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Career paths uncovered in the palm of student hands

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Today’s school leavers are glued to their cell phones, so what better way for Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) to engage with prospective students using a market-leading mobile app.

Creating a unique user-friendly experience, the NMMU app creates the path for young adults to embark on their journey. Pieter Swart, Director: Marketing and Corporate Relations said: “We wanted to engage with prospective students using their preferred mode of information seeking and further support one of our core values: respect for the natural environment, so less printed material will be the result .This is an innovative communication tool which assists NMMU in reaching its target market effectively.”

Using in-depth research, Boomtown discovered students were wary of the amount of airtime used calling prospective universities, most have free internet packages on their smart phone, and all want instant gratification. The conclusion was clear – a web-based application that could operate on all operating systems.

The app concept taps into a student’s natural state of mind ‘what do I want to be?’ From the answer, the application creates the student’s path to their dream job identifying the required degree(s), including post-grad courses.

Pierre Dorfling, Boomtown’s head of digital commented: “Designed to work cross-platform, the application enables all prospective students, irrespective of finances, PC access or career dream to plan their career choices and paths.

“The current solution is the first in the academic market and demonstrates the innovative thinking NMMU is known for and will move to push notifications and short code SMSes for application status updates.”

The web application debuted at the 2013 NMMU Open Days with demonstrations made to prospective students. The web app can be scanned via a QR code or by simply visiting: http://myjourney.nmmu.ac.za.

Prospective students getting to grips with the new web app

Author: Kimberley Nanson
Website: http://www.boomtown.co.za

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