Studymapper Strives To Ease Students’ Woes Via AI, Human Assistance

Citing a survey conducted by the UNESCO between 2000 and 2018, France-based educational consultancy, Studymapper, Monday said that the gross enrolment in higher education worldwide has doubled from almost 19% to 38%.  

Studymapper is participating in an online three-day event, Middle East Education Thought Leadership Forum, conducted by a London-based educational networking company, Gulf Conferences on 25-27 October, 2021.

Attributing the increase to the emerging nations, CEO Studymapper, Oumer Ndiaye said there still was a disparity in the number of graduates in these countries.

“Lack of means and infrastructure in developing countries is pushing more and more young people to seek better education outside the countries of their origin,” Ndiaye said.

However, the difficulties in securing admission in universities abroad, he said, were unprecedented.

“Difficulty in getting access to the right information, administrative procedures to get a student visa, high tuition fees and exclusive entrance exams are some of the grave issues a student is beset with,” Ndiaye said. “At Studymapper, we’ve studied these issues carefully and come up with a comprehensive approach to support young people in their educational guidance and professional integration regardless of their social background.”

The company has a two-pronged approach to connect students, schools and companies. “We use a combination of artificial intelligence and human assistance to connect students, schools and companies,” Ndiaye said. “We simplify higher education training application procedures, international mobility of students, but also internship research and professional integration.”

The company provides a communication tool to help schools and companies to communicate better with students, especially employing the use of video content, popular in the age group between 16 and 30 years.

Studymapper has over 10,000 students enrolled in some 250 partner schools from France, Belgium and Canada. It has also something like 55000 training programs a click away. With over 130 client companies on board, it had provided internships to some 500 students.

The Gulf Conferences event is taking place under the patronage of the Secretary General of the Association of Arab Universities.

“In addition to this, several dignitaries that include the Ministers of Education of the Arab League and delegates from some 400 universities are expected to participate in the event,” Farooq Shah, Media and Communications Officer, Gulf Conferences, said.

The forum, Shah said, will be led by Ministers of Education and Quality Assurance leaders to help address policies related to online education.

“The event will help companies reach out to large markets in the Middle East and we will be proposing financial models which will include referral fees, alongside the sponsorship,” he said. “Middle Eastern students will be invited freely to benefit from virtual learning.”