高中生自创留学APP 用来“对抗”高昂中介费

A Shanghai student has developed a mobile phone application about overseas studies so that students and parents can easily find international university application information, Chinese-language media reported.

    Sun Yufan, a Senior 3 student at Shanghai Foreign Language School, a Shanghai International Studies University affiliate, developed the app called “Shanhaijing (山海经)” that integrates information about overseas studies, overseas study experiences and personal stories.

    The overseas study experiences were contributed by Sun’s classmates and his parents’ friends who have studied or worked abroad. He also collected information from interviews with overseas study brokers.

    He came up with the idea of developing the app more than a month ago after he found out just how much overseas study brokers charge for services. “I visited many brokers and discovered that their service charges varied from 70,000 yuan (US$11,372) to up to 300,000 yuan, but even with the hefty charges, they can’t guarantee students a successful application for overseas institutes and there are no refunds if applications are rejected,” Sun said.

    Many of Sun’s classmates have resorted to using brokers for applying to overseas institutions even though Sun’s school is renowned for its excellent English education and its huge number of students accepted to overseas universities. For most students, applying to an overseas university can be a time-consuming and confusing process, and asking for help from brokers could be a convenient solution. The huge market demand has prompted overseas study brokers to raise service prices. Charges for services ranged from 20,000 to 30,000 yuan two years ago, but now start at 70,000 yuan.

    Sun says the price hike is unacceptable because “the services they provide are not worth the prices they charge. A broker’s service agreement states clearly that the 300,000-yuan package will be spent on sending applications to 20 schools. It is merely the cost of preparing paperwork for the application, but they make no guarantee of enrollment,” Sun said.

    He then talked to his parents about the idea of eliminating the need for brokers by developing an app that focuses on helping students apply for overseas study. He hopes that everyone will use the app to find information about overseas study so they can apply to international schools themselves instead of paying thousands of yuan for the information.

    After winning support from his parents, Sun started developing his app.

    The app’s user numbers have been increasing, and more than 1,000 people have already logged in. Sun said he just wanted to make a useful product, but never expected it to be profitable.

    Sun’s mother Chen Hongmei said her son had always shown a great interest in business. He followed an entrepreneurial curriculum when he was on a study tour at Columbia University, and he later chose enterprise value assessment lessons at the university. After visiting an enterprise incubator in New York City, Sun even asked to visit a similar incubator in Shanghai. (Anna Zhao)