Romanian creates best European start-up

UKADEMICS application, created by four entrepreneurs among whom Romanian Paula Pascu, won the award for the best start-up at European level in 2014. The project is the winner from a list of over 425 projects in 27 countries.

The application facilitates those who wish to apply for a university in Great Britain to do it straight from their smartphone. The plan sketched by the four designers of the application is that its users to have as options many others universities all over the world. The awarded project’s creators describe it as being sort of a Booking.com for education and add that it can solve one of the biggest problems in education. The solution,  they say, is necessary especially in the context in which more and more young people choose to study abroad. For example, only in Romania over 6,000 young people have left for studying in Great Britain in the 2012-2013 university year – the growth of 9 per cent compared to the previous year representing the highest percentage increase in Europe. The application includes  380 British universities at the moment, but the platform will be extended to include academic institutions in the United States, the Netherlands, Denmark, China, Canada, Australia and Brazil as well.

UKADEMICS is the project of an international team of young entrepreneurs consisting of: Andre Rosendo (Portugal), Paula Pascu (Romania), Vako Imnaishvili (Georgia) and Maike Tils (Germany). The four have over five years experience in international education, being experts in the admission process to universities in Great Britain.

On the podium, the other two places were occupied by the following applications: YOOVI (an interactive entertainment project) and Briefly, an application through which students who want to work as freelancers can find various temporary projects.

The award won by UKADEMICS’ team consists of an investment totaling GBP 150,000 and of a dedicated coaching program for two years offered by the technology and marketing experts from Worth Capital London.