HighEd - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

HighEd is a platform that enables young people who want to study abroad to make their plans for applying on the basis of safe and reliable information. Today, the number of young people from the Republic of Uzbekistan going to foreign countries to study is increasing. As young people go abroad, the number of consulting agencies that offer education orientation is increasing, but the services they offer can be inaccessible to many Uzbekistanis and some agencies operate illegitimately. Additionally, the platform provides the Ministry of Higher Education the exact statistics regarding the number of young people leaving Uzbekistan for education and in which universities they are studying.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

Today, the number of young people from the Republic of Uzbekistan going to foreign countries to study is increasing. Young people in our country are taking advantage of this opportunity due to the fact that students studying abroad have more opportunities at the international level. As young people go abroad, the number of consulting agencies that offer education orientation is increasing. Since the income of the majority of the population in our country is in the middle income category, the cost of using consulting agencies causes some inconvenience. Also, not all consulting agencies operate legitimately and there are many cases of fraud.

HighEd is a modern education platform developed by the "Digital Finance" Incubation and Acceleration Center at the Tashkent Financial Institute. It allows all types of young people who want to study abroad to submit their documents to universities online and conveniently through our attached mentors. The platform provides steps not only for filling out documents, but also for winning large amounts of grants. The information about students that emerge as successful applicants is provided directly to the Ministry of Higher Education. Currently, the platform aims to cover all young people in Uzbekistan, and in the next stages it aims to enter the global markets of Central Asia, the Commonwealth of Central States and Asian countries. The platform takes into account the addition of news and additions every year, having studied the opinion of users.

The main users of the HighEd platform are young people. The platform has solved all types of admissions problems with the best interest of the applicants in mind. In addition, we have prevented red tape by providing an online database of students to the Ministry of Higher Education and the State Statistics Committee. After the platform finds its place in the global market, cooperation relations with foreign universities will be fully established. Through this, the information about the youth of our country will be further strengthened.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

There is no online and structured platform in the study abroad consulting services market in Uzbekistan. HighEd is a platform that unites young people who want to study abroad, shares information, and connects citizens with the government online. The innovativeness of the platform is that the applicant can apply for studies based on their total budget, network with international students through the system, and become a student by watching online video lessons from mentors. In addition, the platform constantly provides the government with the latest statistics on students, thereby also serving to protect the rights of citizens abroad.

What is the current status of your innovation?

More than 500 young people were able to become students through the HighEd program. The HighEd online education platform is currently being developed by developers on its website and mobile version (for IOS and Android). Work on the software of the platform began on September 5, 2022, and now about 10 programmers, 2 project managers, marketers and financiers are working. The platform has been under development for 4 months and is expected to be available to users in early 2023. The HighEd project initially served its audience on social networks, and due to the expansion of subscribers, it was decided to take the project to the national level. As a result, it received an investment of about $70,000 from the Ministry of Innovation of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Tashkent Financial Institute. Currently, social media users are being brainstormed to slowly use the platform. This significantly accelerates the process of entering the market. In addition, IT Park Uzbekistan has been closely supporting the platform and providing methodological and practical support for start

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

The HighEd educational platform is a program developed by the Tashkent Financial Institute. During the implementation of the project, the Ministry of Innovation, the Ministry of Higher Education and IT Park Uzbekistan have been providing financial support. The main partners of the project are the organizations listed above. The project will benefit both citizens and the government, and will have a positive impact on their interactions online.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

The main users of the platform are applicants and young students. In the future, these students will bring their benefits to the society by becoming the staff that will make a great contribution to the development of our country. In addition, the Ministry of Higher Education can find out the number of students through statistical data.

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

The HighEd education platform has by this time been gaining followers on social networks at a noticeable rate. It also engaged in online counseling in social networks and helped more than 500 applicants to become students. As the demand for the HighEd project increased day by day, our team, i.e. the employees of the "Digital Finance" Incubation and Acceleration Center at the Tashkent Financial Institute, started technical work on the platform. The trust and enthusiasm of the followers on social networks motivated the team to develop a more accessible and structured platform. Currently, through the HighEd project, more than 500 young people are studying at the most prestigious international higher education institutions on a grant basis. And the HighEd team is currently conducting research on a well-structured and modern online platform, and a new methodology has been developed with the maximum benefit of young people in mind.

Challenges and Failures

In order to expand the project, the lack of networking with young Uzbek students studying abroad caused us some inconvenience. But over time, due to our activity in social networks, the number of international students interested in the project increased and cooperation relations were established with them. Due to the financial weakness of the Digital Finance Incubation and Acceleration Center, it took longer to start the project, but it received an investment of about $70,000 in a competition held in cooperation with the Ministry of Innovation and the Ministry of Higher Education. As a result, the technical and marketing activities of the platform have been greatly accelerated.

Conditions for Success

Any type of investment project or start-up takes time in the first place. Innovative projects may not pay for themselves in 2 or 3 years, but in the long run, they can lead to large profits and positive changes. In most cases, innovative projects are faced with weak financial conditions for the marketing development strategy, and as a result, its success factors are weakened. Therefore, we would like government organizations and additional media agencies to focus on the marketing program of innovative projects, because without advertisements, the service can rarely succeed.

Replication

Projects similar to the HighEd project have not yet been implemented in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Lessons Learned

When we started this project, we started to face a lot of difficulties. We knew that this project would require a lot of money and effort. However, it has become one of the team's dreams to make it come true. We believe that it is easier for a team to achieve a goal if it starts with a dream. Then a dream becomes a goal, and a goal becomes the first step to implementing the dream. Our advice to peers is to always work hard to fulfill their dream.