The acknowledgement came for CourseSpy which began as a side-project for Mr Bugden and evolved into a platform with more than 250,000 visits, helping students make better and more informed decisions about their tertiary study.
Frustrated by a lack of clarity when trying to choose his university courses and understand degree requirements, he decided to build the all-in-one tool he wished he had.
CourseSpy now hosts more than 15,000 course reviews across all eight New Zealand universities and has helped countless students plan their degrees.
In a recent user survey, the overwhelming majority of student users reported they had changed their future course selections based on insights gained through the platform.
Mr Bugden, who is in his final year of medical studies and is in Bolivia on a medical placement, was “blown away and incredibly grateful” at the acknowledgement.
The judges noted how far the venture had come during the time between applying and final judging, saying Mr Bugden’s entrepreneurial drive was evident in the traction, national expansion and customer growth-rate.
In the past year, CourseSpy has also launched Mastery Modules — interactive, adaptive question banks designed to guide students through each lecture and improve their long-term retention and grades.
Mr Bugden’s goal was to continue the rapid growth of CourseSpy by adding tutors, textbooks and further developing Mastery Modules for CourseSpy’s proprietary learning platform, while looking to expand overseas in the near future.
— Allied Media
