Open in Claude
Open in ChatGPT
Open in Gemini
We built UniApplyForMe to help South African learners find their path after matric. Over 300,000 students use the app to match their NSC and NCV results against university programmes, TVET colleges, and bursaries, always for free.
Behind the app sits something we have quietly been building for two years: a structured, verified database of every published undergraduate qualification at all 26 public universities, six TVET colleges, and a growing list of private institutions, each with subject requirements, APS rules, application deadlines, and fees. No other platform in South Africa has this data in a form that is queryable at this level of detail.
For the past two months, the UniApplyForMe team has been using this MCP Server internally to answer learner queries and test edge cases across our own qualification database. It has saved hours of manual lookups every week and shaped how we think about guidance at scale.
Today we are opening that same tool to guidance counsellors, EdTech platforms, and student advisors through a public product: the UniApplyForMe MCP Server.
What is an MCP Server?
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT connect directly to external data sources and tools. Instead of copying and pasting information into a chat window, the AI calls your system directly, gets live data back, and reasons over it in the conversation.
For guidance work, this changes everything. Instead of manually checking a prospectus for each learner, you connect the UniApplyForMe MCP to your Claude or ChatGPT account and have a natural conversation. The AI does the lookup, the matching, and the reasoning, while you focus on the learner in front of you.
See the UniApplyForMe MCP Server in action inside ChatGPT, checking a learner’s eligibility across 2,218 qualifications in real time.
What it can do
Pass a learner’s subject results directly in conversation and the MCP checks them against every published qualification in our database, grouped by outcome: fully qualifies, meets APS only, meets subject requirements only, or does not qualify. It checks APS using each university’s specific calculation rules, not a generic formula.
If the learner is registered on the UniApplyForMe app and has added their marks, you can look them up by email address. Their marks are fetched from the database automatically, with the correct mark period priority applied, so you are always working with the most current results.
Beyond eligibility, the MCP can tell you which universities and colleges are currently open for 2027 applications, what the application fees are and whether they apply through the CAO or directly, and filter everything by institution, stream, or province.
A real example
A learner walks into a guidance office discouraged. They got English FAL 48%, Mathematical Literacy 42%, Life Orientation 65%, Consumer Studies 55%, Hospitality Studies 58%, Life Sciences 44%. They think they have no options.
One prompt to Claude or ChatGPT with the MCP connected:
“This learner thinks they don’t qualify for anything. English FAL 48%, Mathematical Literacy 42%, Life Orientation 65%, Consumer Studies 55%, Hospitality Studies 58%, Life Sciences 44%. What realistic options do they have across universities and TVET colleges?”
The MCP checks all 2,218 qualifications and returns real options: open-entry Higher Certificates at Eduvos and UCT, several UNISA Higher Certificates, NCV and Nated programmes in Hospitality and Consumer Sciences at TVET colleges. The conversation shifts from “I have nothing” to “here are three realistic paths and here is how to apply.”
That is what this tool is for.
Who it is for
The MCP is designed for school guidance departments, private tutoring centres, student advisors, and EdTech platforms that work with matric and TVET learners at scale. It is not a consumer product. It is a professional tool for people who advise learners every day and need accurate, fast, database-backed answers.
Access and pricing
The MCP is available now via invitation. We are onboarding a small group of guidance counsellors and institutions in the first cohort. If you work with matric or TVET learners and want early access, reach out at info@labs.org.za.
Pricing is per seat per month, with plans for individual counsellors, school guidance departments, and platforms. Details on request.
The student-facing UniApplyForMe app remains free. Always.