Researching and
writing a final paper, dissertation, or doctoral thesis is a laborious but
necessary task for graduating from university and entering the workforce. It
can also take a toll on mental health: doctoral students are more likely to
have symptoms of depression than the general population. This situation is
becoming increasingly common as the university population in Latin America
grows.
Faced with this problem for
university students and academics, Johnniel Enrique Rojas, a graduate in Social
Communication from the Universidad Bicentenaria de Aragua (Venezuela), decided
to look for a solution. His answer is the app and website Tesis Time. This
platform guides students through the process of researching and writing an
academic text with tutorials, live classes, and the help of tutors with
personalized advice. Rojas' focus is to help vulnerable and special needs
students graduate and improve their employability. For this venture, Rojas has
deserved to be chosen among the Innovators under 35 Latin America 2023 of MIT
Technology Review in Spanish.
"The
lack of knowledge and tools makes it difficult to understand the method needed
to complete a thesis or academic text," explains Rojas. One of the basic
problems is that students do not have access to resources or do not have the
right guides to prepare the work. "To this must be added the deficit of
motivation and access to resources such as specialized databases or the right
software," he says, adding, "It doesn't affect everyone equally:
students who need to have a job or have someone in their care cannot dedicate
the necessary time to it."
Rojas' business model is freemium:
the app is free but the web platform is paid. "The app gives useful tools
and resources such as templates, e-books, audiobooks, and examples to help
students understand and apply the necessary concepts and methodologies,"
adds the young man. The fee-based website facilitates personalized tutoring and
live and recorded classes.
Rojas is motivated by meeting
students of all kinds, with a wide variety of needs and theses "worthy of
changing the world." The start-up's creator emphasizes that Thesis Time
focuses not only on theses but also on other types of academic work such as
scientific articles, monographs, and essays.
With thousands of downloads in
several Latin American countries, the Venezuelan innovator is already working
on a prototype that uses artificial intelligence. "The potential scope of
the Thesis Time project is enormous, as there are millions of students in Latin
America who need to write academic texts to obtain their university
degree," he concludes.
