Higher Education Report_2014_lowres

An investigation into the level and importance
of user experience for UK universities
Higher Education Report 2014
University websites:
making the grade?

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Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................03
Guidelines
Homepage..................................................................................................................................08
Course finder.............................................................................................................................11
Course details...........................................................................................................................14
Fees..............................................................................................................................................17
Applying......................................................................................................................................20
Accommodation.......................................................................................................................23
Campus & Facilities..................................................................................................................26
Visual design...............................................................................................................................29
Social media...............................................................................................................................32
Mobile..........................................................................................................................................35
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................39
Appendix...........................................................................................................................................40
About Webcredible........................................................................................................................42

www.webcredible.com 3
Why is UX
important for the
university market
The journey for potential
undergraduates, from researching
and applying to different
universities, is complex and at times
emotional. Universities need to make
it as easy as possible for prospective
students to get the information they
need to make the right decision.
In October 2014 UCAS published its
first statistical release from the 2015
undergraduate cycle for courses with an
October deadline only. This deadline is
applicable for most medicine, dentistry and
veterinary courses, as well as courses at the
University of Cambridge and the University
of Oxford. Overall there has been a -3%
fall in applications from the previous cycle,
whether this is reflected in overall application
numbers for 2015 undergraduate cycle we
do not yet know.
Introduction
Millennials are digitally savvy and connected,
emphasis on the online experience is crucial
for engagement and can make the difference
between your Institution being shortlisted.
Millennials are digitally
savvy and connected,
emphasis on the online
experience is crucial
for engagement

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For universities, this means:
• Competing for students in a market where
universities set their own tuition fees and
an increase in competition to attract
high-paying international students
• Providing a joined-up customer experience
throughout the full student lifecycle is
essential, from shortlisting universities
through to making a decision on which
university to attend
• Students are more careful with their course
choices and want to know they’re getting
value for money through having sufficient
contact time. According to the 2014
Student Academic Experience Survey,
students felt they gained educationally
when attending tutorial sized classes of
up to 15 students
Introduction continued
Providing a joined-up
customer experience
throughout the full student
lifecycle is essential
• With so much choice and different
considerations affecting potential students’
decision, universities need to engage
across all student touchpoints to stand
out in this busy market. Information
needs to be comprehensive yet engaging
and optimised for online reading, but
as important is the novel use of video,
photography and social media to engage
with prospective students

To benchmark the level of user experience
in the Higher Education Market, Webcredible
analysed the websites of 10 of the UK’s
universities in October 2014. The University
User Experience Index table of results, ranked
the universities as follows:
Rank University Experience index* Score %
1 Cardiff University 43 86%
2 University of Oxford 37 74%
3 City University London 34 68%
4 Aston University 34 68%
5 Durham University 34 68%
6 Oxford Brookes University 32 64%
7 University of Birmingham 33 66%
8 University of Cambridge 28 56%
9 University of Surrey 28 56%
10 Anglia Ruskin University 25 50%
Average score rounded up 33 66%
Results &
methodology
* Out of 50

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The 10 universities we chose provided a
varied sample and includes old and new
universities, collegiate and non-collegiate,
single campus and multi-campus, varied
ratings in terms of league-table position,
and a geographic spread across the UK.
Each university website was evaluated
against the following 10 best practice
guidelines and assigned a score of 0 to
5 for each guideline, with 5 being the
maximum. With 10 guidelines in total,
the universities were assigned a total
University User Experience Index rating out
of 50.
The guidelines against which we
benchmarked the 10 university sites were:
Finding a course
1. Homepage: Clear starting points
to engage students
2. Course finder: Helping students
find the ideal course
3. Course information: Comprehensive
& optimised for on-screen reading
Making a commitment
4. Cost of studying: Easy-to-find information
about fees and additional information
5. Applying for a course: Comprehensive
information and clear instructions
University life
6. Accommodation: Availability,
options & costs explained
7. Campus & facilities: Showing where
learning (and leisure) takes place
Multi-channel design
and brand perception
8. Visual design: Modern & readable design
that showcase’s the university brand
9. Social engagement: Meeting
prospective students on their terms
10. Mobile & tablet experience: Tailored
for touch & diverse screen sizes
Introduction continued

This report sets out to answer whether
universities are making the most of digital
touchpoints to attract prospective students
and help them choose between universities.
Universities are complex institutions and
have a wide audience to cater to.
However, given the focus of the university
market at present, this report focuses on
the journey of how prospective home/UK
and international students would go about
choosing a university for an undergraduate
or postgraduate course.
This report is key for anyone involved with
creating a great customer experience for
universities both online and offline.
This includes web managers, marketing
References
2015 cycle applicant figures - October deadline: http://tinyurl.com/op7ywwd
2014 Student Academic Experience Survey: http://tinyurl.com/k28top6
managers, admissions office, schools and
department managers.
Although the focus of this report is on the
universities’ digital channels (e.g. websites,
mobile channels, social media), it is key to
make sure that these touchpoints are joined
up with the other channels (both online
and offline) that university customers are
interacting with.
The report assumes no prior user
experience or technical knowledge.
About
this report

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Clear starting points
to engage students
Why it matters
The homepage is often the first impression
prospective students get of a university, so it’s
crucial that it conveys all the messages they
want to know and offers a clear link to finding
a relevant course. It might also be the starting
point for other audiences, who will need to be
swiftly directed to the relevant section of
the website.
1. Homepage
Tip
Even though you should strive to optimise
your homepage, don’t ignore the other
pages on your website. Check the analytics
to see other key pages where people land
on your website
What we looked for
University homepages should be aimed at
prospective students (the university’s largest
and most important audience) and should
provide:
• A course finder
• Links to sign-up to open days
• A downloadable prospectus
• “Credibility enhancers” such as
employment prospects and positions in
league tables
• Links or teasers about what the student
experience is like
• Clear navigation that gives distinct starting
points for each audience

Who does this well?
The Cardiff University
homepage is clearly
focused towards prospective
students. A prominent
course finder is balanced
with persuasive content
showcasing this
university’s proposition.

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Homepage continued
Who needs
improvement?
Even though the University
of Cambridge has an
interesting homepage,
prospective students will
struggle to find links relevant
to them in-between a lot
of news content.

Helping students
find the ideal course
Why it matters
Probably the most crucial task for
prospective students is to find courses that
interest them. A good course finder tool will
help students navigate what’s on offer and
even discover courses that they might be
interested in but didn’t know existed.
If there’s no course finder or it doesn’t work
well enough, prospective students will return
to search Google, and may end up on a
competing university site.
2. Course finder
300+
undergraduate courses are offered by
some of the universities we looked at.
It’s impossible to look through all
of these courses without a good
course finder tool!
What we looked for
Good course finders should:
• Enable students to get an overview of
the range of courses offered
• Help students define their search criteria
(e.g. undergraduate, part-time only)
• Provide a relevant and useful set
of search results
• Help students refine and narrow
their search

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Course finder continued
Who does this well?
The City University London
course finder shows a short
summary for each course
to help students decide if a
course is of interest to them.
When there are too many
results useful filters can help
narrow down the list.

Who needs
improvement?
The Oxford Brookes
University course finder is
powered by Google, but the
presentation of the results
isn’t fit for understanding and
comparing between different
university courses.

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Comprehensive
& optimised for
on-screen reading
Why it matters
We’ve run a lot of user research sessions
with students and have seen more and more
students looking into the details of each
course – down to the modules they’ll study
each semester. Meanwhile, parents investing
in their children’s education are looking for
reassurance that a particular course is a good
choice that will lead to a satisfying career. In
essence, a university course is now a product
that is placed under increasing scrutiny from
many angles.
3. Course information
Tip
A course page is really a product page,
even if the actual “transaction”
(applying for that course) doesn’t
happen on the university’s website.
What we looked for
Prospective students must be able to get
clear and actionable information about:
• Entry requirements and fees
• Course outlines and year-by-year
breakdown
• Structure of learning and related activities
• Career prospects
• What makes a course different from others
With a lot of information to provide online it’s
essential to optimise for reading
on-screen by:
• Summarising key facts into lists or tables
• Breaking up copy with sub-headings
• Using short sentences and bullet points
• Utilising well-spaced lines so pages
don’t look dense and off-putting

Who does this well?
The University of Oxford
course pages contain a lot
of detail but they’re well
structured and it’s clear how
to jump to a relevant section.
The advantages of studying
Physics at Oxford are
explained quite high up
on the page, in both text and
video format for instance.

Get in touch 020 7423 632016
Course information continued
Who needs
improvement?
The University of Surrey
course pages are long and
difficult to scan - there’s no
way to navigate directly to
important pieces of content.
The “Why Surrey” section
only appears at the very end
of the page, and students
interested in contacting
the university for more
information will struggle to
find contact details in the
website footer.

Easy to find fees
& any additional
information needed
Why it matters
With universities being able to set their own
fees (up to £9000 per annum), the price of
going to university is now at the forefront of
many students’ minds. Prospective students
need to know what universities charge for their
courses and to get a sense of how much it
might cost to live at that university.
4. Cost of studying
>£53k
The total cost of studying
a 3-year course in
a UK university
Source: insurer LV=
Also, many students may not be aware that
they have to pay for additional supplies
and equipment for some courses (e.g.
sketchbooks and paints for an art course).
What we looked for
Good university sites will show not just
the course fees but will also try to explain
additional information about the costs of:
• Accommodation
• Insurance
• Study materials and travel
• Living expenses (food, local travel,
personal expenses etc.)
• Scholarships may be available for
certain courses and these should be
listed together with information on
eligibility and how and when to apply
for them

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Cost of studying continued
Who does this well?
Cardiff University offers a
useful “Funding calculator”
on their website which
guides students towards
the information about fees
and scholarships that are
relevant to their personal
circumstances.

Who needs
improvement?
The University of Surrey
lists fees quite low on their
course pages, so they’re not
easy to spot. The links from
this section aren’t very clear
and can often send people
to more generic (instead of
more specific) information.

Get in touch 020 7423 632020
Comprehensive
& clear instructions
Why it matters
Once prospective students have made a
choice to apply to a university, they need to
know how to make their application.
Although most students will receive some
support around the application process from
their school and family, the level of support
will vary. There’s also international and mature
students to consider, who often receive little
or no support.
When a university steps in offering useful
information, applicants are more likely to stick
around on the university site and consider it in
their application.
5.Applying for a course
What we looked for
At the point of application students may
need to know:
• Term dates
• Entry requirements
• English requirements for international
students
• Timescales and application deadlines
• Whether there is an interview process
and what it involves
• Clear explanation of applying through
UCAS for undergraduates
• Contact information if help is required
Tip
As the application process is generally
long, spanning a few months, universities
should consider how they can support
students throughout that process – not just
at the beginning.

Who does this well?
Durham University has a
comprehensive “How to apply”
section that covers the entire
application process, and clearly
explains the collegiate system
that some students may not be
familiar with. Further queries
are encouraged through
prominent contact information.

Get in touch 020 7423 632022
Applying for a course continued
Who needs
improvement?
Anglia Ruskin University
directs prospective
applicants straight to the
UCAS website, or to internal
application forms without
giving any additional context
or instructions. This may
discourage people who
aren’t already familiar with
the process.

Availability, options
& costs explained
Why it matters
For most students, going to university
will be the first time they are living away
from their parents. Understandably, it’s
not unusual for both students and parents
to have anxieties about the availability of
accommodation, and what the standard is
like at a particular university.
In addition to availability, quality and costs,
location and issues around safety are
considered when choosing where to live.
6. Student accommodation
35%
of university students stay
with their family or in their own
home while studying.The rest
will have to find somewhere to
rent during their studies
What we looked for
Prospective students and parents will likely
want to be able to:
• Find out if first year undergraduates are
guaranteed a place in halls of residence
• Know how much private accommodation
may cost in subsequent years
• View the location of accommodation
relative to the university campus
• Compare options on eligibility, price,
location and quality
• Find out if it suits their needs
(e.g. for couples, disabled students,
female-only flats)
• See actual pictures of the inside of the
accommodation

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Student accommodation continued
Who does this well?
In addition to all the
essential information, Oxford
Brookes University shows
a good selection of realistic
photography of their student
halls, and even has 360
degree images of rooms.

Who needs
improvement?
At the University of Oxford,
accommodation is arranged
through colleges but this
isn’t made clear throughout
the site. Even in the section
talking about colleges, there’s
only one small mention of
accommodation.

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Showing where
learning (& leisure)
takes place
Why it matters
With the increase in student fees,
prospective students (and their parents)
are rightly expecting universities to invest in
infrastructure. The university campus is where
students will spend a lot of their learning time,
so they’ll want to see if they can spend this
time in a pleasant and productive environment.
At the same time, universities need to offer
space for extra-curricular activities such as
sport and socialising, both important aspects
of university life for many students.
What we looked for
• It should be easy to find details about
the university’s campus and facilities,
especially those that are essential for all
students (such as libraries)
• Investment into infrastructure projects
should be clearly highlighted, explaining
the tangible benefits to students
7. Campus & Facilities
£9bn
The amount Russell Group
universities are investing
in infrastructure projects for
the next 4-5 years.
• Facilities that are relevant to specific
subjects and courses should be
showcased on the course pages
• Images and maps should be used to
help prospective students imagine
themselves at the university campus

Who does this well?
Durham University has a
clear landing page telling
prospective students what
they can expect on campus.
They showcase a mixture of
essential and extra-curricular
facilities, and there’s a page
with more details for each of
the facilities.

Get in touch 020 7423 632028
Campus & facilities continued
Who needs
improvement?
This page from Aston
University gives little
information about their
campus and facilities,
with no links to find out more.
It’s also hard to find, as it’s
placed under a misleading
top-level category
named ‘Birmingham’.

Modern & readable
design, showcasing
the university’s brand
Why it matters
At a practical level, many elements of visual
design contribute directly to the usability of
the website. For example, good typography
contributes to better readability and
comprehension of text, and good choice of
colours helps highlight important information.
At the same time, choosing a university is
both an emotional and a practical choice.
When prospective students don’t have the
chance to visit the campus, the design of
the website is probably the only way for a
university to communicate their brand.
8. Visual design
What we looked for
Visual design can be a highly subjective
matter, but there are a few basics that we
looked for in a good university website:
• Good typography that makes it easy
to read text
• Consistent application of visual design
across different pages and sections of
the website
• Judicious application of multiple colours
and typefaces within the same page in
order to establish a clear visual hierarchy
• Appropriate use of white space to
distinguish between different sections
and avoid a sense of clutter
• Imagery is high-quality and used
to reinforce content
According to research by Google in
2012, people get a first impression of
whether a site is appealing or not in just
50 milliseconds

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Visual design continued
Who does this well?
In the recently-redesigned
Oxford University website
text is set in a clear and
legible typeface, and colour
is used appropriately to
highlight key information
and calls to action.
There’s enough white space
to clearly separate content,
and high-quality imagery is
used throughout.

Who needs
improvement?
The Anglia Ruskin website
uses about 10 different
colours on their homepage,
which don’t seem to be part
of a consistent palette. Text
is set in at least 3 different
typefaces and styles, which
don’t match with each other.

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Meeting prospective
students on
their terms
Why it matters
Social media is an invaluable marketing tool
for universities to help attract new students,
be they international, undergraduates or
postgraduates. Simply having standard
Twitter and Facebook accounts will not cut it.
Universities need to think about how they can
best engage with potential students, be it via
large overarching social media campaigns,
making conversation or integrating social
media into their websites.
9. Social engagement
Social media meets students on their terms
and if done right can give potential students a
positive, colourful picture of university life.
What we looked for
Things to consider a priority are:
• Ensuring that links to social media are
easy to find, with recognisable branding
• Having social media accounts for
undergraduate and
postgraduate admissions
• Engaging with potential students on
social media rather than just
publishing 1-way campaigns
• Integrating social media into the
website beyond simple social links
• Having a local presence on the most
popular social media networks used
by international students
Tip
In addition to attracting prospective
students, social media can be a powerful
tool to engage current students and
publicise the research a university does.

Who does this well?
Cardiff University have
recruited a number of
‘Student Insiders’ that help
bring an authentic voice to
the university’s social media
presence, using: blogs,
videos, Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram

Get in touch 020 7423 632034
Social engagement continued
Who needs
improvement?
Social media links on the
University of Birmingham
website are not placed in
avery prominent position (on
the top right of the page).
There’s no mention of social
media on the body of key
student recruitment pages.
Meanwhile, social sharing
links include websites that
are no longer relevant to a
student audience, such as
Delicious and Stumbleupon

Tailored for touch
& diverse screens
Why it matters
With websites now being viewed on multiple
devices – desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and
smartphones – it’s essential that prospective
students have an optimal viewing experience
however they choose to view a website.
In some of our work on the higher education
websites, we’ve seen that as much as 50% of
traffic comes from mobile devices, especially
around key dates on the admissions calendar
(e.g. UCAS deadlines and results day).
10. Mobile & tablet
What we looked for
Websites optimised for mobiles
& tablets should:
• Consider the context in which prospective
students will be using different devices
• Prioritise functionality and information so
that important features are immediately
visible even on smaller screens
• Use appropriate navigation mechanisms
for different screen sizes
• Have buttons, links and other interactive
elements that are big enough for
touch screens and don’t rely on hover
interactions for viewing essential content
Tip
Don’t forget to make sure that any
externally-hosted media that you’re
including on your website, such as videos
and maps will also work without problems
on mobiles and tablets.

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Mobile & tablet continued
Who does this well?
Oxford Brookes is one of
the few universities in our
survey that have an entirely
responsive website, so it
works well in different screen
sizes. Navigation is adapted
so that people can expand
sections of content rather
than scroll through a very
long page.

Who needs
improvement?
Cardiff University haven’t
yet adapted their site to
work well on smaller screens.
Prospective students
attempting to see the site
on a phone will view a
cropped view and might miss
important information.

Get in touch 020 7423 632038
Results overview
In first place is Cardiff University
with 86%, scoring a full 5 points in
7 out of the 10 the guidelines. In
bottom position is Anglia Ruskin
University with 50%, scoring 2 points
or less in 5 of the 10 guidelines.
The average score was 56%.
There were some key areas of poor
user experience that all universities
should prioritise:
Where do I start?
We were surprised that several homepages
didn’t have clear starting points targeted
at students’ needs. Cardiff University’s
homepage is clearly focused towards
prospective students and features both a
prominent course finder whilst showcasing its
proposition. In contrast with the University of
Cambridge and despite having an interesting
homepage, prospective students will struggle
to find relevant links due to the amount of
featured news content.
What do I want to study?
In the competitive university market,
courses are what universities sell and
what students buy.
Conclusion
Course finders are critical pieces of
functionality that bring buyers and
sellers together.
Good course finders should:
• Actively help students in their
decision-making
• Help students get an overview of the
range of courses available
• Find relevant courses (and similar ones)
and compare courses
• Remember what courses users have
looked at between browsing sessions
Course finders are
critical pieces of functionality
that brings buyers and
sellers together

City University scores a full 5 points for
its course finder (an improvement from 3
points in the 2013 report), it features a short
summary for each course and utilises filters
which helps narrow down course selection.
Given how absolutely critical a good course
finder is to a university’s business, it’s
incredible that the average score for this
category is only 2.6. 3 of the 10 universities
we evaluated scored just 1 point, one of
those being the University of Oxford.
Where will I live?
Universities appear to be much more
aware of the importance students place on
accommodation. 5 of the 10 universities
received a full 5 points, and this contributed
to an average score of 4.0 for this category.
The University of Oxford scores badly in this
category with a score of 2, this is however
a vast improvement on 2013’s score of 0.
We were impressed with the comprehensive
information some universities provided,
comparison tables to help students decide
amongst different accommodations and the
novel use of multimedia to showcase rooms
and facilities.
What will life be like on campus?
The majority of a student’s life will be spent
on campus so being able to gauge what it’s
really like to be there will not only allay their
own anxieties but also their parents. There
are three universities that really excel in this:
Durham University has a very clear landing
page telling prospective students what
they can expect on campus, both Oxford
University and City University score a full 5
points a piece.
Some universities were leading the way in
tailoring their websites to smaller screens,
such as smartphones. Oxford Brookes is
one of the few universities in our survey that
have made their website responsive so it
works well in different screen sizes, with fluid
content and mobile-optimised navigation
mechanisms; it’s great to see a university
acknowledging that up to 50% of their traffic
comes from a mobile device.

Get in touch 020 7423 632040
Conclusion continued
Strategic implications
The creation of a customer experience
strategy to support prospective students
in choosing and preparing for university
is essential as the market becomes more
competitive. Such a strategy should include:
• The use of user experience guidelines
(for both web and mobile)
• A rich understanding of students’
online needs
• User testing to validate the
effectiveness of online channels
It’s clear that web and mobile user
experience are only parts of the overall
customer experience that increasingly
involves interactions with customers over
multiple channels.
A truly integrated and successful university
digital strategy that matches users’ needs
with business objectives can best be
achieved through a user experience design
approach that examines the whole student
journey across all channels. Using a user
experience design approach helps to ensure
University Homepage Course Finder Course details Fees Applying
Cardiff University 5 3 3 5 5
University of Oxford 1 1 4 5 5
City University London 3 5 4 3 2
Aston University 3 2 4 4 4
Durham University 2 4 3 3 5
Oxford Brookes University 2 1 3 3 4
University of Birmingham 3 4 4 3 4
University of Cambridge 1 1 4 2 5
University of Surrey 3 2 1 2 3
Anglia Ruskin University 3 3 2 3 1
Mean 2.6 2.6 3.2 3.3 3.8
Appendix: Full results

Online, mobile and even
in-university processes must
form part of an overarching
multi-channel strategy
Accommodation Campus & Facilities Visual design Social media Mobile Total*
5 5 5 5 2 43
2 5 5 4 5 37
5 3 3 3 3 34
3 2 4 4 4 34
3 4 3 3 4 34
5 3 3 3 5 32
5 3 3 2 2 33
3 2 4 3 3 28
4 3 3 2 5 28
5 3 1 2 2 25
4 3.3 3.4 3.1 3.5 32.8
consistency across student touchpoints
(points in the journey where students interact
with the university in some tangible way).
Online, mobile and even in-university
processes must form part of an overarching
multi-channel strategy, ensuring that all
channels provide a consistently high quality
experience. That is, an experience that allows
students and parents to easily access course
and university information, when they want
and through whatever method they want.
* Out of 50

Webcredible creates people-centred,
efficient and delightful digital
experiences.
In a nutshell, we carry out research with
your customers and then design websites
and digital solutions based around their
needs and goals.
As an insight-led customer experience
agency, Webcredible delivers demonstrable
success for our clients time and time again:
• 44% conversion improvement and a
168% uplift in leads for Countrywide
• 36% increase in made-to-order online
revenues for Laura Ashley
• 50% reduction in mobile homepage
drop-offs for Macmillan Cancer Support
• 80% increase in hotel ‘look-to-book’
conversions for Thomson
Founded in 2003, Webcredible is one of
the UK’s original specialist user experience
agencies. We work across websites, mobile
web & apps, applications, intranets, in-store
interfaces and more.
Webcredible’s way of working is completely
unique, with collaboration and knowledge
sharing built into everything we do.
About
Webcredible
www.webcredible.com
+44(0)20 7423 6320
hello@webcredible.com

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