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Brian (Podcast Host) (3:54)

Thank you. I appreciate the backstory. It helps us here in the audience understand kind of where you came from, how it all started, and really the solution behind the problem. I know you did have some success because obviously you worked hard, but there were some things you could plug into, whether it was help online, a mentor, et cetera. But it is hard to navigate that and it can be very challenging. I'm glad that what you're building here is allowing people to accelerate by plugging in and connecting the people with the right platforms, systems, et cetera, so that they can improve their journey as well. So I again really appreciate that. And Arjun Advisor AI now supports hundreds of academic programs and has seen enterprise adoption grow 100 times. 100x as I'd say, in just two years. What factors are driving such rapid demand from colleges and workforce organizations?

Arjun Arora (4:47)

Yeah, there's really sort of three main trends that are emerging and accelerating the level of interest adoption across institutions. The first one is enrollment. So as you may know, a lot of community colleges, as well as regional institutions are struggling to often differentiate with more competitive offerings. Students also have a lot of choices to pick from today, like they could go on YouTube or other options. So do I really need to pursue a college or a degree? And so being able to compete on enrollments is one area that if there is a way to simplify that, to build interest, to build engagement, institutions are more likely to modernize that front. The second layer really is around graduation rates and retention. So a lot of institutions outside of really look at the top 200, top 300 schools are really challenged with ensuring students are supported not just when they enroll, but across those two years or four years. A lot of community colleges often have a 30 to 40% retention rate, which essentially implies that almost one out of two students are not completing their degree. And we all know like when someone completes their graduation, completes that certificate, their Economic mobility and outcomes are much higher. So how can again the same teams modernize that experience as well? The third one is sort of much more out forward looking or after graduation, which is economic mobility, workforce readiness. And now with the trends in the labor market disrupting jobs, it's really encouraging or accelerating the need for institutions to adapt the services that they are providing and make sure that all students are prepared for what is next.

Brian (Podcast Host) (6:48)

Thank you, I appreciate that. And the three main trends that you talked about and I just wanted to highlight that they're emerging at the moment is obviously colleges are trying to be more competitive in these areas. You talked about enrollment, providing choices for the students, of course, graduation rates and retention. You went into a little bit of that and then that forward thinking looking about how do we again connect those new students that are graduating into the workforce and streamline that process. I think that's important. Obviously that's why everybody goes to college, right? To kind of set that foundation for their career. So I appreciate that. And Arjun, my next question. Economic mobility is a central theme of your work. How can AI driven advising help institutions better support first generation students and underserved communities?

Arjun Arora (7:38)

Thank you. I think I always like to step back and frame this AI driven requirement as what is the use case we are often solving. I think there's a lot of hype or interest around AI driven systems without really drilling down into what is the challenge or what is the benefit. And so I think firstly this is really about scaling advising which is to say that when more advising is done for that first generation student, when there's clarity on am I going to become an engineer and what are the courses or certificates or skills I need to develop to become an engineer, the economic mobility is a automatic outcome to that skill development. It's really much more. I see the focus is to scale advising or services that are already proven, evidence based and effective. And AI is really just that mechanism or means that is now allowing us to personalize advising at a level that wasn't previously possible with capacity constraints, as well as making it engaging and conversational. It's not as complex or a cumbersome task that takes six to eight weeks. It's something that I can do in 10 minutes which is create a plan, create a roadmap app, sort of like a GPS like system.

Brian (Podcast Host) (9:05)

That's awesome. And again, at the end of the day you just don't build things because something sounds cool. You ask that question, you know, what problem are you trying to solve? And I think that's so important. But to scale advising. And I agree, we all know this, it's a struggle when students first get into college, but asking those right questions and as you said, really personalizing that advising based on student needs, career plan, that sort of thing, and you do help again scale and make sure that this long term success of the student is there. And I really appreciate that. And Arjun, the last question of the day here. As we look ahead to the future, how do you see AI reshaping the future of higher education, workforce development and lifelong learning over the next decade?

Arjun Arora (9:52)

It's a really great question. After being in AI for 10 years and building data solutions, I think the biggest insight, or something we don't emphasize enough of, is that people are really the ones that make that transformation happen. Especially in a context of like education and advising. Like you can have the best and most exciting AI tool, but if people, whether that's the student or the advisors, are not part of the process and how the AI is really augmenting or streamlining things, a lot of transformation would not happen. And so that's really like a sort of fundamental lens. More specifically, drilling down into how does AI really help along those areas. It sort of look at, you know, when it comes to a student's lens or experience, it's something that would take eight weeks, can now be done in 30 minutes. Whether that's what is the right course for me, what's the right degree for me and what skills should I be developing over the next two years, one year. That process is much more efficient now than was previously possible. If you look at more institutional lens, which is administration, advisors across different types of colleges, undergraduate graduate programs that's not just even isolated to the US but also global programs that we are starting to speak with across Middle East, Australia and so forth. What AI is really helping teams do now is that instead of the information gathering or planning tasks that teams would have to maybe spend at least a week for, a group of students can now be automated so that the conversation that a faculty or professor or advisor is now having is much more strategic. It's much more developmental around. Oh Arjun, like I think you're stuck here or you don't know what to do next. Let me intervene and show you the right resource versus here's the course you should be taking to become an engineer. And so it's much more transformational. I see that AI is helping accelerate the experience as well as make it simple and intuitive to connect the dots across a lot of these fragmented systems that exist today.

Brian (Podcast Host) (12:19)

That's awesome. Really making the world a better place. So with your insights, looking to the future. And I absolutely agree, I think every guest I've had on the show, over 1200, we certainly can agree on one thing is at the end of the day, people are the foundational fabric of our global community. And you hit that right on. Without people, what are we? Right, so we have that. But you add that AI layer as you talked about, automating, really accelerating experience helps streamline this process efficiency and accuracy and really puts the right people in their right career paths much faster and like I said, much more efficiently. So I really appreciate your insights. And Arjun, it was such a pleasure having you on today, and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.

Arjun Arora (13:05)

Thank you so much for having me on, Brian. Really appreciate the time and the conversation.

Brian (Podcast Host) (13:10)

Bye for now.