Context
A leading Hungarian technical university faced a critical recruitment challenge - attracting students with the right profiles to enhance overall student quality. This issue contributed to high dropout rates among first-year students, posing a risk to the university's reputation and long-term growth. The institution sought to improve student success and outreach while enhancing its regional brand value through a comprehensive, sustainable strategy.
Challenge
One of the main issues we identified was that students failed to transition smoothly from high school to university life due to the lack of sufficient orientation. The need for a sustainable solution that could address this preparedness gap was paramount, as student success and the institution's competitive positioning were at risk.
Objectives
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Reimagine the university’s outreach strategy by building a student-centric system that would enhance preparedness, improve engagement, and foster stronger relationships with the institution.
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Equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful transition to university life.
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Create an engaging ecosystem of integrated university events and activities to help students explore career paths.
The Solution
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Solutions Lab harnessed Milestone Institute’s years of mentorship expertise to craft a holistic, student-centered and STEM-focused career guidance program designed to close the gap between high school education and university expectations.
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Leveraging strategic EdTech integration, we built a web-based platform that supports the program by enabling mentors to track student progress while providing valuable data to help the university understand its future student base and build an early outreach funnel.
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Our multidisciplinary approach involved a large part of the university community, ensuring seamless collaboration and engagement across faculties, administration, and student bodies.
The Impact (In Progress)
Solution Lab’s full-spectrum consulting approach delivered a complete, end-to-end solution, blending cutting-edge educational strategies with digital innovation, ensuring the university is equipped to proactively address student retention challenges.
While full deployment is still underway, early results are promising, as the program is poised to reshape the university’s approach to student recruitment. The web-based platform is set to become a powerful tool for tracking student journeys, allowing for data-driven decision-making and predictive analytics to strategically reduce dropout rates in the coming years.