KU students will now get to use only one mobile application within KU. Despite many complaints from many students on campus, KU was infamous for utilizing mobile applications that failed to fully reflect the demands of the students. Star:zari, in response to such complaint, has integrated all KU mobile applications. Under the guidance of Han In Soo (’15, Electrical Engineering), the chief manager of the project, the Star:zari’s Department of Lifestyle Welfare was mostly responsible for the creation of the mobile application. Although the integrated mobile application is a brainchild of Star:zari, KUSA has been able to cooperate with the school in order to finalize the project. 

Previously, the only officially active mobile applications in KU were the Blackboard service, library seat reservation system, KU Guide application, and the KU Job Center application. Therefore, Han insisted that KU “lacks the environment for mobile applications to be efficient and convenient for students.” Due to the large number of different individual mobile applications in KU, it was hard for companies and the university to keep up with the maintenance, and such flaws ultimately led to inconveniences for all KU community members. However, Han explained that the most recent mobile application troubleshoot these problems.

The application contains six different services. However, Han insisted that the services provided by the application is subject to change according to what the students want from the application, and is expected to go through at least two updates before the semester ends. The services the application currently includes are the Starlight Card service, Shuttle Bus service, School Menu service, Campus Map service, Timetable service, and application recommendation service. The Shuttle Bus service notifies the students the time schedules for each bus on campus, and the Campus Map service will include information of services provided by different school facilities. The Time Table service will also notify students with information regarding lectures and the rooms where the lectures will be held. Finally, the App recommendation service will provide students with links for installing applications which Star:zari considers useful for a more convenient lifestyle.

This application is a groundbreaking invention for KU because, according to Han, it is the first time ever in Korea that the student association has worked together with the school to create a mobile application. Previously since most mobile applications were made by the school, they were not able to fulfill the needs of the students. Now that the students were able to be a part of creating the new software, Han feels that the new application will reflect many of the needs the students have been asking for. 

The Department of Lifestyle Welfare aims to make this application maintainable in the long run. Previously, whatever applications KUSA created were abolished as soon as the reigning student association yielded their position. This time, however, the Department of Lifestyle Welfare aims to make this application continuous so that students will have access even when Star:zari is no longer in office. Since this was a project where the student association played a crucial role, Han claimed that “all the conveniences created by having students be a part of the project will flow down to all the remaining students.”