Graduate of Bombay University, Sumeet Jain never studied abroad. But as co-founder of Yocket, he has still created a successful business operating out of India to allow other students to gain opportunities he never had.
Being in the foreign education sector for 6 years now, what key developments or changes in student preferences have emerged in this sector over the years?
We have seen that foreign education earlier was confined to the elites and the ultra-rich. Over the past years, we have seen a major change in students from middle class families sending their kids abroad. A huge rise in student financing options is a testament to this. Many of the lenders are providing high amounts without collateral instilling more faith in students’ future ability to pay.
In the last 2 years, we have seen a lot of interest in the US. Especially for the STEM courses. We have seen more awareness among the students and consequently more interest. The interest is also not limited to just the metros but also the small towns and cities.
What initiatives have you taken to make it easier for students to apply for higher education, earlier, which was considered a tedious task?
Studying abroad has always been a tedious task considering the process is very different from what we are used to here. With the huge number of universities to apply to, the confusion only increases. Our platform aims to streamline this for students. We have listed most of the accredited universities across the globe. We have various articles, which talk about the complete process. We have tools on our platform, which helps students to select down a few schools to apply to from 1000s that are available. We have put deadlines for all the schools and send reminders for the same. We have university specific groups where students can talk to each other and discuss the process as well. On Yocket students can create tasks and also keep a tab on all their applications and the next steps. We also have premium offerings where students want more personalized help for their applications. Before Yocket all of this was scattered. No single place where they could do this.
As a member of the cohort under the AppScale Academy Program by Google & Meity, what strategic value will it add to your global expansion plans, and how would it foster your app development program in providing a seamless experience to your users?
This is a great recognition for us. It validates the work that we have been tirelessly doing for the past 6 years. This certainly is a boost for us and reinforces our belief in our vision. We will make the most of this opportunity to reach out to maximum students to help them achieve their dream. And using technology to make it super-efficient for everyone involved.
What are the gaps and problems in the market you saw and how are your initiatives proving to be helpful in bridging those gaps?
As mentioned above, studying abroad is a tedious process. The system followed in India is very different from the western world. Students get very overwhelmed with this. We are so used to focusing on a single entrance test score and forgetting everything else, whereas when applying abroad you need to be aware of the whole profile. You need to ensure to select the best school. You need to make an application justifying why you are best suited for the university. And it is a huge investment and you certainly do not want to make a wrong choice. This is where we saw a great opportunity to help the students with aid of tech and driving the power of community.
What model of operation do you follow and how do you help students in financing their loans?
We have tied up with all the major banks and NBFCs specializing in education loans. We have a separate team for financial counselling, which works with students and parents to provide the best financing options for the students. With the volumes that we have, we have been able to carve out special products for our users, we have been able to get low interest rates as well as priority service making financing easy. No deserving student should be deprived of education for the want of finance.
With the ongoing crisis b/w Ukraine & Russia, what possible impact do you foresee on the higher education sector, and what complications will Indian Students have to face?
We live in a globalized world where things are not isolated. Students who go to study MBBS in Russia and Ukraine would certainly be impacted but the others going to western countries: USA and Canada have had absolutely no impact. We have seen events in the past as well, where covid being a huge one. Even then, the demand for quality education did not go down, in fact went up. We have seen a record number of students going abroad. When all the travel restrictions were on, only student mobility was allowed. Which reinforces faith in quality education and its demand.