Edurupt is a startup based in Kerala, with a vision to change the current, outdated models of education. Edurupt builds courses based on the Digital Hybrid Cohort Model (DHC). These courses are built in a way, where the users can avail a maximum understanding of the courses being taught. For now, Edurupt provides German language training and is soon planning to expand its courses to various other languages and areas of education. To know more about this revolutionary startup, let us hear it from them.
Give a brief about your startup – Edurupt?
Edurupt was founded with a vision to “Disrupt the current models of Education” which are mostly outdated and built for the industrial era. We build courses in the Digital Hybrid Cohort Model (DHC) which we believe is the future of education.
Our courses are a mix between Digital Content (Video Lectures, Practice Exercises, Tests, etc.) and live classes by highly qualified instructors. This is called the Digital Hybrid. Our courses are also taught in a group where attendees can collaborate with each other and learn together. This is the Cohort model.
The Digital Hybrid Cohort Model (DHC) is designed to give course participants the best of all words – flexibility, engagement, quality, and cost-effectiveness.
Why did you choose this niche of German language training?
Germany currently has 1.2 million skilled job openings that are unfilled and is trying to bridge that gap. The unemployment rate in India is high and we wanted to open access to those jobs for the Indian youth. Higher education is 100% free in German public universities and being conversant in German is a pre-requisite for joining those courses. We also wanted to choose a niche to demonstrate the value of Digital Hybrid before scaling up on other mainstream courses. We have been able to successfully launch our German A1 certification course at 1/4th of the market average price. This is the power of hybrid.
Can you give some insights on the courses on your platform?
We currently have German A1 Certification courses on our platform which are offered both in video-only format and hybrid format. One of our specialties is regionalization. So we offer both “German in English” and “German in Malayalam” as the founders are all from Kerala. We will shortly be launching “German in Hindi”.
What is the medium used to deliver the courses? Is it video based or test based?
Our hybrid courses are delivered over a platform that is available on iOS, Android, and on the web. A student can access the video lectures, exercises, and quizzes on the platform. Live classes can be joined by just the click of a button within the platform.
Tell us a little bit about your customers?
Our current customers include people from all walks of life ranging from school students until retired people, basically anyone who wants to learn German. Having said that the majority of customers are young adults who want to pursue higher education or careers in Germany.
Edurupt promotes hybrid learning. How have you been able to achieve this. Do you believe in completely digitising education?
The key to achieving hybrid learning is to take a high-quality live class syllabus and translate it into a hybrid syllabus. This is a complex and challenging activity as we need to keep in mind that there will be no feedback during the video lectures and that the teacher of the live classes will have to understand the hybrid syllabus to make the class effective within the available time. At Edurupt we have mastered this art over the last year.
Education can be completely digitized in certain areas. For example software programming. However maybe not so much in other areas like medicine, roles involving direct interaction with machinery, etc. However, parts of any course can be made digital. Hence any type of education can be made Hybrid and this will bring down costs and increase accessibility for a lot of people.
What attracts customers to your learning app? How much have you been able to leverage social media to attract customers?
One key attraction of our platform is that our students can do the course from anywhere. This saves a lot of time and travel costs. Additionally, during Covid, it helps people learn from the safety of their homes. Also, all parts of the course except live classes can be done at any time at each individual’s convenience.
The added advantage is that in the DHC model, they still have a teacher and online classmates which makes it much more engaging and useful than pure-play online courses that only have video lectures.
What are the future plans for Edurupt?
In the near term, we aspire to further expand our German course into other regional languages like Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, etc. We also aspire to venture into other areas of education that need an intervention to improve quality. Some areas we are considering include Engineering education and some unconventional courses like “Financial Literacy for High-School & College students”.
Have you raised funding? If yes, then we would like to know the details. If no then please tell us if you’re looking to raise?
We have raised INR 1 Crore as seed funding from a Qatar-based consortium.
Tell us about your team?
We have a small but multi-talented team who has worked across multiple industries including education, technology, airline, media management, film production, sports management, advertising, etc. This kind of cross-disciplinary knowledge within the team is what helps us think and deliver beyond conventional wisdom. To enroll in their courses, log onto www.edurupt.com.
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