Contact person: Business Client

Phone:Show

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Location: dubai, United Arab Emirates

Budget: Recommended by industry experts

Time to start: As soon as possible

Project description:
"Global University

1. Project Overview

Global University is a marketplace and ecosystem that connects students, universities, agents, parents and administrators. Students can choose 1–4 terms per year at partner universities (online or on-campus), collect verified term certificates/micro-credentials, and—where participating home universities agree—stack credits toward a consolidated degree.

We want an experienced full‑stack development team (or senior full‑stack developer + specialists) to deliver a production-grade platform, integrations, AI modules, admin tooling, documentation, and 12 months of post-launch support.


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2. Target Users & Personas

Students — search, compare, apply, pay, track progress, receive verified transcripts and badges, get AI recommendations.

Parents — view student progress, invoices, and support resources (view-only dashboard).

Agents / Counsellors — apply on behalf of students, manage portfolios, commission tracking.

Universities / Academic Staff — partner portal to upload terms/courses, manage seats, selection rules, approvals, issue term certifications.

Home Universities — partner-level workflows for accepting stacked credits, issuing consolidated degrees.

Platform Admins — global admin console for operations, onboarding universities, marketplace moderation, finance, and QA.



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3. Core Product Scope (MUST HAVE)

3.1 Student-Facing Website

Responsive, mobile-first public site (marketing pages, partner showcase, FAQs, blog).

Search & discovery: filters (country, subject, degree level, term dates, mode, fees, scholarships).

Course/term detail pages with pre-reqs, credits, ECTS equivalence, seat availability.

Student registration, KYC flow (document upload + verification), profile, dashboard.

Application workflow: apply to terms, upload docs, accept offers, pay fees.

Payment integration (Stripe, PayPal, local gateways; multi-currency support).

Secure digital wallet for issued micro-credentials & transcripts (download + verify link).

Notifications: email, SMS, in-app push (configurable).

Reviews & ratings for terms / universities (moderated).


3.2 Parent Portal

View-only access tied to student account (consent-managed) to view application status, invoices, and key messages.


3.3 Agent Portal

Agent registration, verification, student referrals, commission tracking dashboard, payout requests.

Bulk application upload (CSV) and tracking.


3.4 University Partner Portal

University onboarding & verification workflow.

Term/course upload UI (CSV + manual): course code, credits, learning outcomes, seat counts, fees, dates, modality.

Selection rules: eligibility criteria, quota, selection dates, documents required.

Application management: view applicants, request additional docs, accept/reject, issue term certificate (digital).

SIS/LMS API integration guidelines & sandbox for deeper integrations.


3.5 Home University / Degree Issuer Workflow

Tools for home universities to evaluate stacked credits and issue consolidated degree or pathway letters.

Credit mapping tool: proposed mapping vs. manual adjustment, audit trail.


3.6 Admin Console

User & role management (RBAC)

University & agent onboarding approvals

Financial reconciliation & reports

Audit logs & activity monitoring

Content management system (CMS) for marketing pages, FAQs

Fraud & dispute resolution case management


3.7 AI Components (SIGNIFICANT ROLE)

Course Recommendation Engine: Personalized term/course suggestions based on student profile, past performance, interests, employability signals, and university fit — provide explainable suggestions.

Credit Mapping Engine: AI-assisted mapping of course syllabi/learning outcomes to credit equivalence (ECTS, credits), with confidence scores and manual override.

Document Verification & OCR: Automated extraction and verification from transcripts, passports, visa docs — flag anomalies.

Fraud Detection: Pattern detection for duplicate applicants, forged documents, suspicious behavior.

NLP Chatbot / Virtual Assistant: 24/7 chatbot for FAQs, application help, eligibility checks, with handoff to human support.

Admissions Scoring: Predictive scoring to help universities shortlist applicants (configurable weightings).


3.8 Credentialing

Issue verifiable digital credentials (micro-credentials, term certificates) — Blockchain or industry-standard verifiable credentials (e.g., W3C VC) optional.

Verifier interface: third parties (employers, universities) can verify authenticity using public keys or API.


3.9 Reporting & Analytics

Dashboards for student acquisition, application funnel, conversion, university utilization, revenue.

Exportable reports (CSV, PDF) and scheduled reports.


3.10 Integrations

Payment gateways: Stripe, PayPal + 1–2 regional gateways.

LMS/SIS: Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard (SIS API connectors).

Identity verification: Onfido, Jumio or similar for KYC.

Email/SMS: SendGrid, Twilio.

Accounting: QuickBooks / Xero (optional).

Maps/timezones: Google Maps / timezone API.



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4. Non-Functional Requirements

Scalability: Architected for 10k–100k MAUs; horizontal scaling on cloud.

Security: GDPR, FERPA awareness; data encryption at rest and transit; OWASP Top 10 mitigation.

Performance: Page load < 2.5s (desktop), API response < 300ms p95.

Availability: 99.9% SLA (excluding maintenance windows).

Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA compliance for primary user flows.

Localization & Multi-currency: Support for multiple languages (English first), currency, and date/time formats.

Backup & Disaster Recovery: RPO/RTO plan.



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5. Technology Stack (Preferred — propose alternatives)

Frontend: React ([login to view URL]) or Vue (Nuxt) — SSR supported for SEO.

Design: TailwindCSS; responsive & mobile-first.

Backend: Node.js + Express / NestJS OR Django / DRF (Python) — choice must support AI modules smoothly.

Database: PostgreSQL (primary), Redis (caching), ElasticSearch (search & discovery).

AI/ML: Python stack (FastAPI microservices for inference) — integration with Hugging Face models, OpenAI (optional), and custom models.

Cloud: AWS preferred (EC2/ECS/EKS, RDS, S3, CloudFront), GCP/Azure acceptable.

CI/CD: GitHub Actions / GitLab CI, Docker, Terraform for infra as code.

Verifiable Credentials: W3C VC libraries (optional) or blockchain proof-of-existence integration.



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6. Deliverables

For each milestone deliver the following artifacts (in English):

Source code (hosted in client Git repository) with branch strategy

README, architecture diagrams, ER diagrams, API docs (OpenAPI/Swagger)

Deployment scripts (IaC/Terraform) and CI/CD configuration

Admin and user manuals (PDF)

Test reports (unit, integration, security, load)

Post-launch support plan and SLA

Final handover meeting and walkthrough



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7. Project Milestones & Timeline (SUGGESTED)

Total duration: 2 months

Milestone 0 — Discovery & Design

Kickoff, requirements workshop, system architecture, UI/UX designs (Figma), acceptance criteria.


Milestone 1 — Core Platform

Public marketing site, search & discovery, student registration, application workflow, payments, partner portal basic, admin console skeleton.


Milestone 2 — AI Modules + Credentialing

Recommendation engine (MVP), OCR/document verification, basic credit-mapping prototype, digital credential issuance.


Milestone 3 — Agent & Parent Portals, Integration

Agent flows, parent view, LMS/SIS connectors, KYC provider integration.


Milestone 4 — Testing, Security & Compliance

Pen tests, load tests, accessibility checks, legal review (privacy & terms), pilot onboarding docs.


Milestone 5 — Production Deployment & Support

Go-live, monitor, bug fixes, enable analytics, training for internal teams.


Optional Phase 2: Home university credit mapping deep integration & legal framework (ongoing 3 months)


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8. QA, Testing & Acceptance Criteria

Automated tests: 70%+ unit coverage for critical modules, end-to-end tests for user flows.

Security: Fix all high/critical pen-test items before production.

Load: Platform supports simulated peak of 5k concurrent users on launch (scalable roadmap defined).

UX: Task-based usability tests (5–10 users per persona) with measurable improvements.

Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA passed for primary flows.

Sign-off: Each milestone requires client acceptance sign-off within 5 business days or bug list to rectify.



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9. Budget & Payment Terms

10. Support & Maintenance

12 months of support included for bug fixes and stability updates after launch (SLA tiers to be defined).

Optional ongoing managed service retainer for enhancements, university onboarding, and AI model retraining.



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11. Legal & IP

Client retains IP of the delivered product and source code upon final payment.

Contractor must comply with data protection regulations (GDPR for EU users), and ensure secure handling of PII.


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12. Proposal Submission Requirements (What we expect from bidders)

1. Company/Team profile: team size, CVs of leads, prior relevant projects (links), client references.


2. Technical approach & architecture: proposed stack, AI approach, scalability and security plan.


3. Project plan & timeline: detailed milestones and deliverables with estimated days.


4. Cost estimate: broken down by milestone and by resource (dev, AI, QA).


5. Assumptions & exclusions: any dependencies (3rd-party licenses, data availability, university APIs).


6. Support & maintenance plan: SLA levels and hourly rates for additional work.


7. Legal: sample contract terms, IP ownership, privacy/process for PII.


8. Optional: sample UI screens or prototype links." (client-provided description)