Studee Makes a £16.5 Million Investment in a New Service

Studee, an online education agency, has raised a total of £16.5 million to invest in its application service to "transform" international student recruitment.

Chris Morling, CEO and co-founder, has made a personal investment in the company that will allow it to launch a service to "deliver pre-assessed, admission-ready applications" from various markets and help students increase their chances of admission.

“It has become obvious that simply sending students’ applications over to international departments was not sustainable for stretched university teams,” Studee's Chris Morling said at the service's launch.

“Our new launch is a game changer for both universities and students,” he continued.

Studee wanted to make sure that poor-quality international applications do not make it to universities, according to the company.

Stakeholders have previously warned that the rise of digital application tools that simplify the application process for students could result in application overload and poor conversion.

The new service, on the other hand, "takes the burden off admissions teams by only sending them applications that actually meet their criteria and maximises students' chances of getting admitted to their chosen universities," according to Morling.

Studee added that since universities only pay when students enrol, the website does not need a marketing budget. Only applicants who meet admissions criteria are routed directly into the CRMs of recruitment teams using the service.

Each application is evaluated by an expert advisor using an 85-point check, and Studee's blend of automation and expert human advice provides "personalised matching, guidance to enrolment, and application assessment."

The service also promises to keep colleges and students up to date on the application process on a regular basis.

“I strongly believe Studee has the ability to shake up the international education industry and my investment demonstrates my confidence that there is no better industry to push forward innovation,” Morling said.

Morling made a £5 million investment in 2019 after selling his Fintech company money.co.uk two years earlier.

Studee also seeks to reduce the sector's environmental impact. Its Trees for Degrees initiative involves planting trees for each student registered, and Studee has earned the environmental standard B Corp certification.