Retention is an important area of improvement for universities because it allows them to draw brighter students, and more funding for lab equipment and professors. Communication is shown to have a significant effect on retention among students (Berge, 2004). First, students who are more informed of study and tutorial sessions are more inclined to take advantage of these opportunities. Second, students who feel they are a part of the university will strive to succeed.
Currently communication methods between students and between the university and students are not very effective. Universities often only communicate important information through bulk emails which either get lost among a torrent of spam, or intentionally deleted as they often do not hold any pertinent information to the majority of students to whom they are sent. Bulletin boards placed in common areas are another form of communication. These usually hold fliers which describe university events or messages between students; however, they are also prone to being ignored.
Bound Simplicity (BSimp) is a product which will increase the effectiveness of university-related communication, subsequently improving this area of retention among students. BSimp will deliver targeted communication to students from fellow student organizations or university offices. This will allow university groups to seamlessly send a message to everyone to whom that message applies.
