OpportunityMap

OpportunityMap is a static scholarship and opportunity finder designed for Ghanaian and African students. It brings scholarships, competitions, fellowships, research programmes, summer programmes, internships, and other academic pathways into one searchable, student-friendly directory.

This repository contains the first professional front-end version of the project. It is intentionally built without a framework, backend, database, or sign-in system so the discovery experience and data model can be tested before the platform grows.

The problem

Talented students regularly miss valuable opportunities because information is fragmented across university pages, foundation websites, social posts, and informal networks. Even after finding a programme, a student may still need to work out whether it is relevant to their location, stage of study, field, and timeline.

This is partly an educational equity problem: access to opportunity often depends on access to timely, well-organised information.

The solution

OpportunityMap offers one clear place to:

• discover different types of academic and career-building opportunities;
• search across titles, locations, eligibility, fields, and descriptions;
• narrow results by category, country or reach, field of study, and deadline status;
• understand key details before investing time in an application; and
• continue to the official programme source for current requirements and submission steps.

The interface uses careful language and direct official links. A “verified source” label means the programme's official page was reviewed when the starter dataset was prepared; it is not an endorsement, and applicants should always reconfirm dates and eligibility.

Features in this version

• Responsive, portfolio-ready interface for desktop, tablet, and mobile
• Strong education-access value proposition
• JSON-powered opportunity cards—no cards are hardcoded in the HTML
• Live, case-insensitive keyword search across opportunity details and source metadata
• Category filters for:
  • Scholarships
  • Competitions
  • Fellowships
  • Research Programs
  • Summer Programs
  • Internships
• Data-derived country, field, and deadline-status filters
• Combined filtering and one-click filter reset
• Professional loading, empty, and data-error states
• Secure external links to official sources
• Per-card source name, verification date, student level, funding type, and application context
• Data-driven Opportunity Distribution panel with a lightweight Africa regional view
• “How OpportunityMap Works” guidance
• Clearly labelled AI matching preview for a future release
• Accessible landmarks, labels, focus states, status announcements, and reduced-motion support

Technology stack

• HTML5
• CSS3
• Vanilla JavaScript
• JSON

There are no runtime dependencies, build tools, frameworks, backend services, or database requirements.

Project structure

OpportunityMap/
├── index.html
├── styles.css
├── app.js
├── data/
│   └── opportunities.json
└── README.md

Run locally

The app loads data/opportunities.json with fetch(). For security reasons, many browsers block that request when index.html is opened directly with a file:// address. Serve the folder locally for reliable testing.

From the project directory, run either:

py -m http.server 8000

or:

python -m http.server 8000

Then open:

http://localhost:8000

The project also works with editor tools such as Live Server. If the page is opened directly and the browser blocks the JSON file, the interface shows a helpful setup message instead of failing silently.

Opportunity data

All opportunity cards come from data/opportunities.json. The starter dataset is deliberately small so the information model and interface remain easy to inspect.

Every object uses this structure:

{
  "id": "opp-001",
  "title": "Opportunity title",
  "category": "Scholarships",
  "country": "Ghana",
  "region": "West Africa",
  "eligibleFor": "Plain-language eligibility summary",
  "studentLevel": "Postgraduate",
  "field": "Field of study",
  "fundingType": "Fully Funded Scholarship",
  "applicationType": "Individual Application",
  "deadline": "2026-08-27",
  "deadlineStatus": "Open",
  "description": "Short opportunity summary",
  "sourceName": "Official programme owner",
  "officialUrl": "https://official.example.org/",
  "lastVerified": "2026-07-09",
  "verified": true
}

Deadline values may be ISO dates, rolling windows, vacancy-specific dates, or a clearly stated announcement status. The current filter statuses are Open, Upcoming, Rolling, and Closed.

studentLevel, fundingType, and applicationType use concise, human-readable values so the data can later support richer filters and AI matching. sourceName identifies the programme owner, while lastVerified records the most recent manual source check as an ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD).

Verified-source approach

OpportunityMap links students directly to the organisation responsible for each programme. A record marked "verified": true means its official source page was manually reviewed on the date stored in lastVerified. It does not mean the opportunity is endorsed, guaranteed, or permanently open.

The starter records were checked against official programme sources on 9 July 2026. Since deadlines and eligibility can change, students are reminded in the interface to confirm every detail and apply through the official programme website. A production version should add an editorial review queue, per-record verification history, and automated stale-data checks.

Deploy to Vercel

OpportunityMap is a static site and requires no build command.

1. Push the folder to a GitHub repository.
2. Import the repository into Vercel.
3. Choose the static/other framework preset if prompted.
4. Leave the build command empty and deploy from the repository root.

The same project can also be hosted on GitHub Pages or another static hosting service.

Future AI features

The AI matching panel is a product direction, not an active feature in this version. A later release could let a student create a profile using information such as:

• age and education stage;
• country and mobility preferences;
• subjects and fields of interest;
• skills and previous experience; and
• career or study goals.

An explainable matching layer could then use fields such as studentLevel, fundingType, and applicationType to rank suitable opportunities and show why each result may be relevant. This should be designed with consent, data minimisation, transparent controls, and a non-AI browsing path so students can still search the full directory themselves.

Research and analytics component

OpportunityMap can also become a research tool for understanding how opportunity access is distributed. The first regional panel already aggregates the JSON dataset into direct regional, Africa-wide, and international coverage.

With a larger, consistently maintained dataset, future research dashboards could examine:

• which African regions and countries receive the most listings;
• the balance between scholarships, internships, research, and other pathways;
• fields of study with strong or limited opportunity coverage;
• typical deadline patterns and application lead time;
• eligibility barriers by age, nationality, study level, or mobility; and
• gaps between where students are searching and where opportunities are available.

Those analytics should clearly distinguish directory coverage from the real-world supply of opportunities; an incomplete dataset must not be presented as a complete measure of access.

Platform growth path

The JSON dataset is appropriate for the first version. A fuller platform can later add:

• a database and editorial content-management workflow;
• user accounts and student profiles;
• saved opportunities and deadline reminders;
• per-record verification history and automated stale-data checks;
• personalised, explainable AI matching;
• country-level mapping and opportunity analytics;
• partner or institution submissions with moderation; and
• a research dashboard for educational opportunity access.

Data and contribution notes

Before adding or updating an opportunity:

1. Use the programme owner's official HTTPS page.
2. Confirm the category, eligible students, location, field, and current deadline.
3. Record the official organisation in sourceName and the review date in lastVerified.
4. Keep descriptions and funding labels factual and concise.
5. Avoid implying endorsement, guaranteed selection, or funding beyond what the source states.
6. Update deadlineStatus whenever the application cycle changes.
7. Test search, filters, cards, and regional counts after editing the JSON.

OpportunityMap is an early product foundation built around a simple idea: students should not miss a path merely because they never had a fair chance to see it.