For prospective students, choosing a university is about much more than choosing a subject. They want to understand where their education could take them, which skills will matter in a changing world of work, and how they can build a future around their individual strengths and ambitions.
At the same time, universities have to balance how they communicate their complex offer of industry partnerships and graduate outcomes to academic expertise, practical experiences and employability support. Across increasingly complex digital ecosystems, these connections can be difficult for prospective students to discover, particularly before they've decided what or where they want to study.
The opportunity lies in how to reimagine the relationship between careers discovery and university recruitment. How could we help young people explore their futures with confidence, while enabling universities to demonstrate their value earlier, and more meaningfully?
Akoonأكون is an AI-powered careers and skills platform that puts the individual at the centre of university discovery. Launched in beta in Saudi Arabia in 2026, the platform connects students, universities and industry through personalised career exploration and skills development. With its UK launch on the horizon, we're looking to build on this foundation alongside six founding university partners.
Akoonأكون creates a personalised route through a university's digital ecosystem, connecting students with the skills, courses, people and career opportunities most relevant to their interests and ambitions.
Beginning with an interactive personality quiz, the platform invites young people to discover their strengths and explore possibilities they may never have considered by connecting 40 transferable skills with more than 900 careers, creating over 36,000 combinations for students to explore. Through realistic, AI-powered scenarios, they can experience what different skills look like in different roles, moving beyond career information to actively trying out their future.
Akoonأكون also helps students navigate one of the biggest questions shaping their future careers: the impact of AI. By showing where AI is already transforming industries, where human skills remain essential and which capabilities will become increasingly valuable, the platform turns uncertainty into opportunity. Students can identify the skills they want to develop and discover the different paths that can help them get there.
For universities, Akoonأكون introduces an industry-first approach to student engagement. Rather than beginning with courses and asking students to imagine the outcomes, it starts with the world of work and builds connections back to the university. Employer relationships, academic expertise and graduate stories become part of a personalised exploration journey, making the university's offer tangible and relevant to each individual.
The platform also creates new opportunities for industry partners to engage directly with future talent. Partners can champion transferable skills, contribute learning experiences and connect students with the people and opportunities behind different careers. When a career sparks interest, students can take the next step through talks, workshops and real-world experiences, taking their journey from digital exploration to meaningful human connections.
Designed to integrate with each university's existing digital ecosystem and brand, Akoonأكون creates a seamless, mobile-first experience that feels personal, intuitive and engaging. Every interaction builds a clearer picture of a student's interests, skills and aspirations, allowing the platform to continually refine its recommendations while giving universities valuable first-party insight into what prospective students care about.
Ultimately, Akoonأكون is designed to foster a new kind of relationship between students, universities and industry. By engaging young people before university choice begins, it helps institutions build familiarity and trust, widen the recruitment funnel and demonstrate the relevance of their offer.
If you’re interested in being one the six founding university partners to help bring Akoonأكون to the UK, and shape the next phase of a platform designed to connect personal ambition with real-world opportunity, email mike@bondandcoyne.co.uk
