ScholarShip

Inspiration

Whilst talking to relatives abroad who want to study in a different country, we realised that many families and students forgo their dreams due to financial circumstances. Despite many knowing of scholarship pathways, these individuals believe that these programs are out of their reach. We later discovered that for even those who have been awarded a scholarship, the process of finding opportunities was difficult. So we decided to solve this issue using our coding abilities.

What it does

The website categorises scholarships based on subject areas, displaying a short description, eligibility criteria and further information. These scholarships are stored in a database that can be easily and regularly modified and updated according to available scholarships. Currently, this application focuses on providing these opportunities from many universities across the United Kingdom. However, it does consist of a few from other European countries.

How we built it

Initially we set up the Django framework, which would create a basic sign up, login and logout system, and a URL dispatcher scheme to connect pages together. From there, we created a nested python dictionary to store the key data from our scholarship research. This was then implemented into a home page and course-specific scholarship page that would be accessed after logging in. Then, we developed the user interface and experience to make it interactive and user-friendly for all users. As a part of this, we integrated a social authentication system so users can easily sign up or login with their Github and Google accounts.

Challenges we ran into

Initially, understanding how the URL dispatcher system worked and how it was used demonstrated one of the many challenges we were to face. Likewise, it was a struggle to learn how to create and debug an authentication system. Another obstacle resided in our database as we learnt that finding scholarships for certain courses was difficult, and adding to our database was a time-consuming task. It was also critical for us to precisely coordinate our actions together in order to not override the other's work.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We were proud to see how quickly we were able to grasp Django concepts, despite our lack of experience with it. Furthermore, we are proud of our teamwork and collaborative skills, especially how we shared the workload equally and helped each other in completing tasks.

What we learned

We learned how to use Django and merge our Python and HTML skills. We learnt to adapt to a extreme programming methodology in order to produce high quality code and to ensure that our team was well-coordinated.

What's next for ScholarShip

The sign up and login concepts would be used more in later iterations as users would be able to save their 'favourite' scholarships, so they can compare and return to them when considering to apply. We hope to develop our database to include scholarships from around the globe, which would enable students to consider what is best for them (for example location), and other countries to promote their education systems.