Priorities:Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas Student Priorities

Cohort 2025

Strategy 1: MindMate

MindMate

Mind Mate is a digital platform powered by artificial intelligence that supports UPC students in managing their emotional well-being. It seeks to detect early signs of stress, anxiety, or burnout, provide personalized micro-interventions (such as guided reflections, breathing exercises, and self-care challenges), and connect users with professional support from the university’s counseling and psychology services when needed.

By combining AI technology, gamification, and human-centered design, Mind Mate promotes accessible, stigma-free, and continuous emotional care across the academic journey.

Main Objectives

1. Provide students with a 24/7 emotional-support channel that encourages healthy mental-health habits.
2. Enable early detection and timely response to emotional distress through ethical use of AI.
3. Foster student engagement and self-awareness through gamified, evidence-based tools.
4. Strengthen the connection between students and institutional wellness services, creating an integrated ecosystem of care within UPC.

Alignment with UPC Student Priorities

Previous UPC UIF cohorts focused on initiatives such as Social Purpose, Connect UPC, and Portafolio UPC, aiming to enhance community, inclusion, and purpose-driven innovation.

Mind Mate expands this mission by addressing the emotional and psychological dimension of student life. It promotes empathy, balance, and human connection as essential components of academic success.

This project aligns with UPC’s commitment to fostering innovation with human impact, integrating technology and emotional intelligence to strengthen student well-being and institutional culture.

Impact and Success Metrics

The success of Mind Mate will be measured by its ability to create sustainable, measurable impact across the university community. Key indicators include:

• Adoption Rate: Percentage of students actively engaging with the platform as part of their well-being routine.
• Emotional Health Outcomes: Improvement in students’ self-reported stress management, emotional awareness, and sense of belonging.
• Institutional Integration: Degree of adoption by the Psychology, Academic Advising, and Student Wellness Departments as a recognized support tool.
• User Trust & Satisfaction: Students’ perceived safety, empathy, and usefulness of the AI interactions.
• Sustainability: Continuity of the initiative through UPC’s official wellness and innovation programs beyond the UIF cohort period.

Strategy 2: Buzzly AI

Buzzly AI is an AI-powered companion designed to support UPC students in managing both their emotional well-being and productivity. Operating through accessible platforms like WhatsApp, it proactively seeks to mitigate stress, anxiety, and burnout associated with academic life. Initial user research with UPC students revealed a strong need for a private, non-judgmental outlet, with many describing the concept as having a "psychologist in my pocket who can't judge me." The bot provides personalized reminders, "quick win" tasks to build positive momentum, and interactive, game-like therapies. When needed, it serves as a bridge, connecting students to professional support from the university's counseling services.

Main Objectives

1. Provide students with a 24/7 proactive companion that encourages healthy mental habits by directly linking productivity with well-being.
2. Enable early detection of students experiencing high levels of stress, anxiety, or creative blocks through non-intrusive interactions.
3. Foster student engagement and self-efficacy through gamified, evidence-based tools like "quick wins" and interactive therapies.
4. Strengthen the connection between students and institutional wellness services, creating an efficient and integrated ecosystem of care within UPC.

Alignment with UPC Student Priorities

Validation through interviews with over 25 students confirmed that many feel they have no one to talk to about private or serious issues and that student interactions are often limited to academic work. Buzzly AI directly addresses this validated gap by offering a confidential and accessible support channel. This project expands on the mission of previous UPC cohorts focused on community and purpose-driven innovation by addressing the emotional and psychological dimension of student life. It promotes resilience, balance, and well-being as essential components of academic and creative success. This aligns directly with UPC’s commitment to fostering innovation with human impact, integrating technology and emotional intelligence to strengthen the student experience.

Impact and Success Metrics

The success of Buzzly AI will be measured by its ability to create a sustainable and measurable impact. Key indicators include:

• Number of students identified and referred before escalation to crisis intervention
• Ratio of automated triage to in-person consultation requests
• Percentage of bot users rating health as "good" or better

Strategy 3: TITULO

Fellowship UPC

TEXTO

Strategy 4: UPC Rest

UPC Rest

UPCRest is a campus-based wellness initiative that supports UPC students in managing stress and maintaining balance during midterm and final exam periods. It provides spaces and activities designed to promote relaxation, recovery, and social connection—transforming high-stress academic weeks into opportunities for wellbeing and community care.

Through simple, human-centered interventions like rest zones, coffee gatherings, de-stress kits, and therapy animal sessions, UPCRest helps students decompress, recharge, and sustain their performance in a supportive environment.

Main Objectives

• Create safe, inclusive spaces for students to rest and recover physically and mentally during exam weeks.
• Reduce academic stress and burnout through proactive, low-barrier wellness activities.
• Foster a stronger sense of community and emotional resilience by connecting students through shared wellbeing experiences.
• Integrate wellness as a consistent element of the academic experience at UPC, complementing counseling and academic services.

Alignment with UPC Student Priorities

Previous UPC UIF cohorts have developed initiatives like Social Purpose, Connect UPC, and Portafolio UPC, which focus on inclusion, collaboration, and student purpose.

UPCRest builds on this foundation by addressing the need for balance and mental restoration within academic life. It promotes empathy, rest, and collective wellbeing as drivers of academic excellence, aligning with UPC’s vision of human-centered innovation and holistic student development.

By focusing on both emotional and physical restoration, UPCRest strengthens the culture of care and belonging on campus, making wellbeing a visible and accessible part of student life.

Key Tactics

• Post-Exam Coffee Silent Raves: Host energizing, music-filled coffee gatherings after exams to help students decompress, connect, and celebrate completing their tests.
• Healthy Snack Corners: Set up free stations with nuts, fruit, and water during finals to support focus and reduce stress-related fatigue.
• Exam De-Stress Kits: Distribute small care packages with tea, stress balls, and motivational notes to promote calm and balance.
• Animal Therapy Sessions: Organize visits with trained therapy animals during finals week to reduce anxiety and lift morale.

Impact and Success Metrics

The success of UPCRest will be measured by its capacity to enhance student wellbeing and create lasting institutional impact. Key indicators include:

• Participation Rate: Number of students attending or engaging with UPCRest activities during exam periods.
• Wellbeing Outcomes: Improvements in students’ self-reported stress levels, focus, and sense of community connection.
• Institutional Collaboration: Degree of involvement from the Wellness Office, Facilities, and Academic Departments in sustaining the initiative.
• Student Satisfaction: Positive feedback on accessibility, comfort, and usefulness of the spaces and events.
• Sustainability: Inclusion of UPCRest as a recurring wellbeing initiative within UPC’s academic calendar and wellness programs.

Fellows

Fall 2025

Fellow:Cristobal Cortes

Fellow:Maria Jose Boza

Fellow:Kiara Melissa Sanchez Copare

Fellow:Fernando Benites

Cohort 2024

Strategy 1: Portafolio UPC

PORTAFOLIO UPC

Portafolio UPC is an innovative digital tool that will allow our university’s students to officially showcase their final projects, validated by the institution. This digital portfolio aims to provide a solid, professional endorsement of each student’s knowledge and skills, making their academic achievements visible and recognized in the professional and job market.

The platform ensures respect for authorship and protects each user’s information. It also includes quality ratings (excellent, regular, poor) and specific feedback from professors on performance and skills gained, offering an objective, detailed evaluation that will be invaluable to both students and recruiters.

This project will significantly contribute to UPC’s reputation as an institution that supports and promotes the academic and professional growth of its students. By integrating the Portafolio UPC with Blackboard, we facilitate quick, efficient, and secure access to students' progress, projects, and capabilities, giving them a competitive advantage and fostering an ecosystem of transparency, merit, and academic recognition.

Strategy 2: Crea Bond

CreaBond

Our university platform facilitates the exchange of skills between students from various disciplines. Through intelligent recommendations, students can form multidisciplinary groups to participate in events and competitions. This collaboration allows students to apply their knowledge in creative and innovative ways, enhancing their learning and professional development.

Key features:

• Skill Sharing: Students can offer and request specific skills, creating a collaborative learning environment.
• Group Formation: The platform suggests the formation of groups based on the skills and needs of the students, optimizing the synergy of the team.
• Participation in Events: The groups formed can register for various events and competitions, putting their knowledge into practice in real situations.

Strategy 3: FellowShip

Fellowship UPC

It is a chatbot integrated into the UPC virtual classroom to help those students who are introverted and do not socialize with other students, especially those in virtual environments. This chatbot will allow you to create your profile and connect with other students who have similar tastes or preferences, in addition, goes to randomly generates activities, where it will pair students so they can interact, get to know each other more, and for each extracurricular activity students do, they will receive a reward of points for participation to encourage engagement to use this chat bot.

Benefits

• Encouraging Socialization: Helps introverted students break the ice and form meaningful connections.
• Active Engagement: Participation rewards motivate students to become more involved in extracurricular activities.
• Social Skills Development: Facilitates the development of interpersonal skills in a safe and controlled environment.
• Inclusion in the Community: Promotes a sense of belonging and community among UPC students

Strategy 4: Social Purpose

Social Purpose

The training workshop for students developing a social project is designed to provide a comprehensive experience that includes both social awareness and the development of essential soft skills. During the workshop, students will engage in social awareness activities that will allow them to better understand the realities and challenges of the communities they will work with.

Additionally, there will be improvisation and networking sessions, where students can practice and enhance their leadership, assertive communication, analysis, and problem-solving skills. These activities will not only foster creativity and collaboration but also help students build a valuable network for future projects. The primary goal is to equip students with the necessary tools to approach social projects effectively and collaboratively, ensuring they can make a meaningful difference in the communities they serve.

Benefits:

• Development of Soft Skills: Students will enhance their leadership, assertive communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills, essential for their personal and professional growth.
• Social Awareness: Through awareness activities, students will gain a better understanding of the realities and challenges faced by communities, fostering greater empathy and social commitment.
• Teamwork: They will learn teamwork and project management techniques, enabling them to coordinate efforts and resources efficiently.
• Networking: Networking and mentoring sessions will help students build a valuable network of contacts, facilitating future collaborations and professional opportunities.

Cohort 2023

Strategy 1: A UPC Fellow like you!

A UPC fellow like u!

As members of the same university community, students are looking for ways to integrate with their peers while making a positive impact on their community. This is why “A UPC fellow like you!” was created.

A UPC fellow like you! is a platform where students will find detailed and updated information about all the groups that are present in any of the four campuses. Each group has a profile with their information and testimonials of their members. In this way, students will have the opportunity to get out of their comfort zones and be able to connect with them in their activities, generating a networking space that encourages teamwork and collaboration.

This website is mainly aimed at freshman and sophomore students, in order to provide them information related to how to be part of a uni group, members, activities, opportunities, experiences, and contact channels.

Strategy 2: Connect UPC

Connect UPC

One of the problems that college students face is the lack of knowledge about the opportunities that the university offers them, as well as the difficulty in establishing a wide circle of friends and contacts on campus. This can limit your development in areas beyond academics and hinder you from forming valuable connections for your future.

"Connect UPC" is an initiative aimed at elevating the student experience and fostering a more inclusive and enriching environment at our university, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC). Through a series of strategic solutions, this project intends to empower students and enhance their journey throughout their time at UPC.

Key Components of Our Platform:

1. Home Page:
   • Description: The main hub where you can stay updated with the latest news created by our Uguides. It also provides information about collaborations and offers useful links tailored to UPC students.
2. UGUIDE Section:
   • Description: Connect with our dedicated team of University Guides, or UGUIDEs, who are fellow students ready to assist you in your journey at UPC. They are your go-to resource for a smooth start at the university.
3. Provincial UPC:
   • Description: Discover exciting opportunities and activities for students who are not based in Lima or those seeking new experiences. This section is designed to help you make the most of your time at UPC, regardless of your location.
4. Clubs Corner:
   • Description: Explore the vibrant student community by sharing and discovering various activity groups and clubs. It's where students come together to pursue common interests and hobbies.
5. Discussion Forums:
   • Description: Engage in meaningful conversations with your peers through our open forums. Here, students have the freedom to discuss a wide range of topics and share their thoughts, questions, and experiences.

Our platform is designed to enhance your UPC experience by providing a variety of resources, connections, and opportunities for personal and academic growth. Explore, connect, and engage with the UPC community like never before!

Strategy 3:UNION+

UNION+

The "UNION+" application is a comprehensive platform that connects students from diverse careers. Through specialized organizations, it collects academic information and provides resources such as videos and course details. This makes it easier for students to access the necessary materials, providing a clear view of their curriculum and preparing them for academic challenges. The platform also provides support through student groups and experienced tutors. It encourages collaboration and allows advanced students to earn extracurricular credits by helping others. In addition, it provides up-to-date career information and promotes communication among students. "UNION+" enhances the student experience and strengthens the university community.

Strategy 4: EDUCATEUPC

EDUCAUPC is a collaborative learning platform designed to strengthen the student community and provide support for lingering questions after class. In EDUCAUPC, each student creates their profile, self-assesses, and highlights their areas of expertise, enabling peers to benefit from their knowledge. We foster collaboration by giving students the opportunity to join or create virtual study groups related to their courses or academic interests. Furthermore, we have established a rating and reputation system based on the quality of responses and active participation in the community, incentivizing engagement and mutual learning. Users can share study resources, such as notes and summaries. It also features a peer tutoring system, where each tutoring session generates 'UPC Coins,' a virtual currency that students can use to unlock resources or pay for tutoring in areas where they need assistance. With notifications to remind users of scheduled sessions, EDUCA UPC is the place where students can collaborate, learn together, and thrive academically."

Cohort 2022

Strategy 1: LicuaLab

LicuaLab is a space or community to generate interdisciplinary solutions for project problems such as theses.

With the help of coordinators and academic directors of each faculty, we will contact 8th, 9th and 10th cycle students to be part of our podcast where they will discuss the points of contact between their university careers to find a synergy and culture of co-creation.

What are the benefits of participating in LicuaLab? The opportunity to present your thesis project ideas, enrich it with new ideas from other careers and ask questions.

Strategy 2: Flamatch

During the gradual return to face-to-face classes, at least 60% of students had problems communicating with their classmates. In this regard we refer to:

• Setting up work groups
• Being part of study groups
• Being part of competitions and university activities
• Making friends within the university

Flamatch prototype

We detected that most of these students who significantly lost social skills are found from the fifth semester onwards. In addition to wanting a social circle, they are also looking for networking. That is why we created Flamatch, a social network exclusively for the UPC community that will facilitate communication between undergraduate students.

To be part of the community, students must register with their institutional email address and upload a photo of their ID card to verify their university identity. After creating their profile, they will answer a survey with random questions to classify and unify with other students who have the same interests. Also, the student will be able to join different groups, and in case you want a conversation, we will have available the option of "Fast chat" with which you can chat with other students having a limited time, and if you want to continue the connection should only do so.

Within the application we will promote academic activities such as contests, hackathons, university events as well as extra-university events.

Through this medium, we seek to improve the communication and soft skills of students to encourage them to generate project ideas with other students.

We plan to implement the strategy, and later expand to more universities. In such a way that it will be an exclusive community among university students and diversify.

Cohort 2021

Strategy 1: connect and support on campus

There is a need on students to make real connections with other students, and for "real" I mean that the connection will have a I&E purpose.
So the best way we represent this was using "Discord", a virtual space where you find all kind of "rooms" so you can find other people, this could work like the "tinder on campus for I&E things" Here a pic we use for testing:

Testing on Discord

We start doing this question to students: Have you ever had the necessity to find other sudents with the same goals than you? or perhaps you wanted to talk to someone about an specific knowledge they have? And this is what they say:

• "I will like to find here a partner for my next start up".
• "It will be awesome if we can see each other profile".
• "Here we can find anything, we can connect with students for a job application for example or even just to make them questions so we can learn more".

There is where we detected an opportunity, the "ahá moment".
The name of this space is "CONECTA UPC", and will allow students to make real connection on campus, or even virtually.

Strategy 2: connect students with companies

Connecting companies with you

We find that many students don't have opportunities to be an intern in companies because they don't have previous experiences. For that reason, the idea is about creating a platform where students can share their projects that usually have to work in many courses, with companies. The projects have to be focused on innovation and entrepreneurship issues because these areas are branches that allow a greater transformation and problem solutions.

How will this program process work?

1. Teachers, from selected courses, will chose 1 potential project.
2. The project selected will be reviewed by the Academic Direction.
3. The student will make all the suggested changes.
4. The student will receive a username and password to register on the platform.
5. The student will upload the project and wait for a message from a company.
6. If the project was selected, the student will receive a message from a company.

The projects will have a period of 3 months on the platform.

When a project is selected by a company, the student will be part of the company, which it means that the student will be an intern and she or he will have the opportunity to learn, together with professionals, to develop and see the reality of the project he proposed.

Strategy 3: Unify the Best Universities in the World

We believe the academic future goes hand in hand with personalized education and unifying universities worldwide. The structure of schools and universities has always been standard. It is time to make a change in the academic curriculum. When we decide to study it is our choice (most of the time) and we should be the ones who decide which path we are going to take.

We didn't decide where we were born, but now we can decide where we want to study. With "United UPC" even though you are studying at UPC in Lima, Peru; you can choose 40% of your online classes from the best universities in the world and the other 60% would be at your campus. You don't have to travel, pay more or apply to these colleges, you just have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone and prepare to start living a new way of learning never seen on this planet before.

We did surveys on 47 students. These are some of their thoughts:

For how long is it going to be?

All your degree (5-6 years depending on your studies)

Is this mandatory?

No! The traditional way of learning would still be available.

Who should be part of "United UPC"?

Students who want to have autonomy over their academic curriculum and want to explore the world with one click.

To get you on speed here are the key tactics on how to make it real:

1.Networking with the best universities in the world

2.Introduce this new model of teaching to all the students that are already UPC students (why this teaching model is important)

3.Promoting this idea with high school students (UPC already go to schools so now talk about this teaching model to make them want to be part of it)

Strategy 4: Emprende Aprendiendo UPC

Make your entrepreneur dreams come true with us

Emprende Aprendiendo is a boothcamp for entrepreneurs. It is an space created to help entrepreneur students to make their dreams come true. We bring them programs, coaching, courses, mentorship and the tools they might need to their first steps in the world of entrepreneurship. We found out that some of the core problems student have are:

- Not having the neccesary tools for their projects.
- They need a mentor that guides them.
- They havent found any partner yet, someone they share the same vision with.
- They dont hace knowledge on methodologies nor business administration.

Thats why we created this program, in order to help them build their own business ideas and test them on the market. We focus on digital businesses and thats why the main goal o this program is for them to know 3 main things: how to create successfull digital marketing strategies, sales funnels and digital ads campaigns. The idea is that they will leave the boothcamp with a project going on.

Fellows

Fall 2021

Carla Rojas

Fellow:Nidia

Fellow:Sergio_Farfan

Fellow:Lucía_Gabriela_Corilla_Grados

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Related links

▼ Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

► Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (2021 cohort)

► Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (2022 cohort)

► Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (2023 cohort)

► Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (2024 cohort)

► Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (2025 cohort)

  Faculty Champion:Adriana Aleman

  Faculty Champion:Daniel Flores Bueno

  Faculty Champion:Javiera Alcazar

  Faculty Champion:Jorge Bossio

  Faculty Champion:María Pía Felipa Ibarra

  Faculty Champion:Shirley Villanes Borja

  Faculty Champion:Silvana Balarezo

  School:Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

  Priorities:Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas Faculty Projects

  Priorities:Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas Student Priorities

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