Kursiko, explained for parents
Your child is looking for studies in Europe. Here, in plain words, is what Kursiko does, what it keeps and what you decide.
- Free
- Open from age 13
- Database in Paris
Parents' questions
How much does Kursiko cost?
Kursiko is free for your child. The test, the ranked list of schools, the application plan, help with the cover letter and the chat about a school cost nothing.
What happens to my child's data?
Kursiko keeps a username (never their real name), their e-mail, their year of birth and sometimes the month, their country, their language, their test answers, their schools and their progress.
To estimate their chances of admission, the test asks for their average grade, their rank in class and, in France, their school (optional); all schools remain visible. These answers stay in the browser on their device. The database keeps only a grade band, with their other test answers: neither their rank nor their school. Their exact average is kept only if they enter it themselves in their profile.
The database is hosted in Paris, in the European Union. Some technical providers are American: data may pass through the United States.
Protection against abuse never uses the IP address in plain text, only an encrypted fingerprint renewed every day. Your child can download all their data or delete their account at any time from "My account".
From what age? Do you need my consent?
Kursiko is open from age 13. Below the age set by the law of their country (15 in France), your child's account waits for a parent's consent.
You then receive an e-mail with a link valid for 7 days. It tells you what Kursiko keeps, and you give or refuse your consent. Refusing deletes the account and all its data.
Until you answer, AI is closed to your child and their username is replaced by "Incognito" on the images they share.
How does Kursiko use artificial intelligence?
The ranking of schools is a fixed calculation: the same answers always give the same schools.
In their space, your child can use AI in two places: a chat that answers their questions about a school, based on that school's page, and help with the cover letter, lesson by lesson, where the text stays their own. The chat is limited to 8 messages a day.
The AI receives neither their name, nor their username, nor their e-mail, nor their date of birth. Phone numbers, e-mail addresses and links they type are hidden before sending. Their conversations are never used to train an AI model, never sold or shown to a school, and are deleted with their account.
If a message suggests distress, the helpline numbers of their country are shown. Kurs, the assistant on this site, gives answers prepared by the Kursiko team, each with its source.
Which countries are covered?
The test results cover 13 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
France has its own guide page on the site, but no programmes in the results yet.
How much time does it take?
The test takes about 10 minutes: questions, some of which depend on earlier answers, then quick cards about their interests. Then the application plan suggests a single thing to do each day to prepare the application.