The Problem Facing Universities
University websites are the digital front door to an institution, playing a pivotal role in conveying its value proposition and reflecting its culture, community and values to a range of diverse audiences.
However, in an increasingly competitive market with continuously evolving staff and student expectations, the days of a glossy brochure site being sufficient are behind us. Today's successful universities understand that leveraging their flagship website as a strategically aligned and scalable recruitment tool is a mission-critical business and operational necessity.
Over the past 12 months, universities across the UK have been forced to manage aggressive budget targets, coupled with intense competition to attract international students from a broad range of global destinations. With the University of Hull announcing the closure of its chemistry department in November 2024, even despite ranking within the top 5 in the Guardian University Guide 2024, it is clear that high academic standards do not guarantee course sustainability through student recruitment.
Practical, actionable digital strategies and initiatives that support sustainable recruitment and retention are unsurprisingly rising to the top of the agenda across higher education institutions throughout the UK.
Zoocha work with around 1 in 5 of the UK Universities that use Drupal to power their websites. A recurring theme across all higher education institutions we work with is how their teams can better manage digital content sprawl, while presenting information in an increasingly personalised way and targeting international student groups.
This article explores how university digital teams can be supported by scalable and repeatable practices and flexible design approaches, enabling them to do more, with less, while meeting the increasingly high expectations of their audiences.
The User at the Centre
Before we get started, it’s easy to get swept up in the tools, emerging technologies, and best practices of digital strategy while losing sight of the most important factor: the user. Without a deep understanding of your audience, their pain points, motivations, and needs, even the most ambitious strategies can fail.
The recommendations in this article reflect over a decade of experience in designing digital experiences that truly resonate. That being said, every platform serves a unique user community that must underpin all decisions made in the ambition to meet organisational goals. We don’t rest on our laurels, we believe robust and continuous user engagement strategies are crucial in managing content and crafting a digital experience that works.
Key Challenges & Opportunities
Balancing Complexity with a Cohesive User Experience
The challenge of managing high volumes of content across a large number of pages is exacerbated by the decentralised structure of university teams involving a diverse range of contributors. Although this allows subject matter experts to contribute directly to evolving content, without flexible controls in place this can dilute the university’s identity through inconsistencies in tone, style and quality of content. This has an end result of creating unnecessary complexity and confusion in the user experiences, driving students away from the University website.
An integrated design system provides a unified framework for website design and development. Key efficiencies gained from an integrated design system include:
- Reusable Components: Modular elements, such as buttons, menus, and forms, that can be implemented consistently across all pages.
- Style Guidelines: Clear documentation on typography, colour schemes, imagery, and tone to maintain visual and narrative consistency.
- Tone of voice: Ensuring content is readable and tailored to the student experience, rather than using unfamiliar academic jargon
- Centralised Templates: Predefined layouts that departments can use to ensure alignment with the overall site structure.
Integrating a design system within a CMS that facilitates extensive editor management control and flexibility, University content can be driven by subject matter experts without compromising quality and ensuring a seamless student experience. This is exactly the solution University College London (UCL) has adopted, overhauling their approach to managing hundreds of faculty and department websites, powered by Drupal.
Incorporating flexible templates and modular components, the UCL web platform now provides devolved editor control with strict quality governance.
Content Sprawl, Artificial Intelligence & Personalisation
Universities are tasked with the difficult challenge of engaging a generation that is increasingly accustomed to instant access to information and spending on average less than a minute navigating digital platforms. Outdated, redundant, or irrelevant content not only negatively affects the user experience but also undermines the university’s credibility.
Keeping up with AI can be a minefield, however, AI-driven tools that support tone and readability can help tailor user experiences based on behaviours, preferences, and demographics. Open-source products such as Drupal integrate with ChatGPT to support the content editor experience, prompting editors to review and perfect readable content. Personalised content, course recommendations, and user-specific dashboards enhance user engagement and satisfaction, making interactions with the university websites more impactful within increasingly reduced visitor time spans.
Personalised experiences are essential to gaining and retaining user attention, ultimately supporting and optimising a wider recruitment strategy. Core personalised experiences to consider include:
- Localised Content: Providing country-specific landing pages with tailored information about programs, scholarships, and cultural adaptation is crucial to engaging international students and making them feel welcome at your institution
- Multilingual Content: Communicating directly with users in their native language through enhanced AI translation and human review
- Personalised Communication: Using AI-driven chatbots to answer questions and guide students through application processes, providing essential information to international students with less awareness of the UK higher education system
- Predictive Analytics: Enhance user journeys, forecast student needs, and recommend courses or programs tailored to the individual preferences.
- Interactive Prospectuses: Allow users to build personalised prospectuses by selecting programs, extracurricular opportunities, and support services relevant to their interests. Eliminate the need to trawl through extensive prospectus documentation.
Ultimately, a strategy that offers personalised experiences must evolve over time. Starting small with opportunities to engage further with users with welcome messages, and related content journeys and suggestions can form the foundation for a robust personalisation strategy that grows with each iteration of analysis and review.
The University of Gloucestershire transformed its traditional prospectus into a fully personalised and interactive digital experience. Partnering with Prospectus Plus, the university launched a tool that allowed prospective students to customise their prospectuses by selecting specific courses, accommodation options, and facilities of interest. Beyond the prospectus, the University of Portsmouth made the most of the Acquia toolset to power personalised journeys for international students using the Acquia Personalize tool, allowing their editors to create tailored content experiences via a no-code interface. Furthermore, the University of Portsmouth also opt for an AI powered search experience, further driving personalised and tailored results to users that are often stretched on time to find what they need.
Unique Identities & Engagement
Standing out amongst increasingly dynamic, creative and diverse higher education institutions has become a core challenge for University web teams. Employing a range of digital analytics support to measure KPIs, alongside Heatmapping, A/B testing, and behavioural segmentation provide actionable insights for continuous improvement to target pivotal areas of engagement throughout the application pipeline.
Informational content must be succinct, personalised and easily understood. Nevertheless, opportunities for engagement stretch into the what was once traditionally physical realm, hosting virtual open days, live Q&A sessions with admissions teams, and online campus tours allows students to achieve deepened insight into University student experiences without requiring the in-person journey.
Multilingual experiences and interactive visual content are pivotal for the international student recruitment drive. PSL Université Paris allows students to seamlessly toggle between French and English content, similarly Kyoto University exposes content in English, Japanese and Korean.
However, it’s not just the international students that are relying on an enhanced digital experience to underpin application decisions. Financial, time and travel pressures impact even home student’s decisions to make an in person campus visit.
Holly Hayman, Head of Digital at Falmouth University, speaks to the importance of an exceptional user experience when developing an in-person connection through Open Days isn’t always possible:
“Falmouth University is unique in its setting. Located in Cornwall, we have an inspirational natural environment on our doorstep - and all the benefits that come with that for our students and staff. However, Cornwall itself is a remote county, and in times of increased financial pressure exploring our campuses by attending an Open Day isn’t always a viable option for a future student.
To this end, our website and digital real estate is absolutely critical to the University. It’s our ‘shop window’ - our universal resource - and our single source of truth for course content, events, support and anything and everything a future student might need when making their decision to study here
Without our Drupal website, we wouldn’t have the power to influence or engage with the inspirational students that Falmouth welcomes each year."
In essence, removing physical obstacles to application can be achieved through enhanced interaction, rich media and ‘live’ communication for prospective students. Virtual Reality tours embedded into University platforms are becoming increasingly staple features of the user experience, establishing trust, credibility and excitement at early phases of the student application journey.
Conclusion
The challenges facing university websites; content sprawl, decentralised management, and tight budgets, are significant but not insurmountable. Personalisation, AI-driven engagement tools, and creative uses of web technology, such as interactive prospectuses and virtual reality tours, can redefine the user experience for prospective students, crucially targeting an international market.
Solutions using open source software platforms facilitate the necessary flexibility to drive targeted user experience that can be built through the selection of 3rd party tools that can be combined to produce an outstanding DXP (Digital Experience Platform). Unlike proprietary software with fixed functionality, open-source solutions prioritise individuality to stand out in a competitive global market. For this reason, 80% of the world's top 100 universities utilise Drupal as an open-source solution, underscoring its robustness and suitability for academic environments.
Universities that embrace this vision, investing in extensible, innovative, and sustainable web solutions, will be better equipped to thrive in an increasingly competitive and digitally-driven world. By leveraging the insights and strategies outlined in this article, institutions can build digital ecosystems that not only meet today’s challenges but also anticipate tomorrow’s opportunities.
Looking to discuss Drupal with University Peers?
Head to the #higher-ed-uk Drupal Slack space, a place to share your thoughts, concerns and ideas with individuals from across the UK Drupal Higher Education sphere. Outside of the UK, https://highereddrupal.org/ offers a global Slack community.