NSQEU
UDLA / Grupo Laureate · 2010 — 2014
Find a degree with a career test and advice from real students.
- Career test
- Student advice
- University enrollment
The problem
Universities in Ecuador spent on mass advertising to attract students, but no digital channel reached young people at the most critical moment: when they didn’t know which degree to choose.
There were no career-guidance communities, career tests were confined to school counseling offices, and the idea of a student micro-influencer didn’t exist yet.
What we built
We created NSQEU (No Sé Qué Estudiar en la U, “I don’t know what to study at university”), the first digital career-guidance community in Latin America. The system brought four innovations together in a single platform.
A closed guidance community
A private group where young people could explore careers, ask questions and get advice from real UDLA students.
Integrated digital career test
An online tool that matched each young person’s interests with the university’s programs, creating a natural path from doubt to enrollment.
Student micro-influencers
Before the concept existed, current students became ambassadors and advisors inside the community, building peer-to-peer trust.
Referrals with real incentives
Student ambassadors received tangible benefits for every young person they brought to the university, including tuition discounts and academic recognition.
The community was complemented by below-the-line activations: we took live events to high schools to feed the digital platform.
The result
The case was replicated from Ecuador to Honduras with Grupo Laureate. It was a completely new student-recruitment model that combined community, technology and growth hacking.
The platform became a more efficient student-acquisition channel than the university’s traditional advertising.
Why it’s innovation
Between 2010 and 2014, there was no digital career-guidance community anywhere in Latin America. We invented four concepts before they had a name: closed niche communities, a digital career test integrated with a CRM, student micro-influencers and incentive-based referral programs in education. All from scratch.
