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NE academics aim to cut drop-out rates

A group of academics from a North East university has created a device which could help reduce student drop-out rates across the country.

The Student Attendance Recording (Star) device will enable students to swipe into lectures using a patented card system which could reduce time spent on administration, and encourages students to attend lectures as individual attendance can be easily monitored.

The product has been developed by five members of Teesside University’s science and engineering department – Dr John Dean, Dr Simon Bates, Anwar Bashir, Adam Burns and Claudio Benghi – through their HyperSmart company.

And now the product, being piloted at Teesside University, has been shortlisted in the Grand Final of Blueprint, the region’s universities business planning competition.

Technician manager Mr Bashir said: “Recent legislation means that universities are obliged to track the attendance of every student, this is just not happening for a variety of reasons. This just shows that there is demand out there for STAR.”

The team stand to win up to £30,000 at the Blueprint final tonight.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .