The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) launches its new site with its course catalogue and completes the first phase of the project for its new digital experience platform (DXP). The aim is to transform the university's digital ecosystem, with a clear focus on external users. The project began in 2021 with a study on the site's target audiences and continued in 2022 with the publication of the e-services portal [CA|ES] and the conceptualization of the site presenting the course catalogue which is now being launched.
According to the Deputy General Manager for Global Business Development, Inés Teresa-Palacio, "with this overhaul we are making sure that we transfer the UOC's mission and its pioneering digital spirit to the new site and respond to the needs of our primary audiences. […] The new site covering the course catalogue contributes to attracting future students thanks to an excellent user experience and our digital content strategy, SEO and mobile-first design which encourages the discovery both on and beyond the portal of our range of courses that consists of more than 700 programmes."
One of its distinguishing features is the aim of making the project user-centred, and this has been a feature in all phases of the process. As a result, the site has been conceptualized in response to research carried out with users representing the portal's various audiences, and identification and in-depth analysis of the web needs of future students.
In order to contribute to consolidating the UOC's position as a leading digital university, the content has been simplified and rearranged, the information architecture redefined, the content ranked, the number of pages reduced, and the most important pages optimized.
From now on, when users consult the university's course catalogue, they will be able to make comparisons between programmes, which will help them to make their choice and substantially improve the user experience. This new feature is complemented by the addition of a powerful search engine and information about the programmes available with just one click from the menu.
As a result, in the overhaul of the Study at the UOC site, SEO and web analytics have led to key strategic decisions in the project's conceptualization and design phases, and in its implementation phase. SEO and SEM strategies have also been implemented to enhance overall visibility.
The brand has been incorporated with a clearer, more flexible and more digital design, which makes it easier to view content from different devices, streamlines key processes (such as filling in forms), and makes greater use of audiovisual content.
This is the first phase in a comprehensive project that addresses the university's need to improve its digital presence. According to the UOC's Deputy General Manager for Operations, Emili Rubió, "the new DXP platform is the cornerstone of our external public websites, and it means we can move towards improved governance, efficiency and consistency in the university's information systems." Other web spaces in the UOC's digital ecosystem will undergo renewal over the next few months, with the project scheduled for completion in 2024.
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