Seven Cégep institutions partner with Ready Education to help students transition to college; navigate campus life

Seven Cégep institutions today announced the launch of new campus mobile apps designed to improve communication and connect students with critical resources and campus life. Since Cégep de Chicoutimi became the first Cégep to launch a campus app last fall, six more Cégep institutions are now taking a mobile-first approach to addressing critical communications challenges on campus. Available for free to students, the apps are designed to meet the unique needs of each institution by bringing together academic information, events, support services, and other resources into a single centralized platform.

"We are passionate about finding new and innovative strategies to improve the student experience," said Alexandre Lupien, CIO at Collège Ahuntsic. "As one of the first Cégep institutions to adopt a campus app, we are excited to use this new technology to keep students informed and encourage them to engage in campus life."

The new initiative comes as a response to pervasive communication challenges that can lead students to feel disengaged on campus. Research suggests that just 41% of students who enroll in Cégep pre-university programs obtain their diploma within the scheduled two-year period, due in part to a perceived lack of support on campus. This challenge is often rooted in ineffective communication: more than half of college emails go unread by students, despite the fact that the average college student checks their mobile device over 150 times a day.

The apps were developed in partnership with Ready Education, the merger of OOHLALA Mobile and the US-based higher education app developer DubLabs, which works with hundreds of colleges and universities worldwide to help them communicate more effectively with students and help them navigate campus life.

"Meeting the diverse needs of Cégep students depends on reaching the right student with the right information at the right time," said Dimitri Poliderakis, Head of Product for Ready Education. "We are excited to join forces with the Cégep community to tackle the challenge of effective communication and student support in the digital age."

Cégep de Chicoutimi was the first institution to launch its campus app, beginning in the 2017-2018 school year. This year, it will be joined by Collège Ahuntsic, Cégep de Trois-Rivières, John Abbott College, Collège Lionel-Groulx, Champlain College and Cégep de Thetford.

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