uLektz News Exclusive
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CEO & Co-Founder of Admit Nxt- an AI-first Admission Solution
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Admit Nxt is the first AI-First Admission Solution in the market
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She has also been a founding member of Ken 42 and headed its Strategic Partnership and Alliance division
“Our team is on a mission to revolutionize the admissions process, starting with AdmitNXT. As audiences go digital, institutes must be prepared to transform themselves and we aim to be their partner for growth as they reach their full potential.”
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education is no longer an abstract concept which we usually debate about. It has officially entered the Education realm. According to the latest report, the Global AI in Education Market is projected to reach 3.68 billion USD by 2023 with a 47% CAGR. Several Institutions and Corporates around the world are exploring different AI avenues in the Education Sector.
Amidst all this buzz, a young and ambitious startup Admit Nxt is making its presence known by becoming the first AI-First Admission Solution in the market. It primarily addresses the growing need in strengthening, organising and centralising the entire admission process.
Priya Swaminathan, Editor in Chief, uLektz News had an exciting opportunity to interview Miss Nikita Sivakumar who is the CEO & Co-Founder of Admit Nxt, many interesting possibilities and insights in using AI for the Enrollment process were explored.
Priya Swaminathan
Only recently Artificial Intelligence has penetrated our Higher Education Industry. In such a scenario how did you come up with an idea of using AI for mainstream admissions?
Nikita Sivakumar
Artificial intelligence is already deeply rooted in our everyday routines. Right from recommendations of what time to leave for work to avoid traffic and playing new music, to reminding you to put an attachment in a mail. While these seem like tiny conveniences, the time saved every day becomes quite substantial over a period. Similarly, there are plenty of ways for the higher education sector to leverage AI in most of their day to day tasks, giving them more time to focus on providing a better experience for students and increasing their efficiency in almost every area.
Institutes lose out on opportunities to expand their reach due to data gaps and manual processes which is time-consuming. Artificial Intelligence can easily address and solve these problems. My co-founders and I knew that equipping educational institutions with the right tools would increase not only their productivity but allow them to have more meaningful engagements with students and with each other.
Priya Swaminathan
What made you aware of the acute need for AI for admissions in Indian Higher Education
Nikita Sivakumar
Before launching AdmitNXT, I was part of the team that founded Ken42, a holistic system for education design and management. During this time I had the opportunity to interact and learn from chancellors, management, and administrative teams of educational institutions. We realized quickly that many institutions were still grappling with transitioning basic functions to digital mediums and due to Covid, they were just firefighting, trying to find solutions to problems as they arose.
One of the main challenges was specifically regarding admissions and student acquisition. Institutes were scrambling to attract students to apply and with all processes going digital overnight, many were quite unprepared. This was what pushed us to launch AdmitNXT, but not for the reasons one may think.
Deciding what college you want to join is not a decision that anyone makes overnight. It’s something that you research, discuss with family/friends and contemplate over some time, and that is done well before the time comes to apply for admissions.
When institutions were struggling with admissions, it was not just because they didn’t have online forms, it was also because they were not engaging with their prospects effectively enough to retain them during difficult times. If there were processes in place to increase student interest and engagement, recruitment may not have been as difficult, and AdmitNXT was launched to address that.
Priya Swaminathan
How did your founding team come together?
Nikita Sivakumar
We have worked together at different points in our careers and together we had natural chemistry. We’ve all been passionate about the education sector both on the side of the students as well as the institutions and were motivated by seeing the impact that we could make by just simplifying some of the problems that they continuously faced.
We were further motivated to branch out on our own due to the support and belief that the good wishers from our network had in us. With AdmitNXT, while we are determined to revolutionize the admissions process, we are also determined to create more career opportunities for other young women and men to learn hands-on, the same way that we were able to over the years
Priya Swaminathan
How will your solution impact the existing infrastructure in Indian Higher Education?
Nikita Sivakumar
AdmitNXT will help universities equip their admissions teams with the right tools to expand their reach during recruitment. Data can be more efficiently used to market to the student, get deeper insights into their actions, understand what they’re looking for, and to re-target and re-engage students.
This will make teams more efficient and self-sufficient, emphasize tech-savviness, and also give room for university leaders to spend more time in meeting strategic objectives such as the student experience, policy, pedagogy and more.
Priya Swaminathan
Why do you think the existing admission process requires Artificial Intelligence’s intervention?
Nikita Sivakumar
There is a lot of data wastage in the education sector, and that’s assuming that there is even a comprehensive database, to begin with. For those that have some amount of data, the main question then becomes ‘What do I do with it?’ or ‘How does this help me?’.
When it comes to using AI, it may seem intimidating at first, but if we just look at its use case in admissions specifically, the benefits are numerous. For example, to stay relevant, student acquisition is a huge priority due to the high competition from other institutions. A data collection and interpretation system is essential to ensure that you are aware of what works and what doesn’t. Only then will you be able to effectively target, engage and nurture the right students in the best possible way, and AI plays a pivotal role in this process.
The admissions lifecycle is more than just digitizing a form, it needs to be smooth and enabling for all stakeholders, from admin to student, and Artificial Intelligence can change the game for the given scenarios. With AI, AdmitNXT helps recruiters identify the students most likely to convert, gives insights about their desired courses, and enables admin teams to track their admissions.
Priya Swaminathan
What need in the market is your solution addressing? Does your solution answer any existing concerns in Indian Higher Education?
Nikita Sivakumar
Online admission is an absolute requirement given today’s scenario. While Covid made everyone acutely aware of the need to go digital, the admissions lifecycle is more than just digitizing forms and going paperless. It’s about engagement, building relationships and getting the best-fit students, all of which may not always be prioritized in the current scenario. Our solution covers both the immediate requirement, as well as opens institutes up to the additional benefits that adopting a solution like AdmitNXT can bring.
Priya Swaminathan
What are your prime areas of focus right now?
Nikita Sivakumar
While our solution is built for both schools and higher education, we are currently focusing on the higher education market in India. In the upcoming month, we will also be targeting the international market for both schools and higher education.
Priya Swaminathan
Though we were compelled to adopt digital technology into our mainstream education the previous year, we still are not well equipped when it comes to digital literacy. How do you think your solution will perform in such a country where digital literacy remains a major concern?
Nikita Sivakumar
When many institutes were thrust into adopting technology, we were able to see the gap in digital literacy. However, we can’t overcome this gap by going back to what is comfortable, what’s required is assistance and training.
AdmitNXT is meant to be easy to use by all stakeholders. There is an onboarding process, in which a dedicated team will be allocated to train them and provide support post-deployment as well. We want our users to be as comfortable as possible with the system.
Priya Swaminathan
How do you see a future for our education sector, once AdmitNXT becomes widely available and accessible?
Nikita Sivakumar
I would say AdmitNXT is like a stepping stone for educational institutions – at multiple levels. Whether they are completely new to leveraging technology in education or they want to explore what AI can do, once they can experience the benefits of our solution, it will allow them to be more open to other ed-tech solutions going forward. This change in mindset, of seeing tech as a tool rather than an obstacle, is what will open up many other avenues for the education sector to grow and provide a better experience for all of the users.
Priya Swaminathan
What’s next after AdmitNXT?
Nikita Sivakumar
We have many plans when it comes to revolutionizing the admissions process, and AdmitNXT is just the beginning. I don’t want to say too much now, but in a few months, we will be launching a complementary initiative that will directly address the issues faced by the most important stakeholders in the admissions process – students and their parents. We’re very excited about what we have lined up!
