If there was a single transformation that was brought about by the pandemic, it would be the adoption of the digital across significant industries in the world.
And with the meteoric rise of various technology modules across the education industry, it has become important as ever to realise how each of these are transforming processes and outcomes for all stakeholders within this segment.
Extensive emphasis has been placed on the aggregator model, which has become a buzzword in international education today.
While this B2B disruption may seem to be an innovation, the fundamentals behind it have been around for decades. In principle, an aggregator is an agent consisting of several smaller-scale agents who recruit students through the aggregator’s contract.
So what’s changed? It’s simple. Today, the same old model is being proliferated through the use of technology.
In a world of rapid innovation, the emergence of new careers and the transformation of existing ones have resulted in academic institutes engage in an ever-evolving academic curriculum.
Traditional programs are witnessing the incorporation of technology modules along with an overall rework to match newer and updated skills. The new world economy has rendered many expertise obsolete, ultimately making their relevant pre-requisite programs redundant.
These are the important changes that newer developments in international student recruitment have perhaps failed to address to students, and it remains unclear how many sub-agents, characterised by limited know-how and recency in the marketplace, are coping with the same.
Innovation at Canam has obsessed itself over the most important stakeholders within this industry; students, closely followed by academic institutes.
Amidst the tech-driven tumult today, many developments are ignoring a student-centric approach that revolves around high-quality counselling and longer-term student satisfaction. While flooding admissions offices with applications may be a priority for some, emphasis has to be laid on enrolments stemming from the same along with ensuring higher retention rates.
“For institutes, maintaining relationships with various agents may be a crucial aspect to ensuring quality control over these entities who ‘sell’ their programs along with safeguarding themselves from any effects of possible monopolisation through aggregation,” says Anuraj Sandhu, CEO of Canam.
To improve graduation outcomes for students and retention rates for institutes, Canam has adopted a student-first approach that aims to match students to the right programs and schools using intelligent algorithms and an optimised admissions process.
Over the last two decades, Canam has successfully counselled millions of students and gained insights into students’ minds to perfect the program-selection process.
Through iApply, its AI powered platform, over 4 million counselling hours have been consolidated to form a data-driven approach that is student-centric and replicates the mind of a competent counsellor. While technology has bolstered the student experience along with scaling Canam to interior regions, its 30 student experience centres across India, spanning over 125,000 square feet have helped in delivering a complete omni-channel experience to students.
“While technology is facilitating a better student journey, it is by no means a complete substitute”
All of this is to say that face-to-face interaction plays a key role and while technology is facilitating a better student journey, it is by no means a complete substitute while dealing with tens of thousands of students who look for in-person guidance and highly-customized solutions.
Keeping this at the core, Canam is investing heavily into the ‘Cloud & Ground Environment’ model that enables synergy between technology innovations and immense physical presence.
The pre-requisite for any innovation is a core understanding of the end-user. Without the latter, most efforts will remain directionless.
Through over 300,000 in-person counselling sessions every year, Canam’s key strength lies in understanding students exceptionally well and this IP remains fundamental in driving most technology innovations within the organisation.
Where majority players are focused on disrupting business models and eliminating competition via questionable practices, Canam is committed to leveraging technology so that its most important stakeholders, the students and the institutes, triumph.
And that, over the longer term, is where success in this industry lies.
About the author:
This is a sponsored post from Ravin Sandhu, co-founder of iApply at Canam. He started his Bachelors of Commerce from SRCC, New Delhi and later transferred to McGill University, Canada, where he completed his degree with a specialization in finance and marketing. After working as Corporate Sales Specialist, Ravin joined Canam where he has been heavily involved in planning and development of new initiatives. Over the last three years, he has interacted with thousands of students which helps him develop relevant technologies at Canam.