In our quest to explore the journey of every education startup including the successes they get and challenges they face, today we would like to present to you an education startup called "
Univariety".
Here's what we have got to know about Univariety from Mr. Jaideep Gupta, CEO and Founder.
In an exclusive interview with BWDisrupt Jaideep Gupta gave an in-depth perspective on his venture and future plans in this sector.
Edited Excerpts from the Interview:-
BW: How has the journey of Univariety been since its inception?
Jaideep:The journey has been extremely rewarding and fulfilling. It has obviously been challenging to convince schools the outset about the need of a system like this, but once the management understands the benefits for a system like this, they get on board. The real challenge is getting the time from the right person at the school to have a discussion. The schools that have discussed the system with us, have received us very warmly and the good thing is that universities on the other side are equally keen to have a method to reach out to the schools through us.
BW: What are the key features of Univariety?
Jaideep: The key features of Univariety lie in the three segments from which individuals benefit. We cater to Schools, Universities and Counsellors. The schools benefits with a Career Guidance System that guides their students via four different pillars i.e., 1. Guidance from Counsellors, 2. Guidance from System Tools 3. Guidance from Universities and 4. Guidance from Alumni.
For the Universities, we offer an effective and simple way to connect with students who show a direct interest. We aim to help them in their marketing efforts and in managing their budgets well by connecting them directly with students matching their specific criteria.
Interested students who want to develop their profile and increase the chances of getting admitted into top colleges benefit with the profile builder program. For Counsellors, we have partnered with UCLA - Extn and developed a comprehensive counsellor training program (Global Career Counsellors) that trains them in career counselling.
BW: How is Univariety different from its competitors?
Jaideep: Our biggest difference is we work with Schools directly. Our Career Guidance System goes through schools to the students. The next big difference is we are not agents and do not take commissions from Universities. After guiding them towards their career, we also support students in building their overall profile which aids in university admissions. Lastly, we go beyond giving the regular ‘career’ advice and give the college advice. It’s just not a onetime psychometric test, but actually supporting them with their decision.
BW: Is the company backed by any funding?
Jaideep: Yeah, we have risen funding at the very start of our journey from a corporate which has interest in Education.
BW: What are the recent achievements of Univariety?
Jaideep: Univariety successfully partnered with University of California Los Angeles (Extn) and developed a specific counsellor training program for counsellors which give them complete knowledge about career counselling. We also piloted the Profile Builder program for students that help them build their academic profile by honing their skills, turning their activities into achievements and gaining certificates for the right kind of programs. This program will help them demonstrate their interest in specific fields while applying to colleges/universities.
BW: What are the various technologies adopted by Univariety?
Jaideep: Univariety is built on open-source software stack (LAMP) on top of a popular MVC framework and uses popular javascript frameworks to make it lightweight, interactive and mobile responsive. Its search is powered by SOLR. There are multiple proprietary algorithms that power various recommendation engines for students and universities. Also, there is an android mobile app for students. The software stack is hosted on a popular cloud provider with horizontal scaling enabled for all its components.
BW: Discuss the monetization models, traction details and future plans of the organisation.
Jaideep: Schools and universities pay us subscription for using our services. Students pay us for using our programs. As of 2017, we have 440 schools on board with us, with close to 110,000 students benefitting from our system. Our future plans include working with schools in tier 2 and 3 cities in India and expanding our base to other parts of Asia.
BW: What are the challenges Univariety has been facing? Also, discuss the present market size.
Jaideep: One of our biggest challenge has been getting time with the right person at the school. Once that is done, the management is on board with us as they understand the need for a technology based career guidance system. The present market size is of about 60,000 schools.
BW: Is there any additional information that you would like to share?
Jaideep: Seeing how technology is progressing, we at Univariety are keeping up with the latest trends and are breaking stereotypes. We have made a paradigm shift in the field of counseling and have successfully made Career Counseling a Digital service. Students no longer have to make special times to visit counselors or wait for their slots in school. Going Digital gives us the ability to guide our students 24/7 via chat. Other than counselling, we are also able to prevent career errors that students make with the help of our Red Flag system. Students can also engage with their seniors via the Alumni Discovery System and take guidance from them.
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Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
