A new university search site, UniAdvisor, has been launched by the entrepreneur behind the Asian employment connection platform aimed at internationally educated graduates, CTurtle.
Shane Dillon, CEO of Hong Kong-based CTurtle, told The PIE News he hopes that UniAdvisor will become “the TripAdvisor for international education”.
“Our plan is to be the market leader in terms of future student inquiries about study abroad options,” he stated.
A USP of the site is that it has alumni ranking their institution based on factors including graduate and alumni income.
“We saw a huge gap in the market for students to get accurate and trusted information on what to expect in terms of access to employment, issues around safety, quality of teachers and graduate and alumni income,” said Dillon.
“In the first week we are already averaging 150 unique visitors a day and seven minute average time on site.”
Dillon explained that his company had been collecting data for three years through its research project, International Student Employment and Satisfaction (ISEOS).
“The idea for UniAdvisor started from students asking us for access to this data to make more informed decisions on where and what to study,” he said.
The site has launched this month and lists each institution (327 listed so far) by university, country and employment satisfaction.
Using peer feedback and referral as a means to help students choose where to study is a tool used by a few new digital innovators (although not search sites), but UniAdvisor seems to be different in that it also focuses on employability outcomes as a data differentiator too.
Dillon explained, “The many sites already available all had the same public data (course cost and THE/QS score) and information from institutions and agents was reported to be the most accessible and the least accurate [in the ISEOS report].
“We believe the best international education advice comes from other international students and alumni.”
The research data which consists of responses from over 17,000 students is still in the process of being verified by a research partner and added to the site, according to Dillon.
CTurtle was previously known as the International Alumni Jobs Network, and IAJN was a finalist in The PIEoneer Awards 2017.
