Assignment Summaries (Other Institutions)
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
1720 – Arts & Humanities Undergraduate Admissions Web Project
The School of Arts & Humanities (CSAH) at the University of Cambridge commissioned us to conduct an
analysis of its School and Faculty web pages from the perspective of a potential applicant. We were asked to
make an assessment of how easily subject information could be found, whether it was presented clearly and
accurately and whether branding was consistent across each of the sites. In light of this analysis we were
asked to bring forward proposals to enhance the applicant experience.
We initially undertook a high-level mapping exercise to understand the current style, structure and content
of the web pages. We then compared the web pages to those of competitor institutions including Oxford,
Warwick, UCL, Manchester and Durham. Finally, we ran focus groups with a group of 18 students from a sixth
form college rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted, all of whom achieved a minimum of five A* at GCSE and who had
aspirations to study at an elite institution.
This research informed the development of a number of recommendations, the most important of which was
to install and measure analytics across each of the sites to better understand current user interaction and to
test the hypotheses drawn up from the qualitative findings. Other recommendations included the resolution
of cosmetic errors, the development of a web improvement strategy and the redesign of pathways to better
match the priorities of the target audience.
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SUMS Consulting Annual Review 2016