Post-grad student portal launches updated site based on expert advice

“You think you’ve got it nailed, and the next thing you know, you’re changing it again. Refining it. Making it just that little bit better. The product we have now is nowhere near what it was like when we started on this journey.”

Dr Christine King is taking a short break from the intense three-month ANZ Innovyz START program to reflect on the past two months.

“Over the past 8 weeks, the MySupervisorOnline team, here in Adelaide, interstate and overseas, have been busy adding additional features and benefits based on feedback and advice we have received from mentors within the ANZ Innovyz START program, and from the students and supervisors actively participating on MySupervisorOnline.com.”

The website offers honours, masters, and PhD students from around the world the opportunity to connect, collaborate with, and gain advice from other students and supervisors from all over the world without the disciplinary, geographical, cultural and organisational constraints currently experienced within the university system.

Established in 2011, MySupervisorOnline.com helps combat the issues that exist with higher education students: improving supervision and completion rates, overcoming financial constraints and reducing isolation.”

Recent improvements to the site include engaging experienced supervisors from a range of disciplines to regularly respond to and connect with students on MySupervisorOnline.com’s internal forums, answering questions about research methods and tools, and providing basic advice on structuring and writing their thesis.

Dr King is remaining firmly focused for the last four weeks of the ANZ Innovyz START program, “Helping improve and enhance the experience of graduate and post-graduate students along their journey to receiving their higher degree is what our focus is and always will be, particularly as we head towards finding investors to help take MySupervisorOnline.com to the next level.”

As part of the ANZ Innovyz START program, MySupervisorOnline.com will make a pitch to potential investors during Investor Day at the Adelaide Town Hall on Thursday 16 August 2012.

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About ANZ Innovyz START

ANZ Innovyz START is 12-week accelerator program modelled after the highly successful TechStars program in the United States (rated as the world’s #1 accelerator program). Many companies apply but only 10 are accepted. Those CEOs and one or two team members move to Adelaide, AU for 3 months (May 28 – August 17, 2012). ANZ Innovyz START will give an $18,000 grant to each company ($6,000 for each of three founders) to participate in the program. The Program Director works with each company to develop a viable plan for commercializing its break-through innovation. The program includes mentoring by successful entrepreneurs, learning programs around growing a company, identification of target markets, working and reworking the company’s plan, and a presentation to potential investors on the final day of the program. ANZ Innovyz-Start is one of 40 accelerators in the Global Acceleration Network that was created by TechStars.

About ANZ Small Business

ANZ is committed to Start Up businesses and the broader small business sector. Currently the bank of choice for over 390,000 small business customers, ANZ has one of the highest approval rates of loan applications from start up business, approving 76 percent of ANZ start up loan applications. ANZ offers small business customers a range of easily accessible tools and resources to support their business at any life stage, including the ANZ Business Insights Tool, which allows registered customers to track sales trends and compare performance with local competitors.