Umii, the new Glasgow-based app that was made to combat student isolation and loneliness, has been introduced to shed light on the looming crisis of escalating student drop-out tendencies due to the social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Aside from combatting student loneliness, the application also envisions enhancing student experience, increasing retention, and improving recruitment—all while ensuring that no student feels lonely or isolated.
Key Takeaways:
- A new Glasgow-based app called Umii was created to combat student isolation and loneliness.
- The Umii app is also used to tackle the looming crisis of escalating drop-out rates among students due to the pandemic.
- Umii helps students to make friends and establish connections based on their interests and course types.
Based on the official stats by Umii, one out of 10 undergraduates who will commence their studies in September at Scottish universities is set to withdraw. Moreover, a calculated number of 4,568 students may quit before they finish their studies, according to Umii founder Georgia Wheadon.
In response to this impending issue that significantly impacts the higher education sector of Scotland, Umii helps even the less outgoing students to connect with other students and build friendships by sending them three to five matches daily based on their similar interests and course types.
Ensuring the safety of the students with the people they talk to online, the Umii app is where students can create a personalized profile that can be exclusively shared with other verified student profiles at their university only.
The Umii app also includes a list of contacts to mental health and well-being resources specific to each student union and university.
Wheadon, through the app, is hoping to tackle the crisis in Scotland’s higher education sector by helping students to make connections among their fellows.
The application has been extending its fair share in responding to the escalating crisis in the higher education sector. It can be recalled that from 2018-2019, there was a 6.7% drop-out rate across the United Kingdom. With the onset of the pandemic, the country was alarmed specifically on the impacts of the health situation on the students’ university experience.
From Umii’s 2021 annual survey with its university partners, 60% of students believe that the app has helped them make friends, 62% felt less lonely when using the app, and 56% said they felt a greater sense of belonging.
With over 8,000 users across the UK already, the Umii app is currently under trial at Abertay Students’ Union, and the startup is already in talks with other Scottish universities.
Read more:
- UK Universities Join Turing Student Mobility Program
- The UK Shines as a Study Destination for International Students in Europe Despite Brexit, Canada as an Alternative
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