EdTech startup Shikho and University Coaching Centre (UCC), one of the largest and most renowned competitive university test preparation institutions in the country, have announced a new collaboration with a goal to democratize access to UCC’s best-in-class university entrance exam preparation programs by digitizing the curriculum and making the classes available online to students nationwide.
“UCC powered by Shikho” will combine UCC’s 37 years of deep domain expertise in university test preparation curriculum and pedagogy along with Shikho’s cutting-edge digital technology. Students with smartphones or laptops will now be able to prepare for highly competitive entrance exams without the need to travel to faraway cities and be able to attend from the comfort and convenience of their homes.
Announcing the partnership, UCC Group’s Founder and Chairman, Dr. MA Halim Patwari said “I’m very excited to launch a completely new paradigm in university test preparation in our country by creating online access to our flagship programs, leveraging Shikho’s digital expertise and world-class learning technology”.
Shikho was founded in 2019 and has been building a hyper-localized digital learning ecosystem with a mission to revolutionize learning in Bangladesh. The startup is focused on democratizing access to high-quality education for learners across the country. The company has so far raised $5.6m USD of funding from international investors.
The company says Shikho Learning App has already passed 600,000 downloads on the Google Play Store in only 20 months. Before the partnership with UCC, Shikho was primarily focused on animated and live academic courses for SSC and HSC students along with professional and skill development courses. With the partnership, Shikho effectively enters the university admission coaching market.
“It is a great honor and privilege to work alongside such an esteemed institution and brand as UCC. Shikho is absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to democratize access to the very high-quality programs that UCC offers and looks forward to building a long-standing partnership for the future”, said Shahir Chowdhury, Co-Founder, and CEO of Shikho.
This is an interesting move on part of the both companies: Shikho and UCC. It will allow Shikho, which has predominantly been focused on academics and skill development courses, to fast-track its entry into the admission test market, which is one of the largest markets out there. For UCC, it allows the company to transform its content digitally without building the tech from scratch. However, the move will have a far-reaching impact in terms of business model and execution for both companies for days to come. We’ll be following the developments in the coming days.
