Currently, more than every fourth student entering a Brazilian academic education will exit without a degree. A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool allows universities to spot potential dropouts early on and thereby hopefully bring the numbers down. Behind the solution is the young company Lanse, established with assistance from RNP, the national research and education network (NREN) of Brazil.
According to the Ministry of Education, 9.9 million students were enrolled at Brazilian universities by 2023. The same year, the level of dropouts for courses with physical attendance was 26.4%. For online courses the level was even higher, 40.1%.
To address the complex scenario, a group of scientists based at the Federal University of Santa Catarina began developing a tool that would assist in gathering data on the problem. Assistance from RNP allowed the team to broaden the scope of the tool. To further advance these efforts, the startup company Lanse was born.
“From the development of a plugin tool which allows the professor to identify the students that are skipping exercises, we initiated research into identifying risks of having to go through reexaminations. Then, RNP got involved at some point. Here, the project progressed into the creation of a product,” says Vinicius Ramos, coordinating development at Lanse.
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Submitted by Morten Anderson
