Whatuni for iPhone: Changing the Way Students Choose University

A new TripAdvisor-style app enables students to research prospective university courses from the comfort of their smartphones. 

The app connects students to data on 61,544 degrees at universities across the UK and offers personalised match filters on everything from preferred location type, for example big city or seaside, to preferred assessment style – coursework, exam or practical work.

The app also provides access to 95,000+ reviews of past and present student experiences on university life and academic teaching with universities ranked from 0 to 5 stars.

The decision to pursue higher education is a stressful process which often begins after GCSEs and continues right up until UCAS deadlines 18 months later.  The new app aims to ease the pressure of the research journey by offering a convenient app experience that can reach students beyond what their college and teaching staff can facilitate during term-time. 

Jackie Smith, Chief Technology Officer at Whatuni, says: 

“University and course research is a time-intensive activity and the choices can be overwhelming. Our app provides users with a personalised matching service which can suggest results on a ‘best match’ basis.

“We’ve focussed on delivering a fast, relevant, quality assistive user experience that allows our students to search seamlessly and easily compare institutions and courses on the move.”

To complement the app, enhanced mobile technology in the form of an interactive chatbot has also been developed, which offers students a more immediate and personalised experience. The chatbot, named ‘H.E.R.B.’, guides students to course matches according to their subject interests and qualifications.

Jonah Duffin, Chief Marketing Officer, Hotcourses Group, adds:

“With over half of students accessing Whatuni through their smartphones the development of the Whatuni app is the natural step forward for us in our goal to continue to help students to make positive choices about higher education. By allowing and encouraging students to carry out detailed research across multiple devices students will be able to choose the right courses and institutions for them.”

Initial feedback of the app has been positive with user Emily Williams, testing the app prior to its official launch, saying:

“Love this app! Me and my friends have found it really useful during our free time in school to look for different universities and courses and comparing their different entry requirements, student satisfaction and course outlines etc. I have found the app really nice to use both practically and aesthetically and have recommended both your website and app to a lot of my classmates.”

The app is currently available to download free on iOS in Tunes, with plans to release on Android in the New Year.

About Whatuni: Founded in 2007, Whatuni is a platform which helps students find the right course at the right university.

Whatuni is renowned for the student-focus of its site, and its annual Whatuni Student Choice Awards (WUSCAs).
Whatuni.com is part of the Hotcourses Group, founded in 1996. It provides the world’s largest web-sebased course and university/college search for students looking to study in the UK. 

About Hotcourses: Hotcourses web products are used by over 68 million students worldwide each year. The company employs 300 people and has offices in London, Sydney, Boston and Chennai.