Every year, around 700,000 international students apply for a place to study in Germany, whose different educational backgrounds make a standardized assessment of their level of knowledge necessary. Currently, this assessment is carried out by professors in time-consuming personal video interviews, which means that not all available study places are filled due to limited resources.
Digital, scalable, individual: “Campus Ready” facilitates international access to education
How can this problem be solved? Mohammad Anees Raza, Süleyman Emre Özdemir, Lena Lingg and Abhishek Arun Savakar offer a possible answer with their “Campus Ready” project: they have developed a digital, scalable and individual solution that could replace the traditional 1:1 interview. This would enable a fair admissions process to be set up, allowing more qualified talent to go through the examination process and gain access to high-quality education. This is particularly important in view of the shortage of skilled workers, says team member Süleyman Emre, who is studying for a Master's degree in Digital Transformation and Global Entrepreneurship at HNU: “International students make a significant contribution to strengthening the regional and national economy. With 'Campus Ready', we want to help make it easier for bright minds from abroad to enter and integrate into our university landscape.” This idea convinced the BMWK: the HNU team was able to secure an EXIST start-up grant and can now further develop its business idea within a year.
Founders Space at HNU provides the ideal breeding ground for start-ups
The “Campus Ready” project was created in the Founders Space at HNU, which offers start-up teams an ideal environment to develop ideas and bring them to market maturity. “HNU not only provides students with the necessary specialist knowledge in its courses, but also provides the appropriate infrastructure and access to experts and mentors with the Founders Space,” explains Prof. Dr. Jens Kolb, Vice President for Transfer and Continuing Education and Head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability. “This provides them with optimal support on their path to becoming a successful start-up. The funding from Campus Ready underlines the importance of such platforms for innovation and shaping the future at universities.”
About EXIST
The EXIST start-up grant is a BMWK funding program that aims to strengthen the start-up climate at universities. The funding, which is granted for twelve months at a time, supports potential founders in systematically preparing to start a business directly from the university. The prerequisite is that the business idea must offer an innovative, technology-oriented or knowledge-based product with clear economic prospects and a unique selling point.
