MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name

Kis Uni

One-line solution summary.

A student-led social impact startup working to put more Pakistani high school students into their desired universities by providing concise admission guides and 1-on-1 help.

What is your solution?

Our vision with Kis Uni is to remove disparity in prospective university students in Pakistan. As a developing country, the quality of education and opportunities available for every student vary highly due to differences in socioeconomic factors. Students coming from modest backgrounds find themselves at a great disadvantage as compared to those coming from rich backgrounds.

We’re trying to reduce this inequality by:

Providing Concise Admission guides. These guides contain everything from how to start the application procedure, filling the application, offering programs and facilities, preparing for tests and fee structures.
Live 1-on-1 help from a mentor. Mentors are current students at respective universities. Students can ask them about their experiences and seek guidance on various aspects of pre-university and university life.
Student-centered podcast talking about life at different universities nationwide.
Discord community for instant help from fellow applicants and mentors.

All our offerings are freely accessible to everyone.

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

A majority of Pakistan’s population lives under sub-standard living conditions with little to no basic necessities. Most of the times students are first-generation college students. They don’t receive proper counselling and are unaware of the benefits of education. Some students don’t even continue their education after middle school. Apart from this, many high school students are unsure of their future career paths. Many would take gap years merely for scoring an admission to a university or end up in completely wrong careers. According to Pakistan Economic Survey 2021, there were more than 5 million high school students in Pakistan. According to UNESCO’s statistics in 2019, Gross Enrolment ratio (GER) at the secondary education level was 87.6% which drops to 12.2% at the tertiary education level. We want to fix this disparity and work towards removing educational inequality in Pakistan.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

We support Pakistan’s high school students and show them the right opportunities for them. Students come to us worried about not performing good in exams or not being able to afford tuition fee. Little do they know that, exam scores are only one component of the application and almost all universities offer decent financial aids. There’s a great lack of awareness and continuing education after high school is still not preferred. Our work encourages our users to continue their education and that too at their desired universities. During this process, we indirectly contribute to increasing literacy rates, better living standards for people and the progress of the country.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

We started this after realizing the need ourselves. We wished there was such a platform when we were contemplating our university admissions. Prior to inception, we talked to a lot of experts in academia and high school students. After the launch, we’ve seen a tremendously positive response. Our users have been very appreciating and recommending their friends to us. We receive feedback and strive to improve ourselves.

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Improving learning opportunities and outcomes for learners across their lifetimes, from early childhood on (Learning)

Our solution's stage of development:

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution—in other words, what have you accomplished to date?

We are at the prototype stage as we're still unsure about our business model. We want to be free for our users and at the same time be financially sustainable. We do have launched some of our offerings and continuously expanding them, meanwhile, we work on a viable financial model. We have managed to get around 1000 unique visitors on our website and 200 followers on Instagram all with the help of word of mouth.

Where our solution team is headquartered or located:

Islamabad, Pakistan

Team Lead:

Mahad Imran