, out-of-the box integration with governance tools like Credo AI, Saidot, and Microsoft Purview, helps institutions monitor model performance, assess fairness, and track regulatory requirements.
By using Azure AI Foundry’s built-in tools for safety, security, and governance, institutions can design and deploy AI systems with greater reliability from the start.
Powering the next AI frontier with Microsoft Fabric
Strong data is foundational to effective AI. Microsoft Fabric helps unify your data to power analytics and agents—without the burden of managing complex infrastructure. As a SaaS solution, Fabric offers seamless integration of data tools and can reduce the need for manual service connections.
At its core is Microsoft OneLake, an open and unified data lake that supports any format, from any cloud. This flexibility allows developers to access and analyze all types of data efficiently.
Fabric also transforms how you manage and interact with data. With natural language capabilities, you can explore insights that drive student success, enhance research, and boost operational agility—empowering everyone to make informed, data-driven decisions.
Find the right data when you need it
Education leaders need tools that turn insights into action. That’s why we’re focused on making data more accessible through conversational experiences. With Copilot in Power BI, users can now ask questions in natural language and receive instant insights—no technical training needed to get started. Whether it’s enrollment trends, retention risks, or alumni giving, faculty and staff can explore data directly within Microsoft Teams to streamline their workflow.
Empower everyone to interact with their data
With enhanced interaction capabilities in Power BI and Copilot Studio, transforming data into actionable insights can now be faster and more intuitive. You can explore data through natural, conversational experiences, removing complexity, and making analysis more accessible. This shift empowers you and your teams to break down data silos and uncover valuable insights with ease. Power BI chat simplifies the exploration of complex datasets, offering quicker, more confident decision-making.
Uncover deeper insights with data agents
Finally, connecting Fabric data agents to Copilot Studio can help uncover deeper insights. These agents expertly analyze complex datasets, uncovering valuable insights from OneLake and driving informed action. By automating tasks like email sending and workflow triggering, they streamline your interactions with enterprise data, enabling confident decision-making.
Embrace the future of data-driven higher education with Microsoft Azure and Azure AI Foundry. Discover how innovative data agents and AI-powered insights can enhance your approach to learning and operations. Start your journey today and uncover the limitless possibilities that await you.
