Irish start-up aims to significantly lower global university drop-out rate
Drop-out rates have been increasing in recent years with one-in-six first years in Irish colleges not continuing with their studies.
Irish start-up, UniBrowse, aims to take the pain out of choosing a college course with a search engine-style platform for students applying through the Central Applications Office. Co-founders Alan O’Beirne, Niall Cronin, Walter Holohan and Kenneth Casey recognised a need for a simpler, more comprehensive platform for students.
With around 70,000 applications made through the CAO each year, UniBrowse provides information on all 1,400 courses and 29 third-level institutions.
Currently, all level 6, 7 and 8 courses are included with plans to add Fetac and masters courses later on.
College dropout rates in Ireland are about 16%, a level that is reflected in the UK and around the world. Making it easier for students to choose the right course will help to reduce the number of students dropping out, Mr O’Beirne said.
Most colleges have their own portal sites and while Qualifax, the national database for students and teachers is the ‘go-to site’, it’s not easy to navigate, he said.
So, what’s different about UniBrowse? Mr O’Beirne said that he and his three co-founders spent a year and a half working with focus groups to test for usability from a student’s point of view. He was able to recruit some of his sister’s friends who were doing the Leaving Certificate last year to take part in pilot groups. By getting them using it, we were able to pare down and add only the information that students get value from.”
His own experience gave him insight into what students need. “Six years ago, when I was doing the Leaving Cert, I felt like I was overwhelmed. The information is out there but it’s just all over the place, and we wanted to build something that was for exactly what students need, something that you can use fast, on your phone or your laptop,” he said.
The website has had 14,000 unique users with an average visit lasting six-and- a-half minutes and 12 pages viewed.
Another problem the UniBrowse team is tackling is that CAO applications put a lot of effort into their first and second choices, but “throw anything down” for their subsequent choices.
When filling out his own CAO form, Mr O’Beirne said he concentrated on his first three-course choices. He eventually took up a place on the degree in Sports Management in UCD, which was his fourth choice.
Since launching in December 2016, UniBrowse has received really positive feedback, Mr O’Beirne said.
“We’ve marketed through social media and word of mouth. We’ve been reaching out to teachers, guidance counsellors, principals, colleges, on Facebook and Twitter. It’s just snowballed from that.”
The project was bootstrapped from the start, with the four co-founders working full-time while developing the platform. They are currently taking part in the DCU Ryan Academy Accelerator.
The programme gives start-ups a chance to pitch to investors and the UniBrowse team hopes to secure funding for its next step which includes targeting the UK, where there are 800,000 college applicants every year and Australia, where drop-out rates are at 45%, almost double Ireland’s levels, Mr O’Beirne said.
He said the plan is to tap into the lucrative international college market.
“International students are worth a lot of money to colleges. An Irish student pays €2,500 every year for their fees, but if someone comes over from India or China they’re paying €20,000 a year.”
