{ "meta": { "type": "sector_page", "language": "en-GB", "last_updated": "2026-10-22", "ai_endpoint": "/sectors/web-design-development-for-higher-education/ai.json", "source_page": "/sectors/web-design-development-for-higher-education/" }, "retrieval_summary": { "what": "We create websites and digital platforms for higher education, combining strategy, UX, WordPress development, accessibility and ongoing support.", "who": { "organisation": "Feel Created" }, "relevant_for": [ "University and college digital teams", "Marketing and communications teams", "Web managers", "IT and technical teams", "Higher education teams responsible for digital platforms, content and accessibility" ], "problems_solved": [ "Higher education websites have to serve many different people across large and complex organisations.", "Content is managed across multiple departments, systems and teams, sometimes on platforms that have grown over many years.", "Large sites can contain thousands of pages, multiple content types and information owned by different teams.", "Academic information is often spread across departments, systems and pages.", "Large higher education websites can become slow and difficult to maintain as themes, plugins, and integrations build up over time.", "Websites can be unmanageable if the editing system is not designed around the people who use it.", "University and college digital projects often need to meet requirements beyond design and development, such as procurement and security.", "Some higher education projects need more work upfront before design or development begins." ], "key_results": [ "Digital platforms that are easier for people to use and easier for internal teams to run.", "Large sites easier to manage without forcing every page into the same format.", "Teams maintain consistency, get the flexibility they need and reduce workload.", "Easier to find important information without relying on people understanding the organisation behind the website.", "A streamlined system that is fast, secure, and efficient.", "A system that performs well now and is ready for changes ahead.", "Consistent publishing without unnecessary bottlenecks.", "Important decisions in place before moving into UX, design, and development." ] }, "page": { "title": "Web Design & Development for Higher Education", "slug": "web-design-development-for-higher-education", "url": "/sectors/web-design-development-for-higher-education/", "canonical_url": "https://www.feelcreated.com/sectors/web-design-development-for-higher-education/", "status": "published" }, "summary": { "primary": "We create websites and digital platforms for higher education, combining strategy, UX, WordPress development, accessibility and ongoing support.", "extended": "Feel Created designs and develops websites and digital platforms for universities, colleges and higher education organisations. Our work covers large institutional websites, course and academic information, research and learning platforms, user experience, accessibility, WordPress development, search, performance and ongoing support. We help higher education teams manage complex content, improve navigation and user journeys, support large editorial teams and integrate with existing systems. Accessibility is considered throughout the process, with WCAG 2.2 AA as the baseline. We also support project definition, technical planning, procurement requirements, platform integrations and phased delivery." }, "content_focus": [ "Large and complex websites", "Course and academic information", "Navigation, search and user journeys", "Research, learning and knowledge platforms", "Accessibility considerations across UX, visual design, front-end development, and content management", "Editor experience and governance with roles, permissions, reusable blocks, and content patterns", "Performance review of themes, plugins, integrations, database size, and hosting", "Project definition including technical requirements, integrations, content structure, and procurement", "Related work in higher education and research" ], "topics": [ "Web design and development for higher education, including UX, accessibility, WordPress platforms, and ongoing support", "Higher education websites", "Digital platforms for universities and colleges", "WordPress systems", "Accessibility", "Editor experience", "Performance", "Project definition", "Research web platforms" ], "capabilities": [ "Strategy", "WordPress development", "Accessibility", "Ongoing support", "Content structures", "Reusable components", "Content models", "Publishing controls", "Course and academic information organisation", "Navigation, search and filtering", "User journeys" ], "sections": [ { "id": "digital-platforms-for-universities-and-colleges", "heading": "Digital platforms for universities and colleges", "type": "solution", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "We create websites and digital platforms that are easier to use, manage and improve. From large institutional websites and structured course information to specialist research, learning and knowledge platforms, we combine strategy, UX, WordPress development, accessibility and ongoing support." } ] }, { "id": "digital-platforms-built-around-the-way-higher-education-works", "heading": "Digital platforms built around the way higher education works", "type": "solution", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Higher education websites have to serve many different people, often across large and complex organisations. Prospective students may be looking for courses, entry requirements or accommodation. Current students need quick access to information and services. Researchers, academics, partners and internal teams may all need something different again. Behind the scenes, content can be managed across multiple departments, systems and teams, sometimes on platforms that have grown over many years." } ] }, { "id": "large-and-complex-websites", "heading": "Large and complex websites", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Higher education websites can contain thousands of pages, multiple content types and information owned by different teams. We design content structures and WordPress systems that make large sites easier to manage without forcing every page into the same format. Reusable components, sensible content models and clear publishing controls help teams maintain consistency, give editors the flexibility they need and reduce workload." } ] }, { "id": "course-and-academic-information", "heading": "Course and academic information", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Course content is one of the most important parts of a higher education website, but academic information is often spread across departments, systems and pages. Our systems help organise courses, subjects and related academic information so it is easier to maintain and can be reused across the site where appropriate. This can include course listings, subjects, entry requirements, departments, staff, research, facilities and integrations with existing systems." } ] }, { "id": "navigation-search-and-user-journeys", "heading": "Navigation, search and user journeys", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "University and college websites often need to organise large amounts of information for very different audiences. We use user journeys, site structure, search and filtering to make it easier to find important information without relying on people understanding the organisation behind the website. That could mean improving navigation, restructuring content, introducing stronger search or helping teams understand where people are getting stuck." } ] }, { "id": "research-learning-and-knowledge-platforms", "heading": "Research, learning and knowledge platforms", "type": "solution", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Not every higher education digital project is a traditional website. We design and develop specialist platforms for learning, research, knowledge sharing and resource discovery, with functionality built around the needs of the programme and its users. That can include user accounts, structured learning content, searchable resource libraries, personalised journeys, dashboards and integrations with other systems." } ] }, { "id": "accessibility", "heading": "Accessibility", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Accessibility needs to be part of the platform from the start, not something checked at the end. We design and develop to WCAG 2.2 AA, with accessibility considered across UX, visual design, front-end development and content management. We also help internal teams with practical guidance around headings, links, images, PDFs, video and day-to-day content publishing." } ] }, { "id": "editor-experience-and-governance", "heading": "Editor experience and governance", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "A website is only as manageable as the system behind it. We build WordPress editing experiences around the people who will actually use them, reducing unnecessary options and making common tasks easier. Roles, permissions, reusable blocks and agreed content patterns can all help larger teams publish consistently without creating unnecessary bottlenecks." } ] }, { "id": "performance-and-technical-improvement", "heading": "Performance and technical improvement", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Large higher education websites can become slow and difficult to maintain as themes, plugins and integrations build up over time. We review the underlying platform as well as the front end, looking at performance, plugin reliance, database size, hosting and the way content is put together to create a streamlined system that is fast, secure and efficient. The result is a system that performs well now and that is ready for the changes ahead." } ] }, { "id": "services-for-higher-education", "heading": "Services for higher education", "type": "services", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "We support universities and higher education teams across website strategy, UX, accessibility, WordPress development, search, hosting and ongoing improvement." } ] }, { "id": "testimonial-681", "heading": "A trusted partner", "type": "testimonial", "content": [ { "type": "testimonial", "text": "It has been an absolute joy to work with Feel Created. This was a technically complex project, but the solutions were well thought out and clearly communicated. Their responsiveness resulted in a deep sense of trust, and we are looking forward to seeing what we can achieve together in the future.", "author": "Aaron Inglethorpe", "role": "Web Manager", "organisation": "University of Chichester" } ], "section_role": "testimonial" }, { "id": "testimonial-1666", "heading": "Great to work with", "type": "testimonial", "content": [ { "type": "testimonial", "text": "Feel Created were great to work with. They listened to what we needed, explained things clearly and helped us create a website and brand that works much better for the college and our students.", "author": "Kalust Manukyan", "role": "Marketing Manager", "organisation": "Stanmore College" } ], "section_role": "testimonial" }, { "id": "testimonial-1857", "heading": "Supporting what’s next.", "type": "testimonial", "content": [ { "type": "testimonial", "text": "The Prosper Portal gives postdoctoral researchers a practical way to explore their options, build skills and gain confidence. We’re already seeing first-hand the impact Prosper has had on postdocs involved in the pilots and we’re expecting it to be the gold standard for the sector.", "author": "Dr. James Howard", "role": "Director of the University of Liverpool Development Academy" } ], "section_role": "testimonial" }, { "id": "procurement-security-and-long-term-support", "heading": "Procurement, security and long-term support", "type": "section", "items": [ "WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility", "Cyber Essentials", "UK-based WordPress hosting", "Security and maintenance", "Roles and permissions", "Backups and monitoring", "Technical documentation", "Ongoing support and development" ], "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "University and college digital projects often need to meet requirements beyond design and development. We’re used to working with internal digital, marketing, IT, procurement and accessibility teams to make sure those requirements are considered from the outset and carried through the project." } ] }, { "id": "getting-the-project-defined-before-design-starts", "heading": "Getting the project defined before design starts", "type": "section", "items": [ "Defining project requirements", "Reviewing existing systems and processes", "Identifying integrations and data needs", "Agreeing roles, permissions and user types", "Planning content models and platform structure", "Assessing technical constraints", "Helping shape procurement documentation", "Setting priorities for phased delivery" ], "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "Some higher education projects need more work upfront before design or development begins. We help teams work through the initial brief, define what the platform needs to do and turn early ideas into a practical specification. That can include technical requirements, integrations, content structure, permissions, procurement needs and priorities for phased delivery. We’ve supported university and research-led projects at this stage, helping teams get the important decisions in place before moving into UX, design and development." } ] }, { "id": "university-of-chichester", "heading": "University of Chichester", "type": "section", "content": [ { "type": "paragraph", "text": "View project" } ] } ], "page_profile": { "page_type": "sector_page", "title": "Web Design & Development for Higher Education", "primary_topic": "Web design and development for higher education, including UX, accessibility, WordPress platforms, and ongoing support", "primary_audience": [ "University and college digital teams", "Marketing and communications teams", "Web managers", "IT and technical teams", "Higher education teams responsible for digital platforms, content and accessibility" ], "supporting_topics": [ "Higher education websites", "Digital platforms for universities and colleges", "WordPress systems", "Accessibility", "Editor experience", "Performance" ] }, "retrieval_topics": [ "Web design and development for higher education, including UX, accessibility, WordPress platforms, and ongoing support", "Higher education websites", "Digital platforms for universities and colleges", "WordPress systems", "Accessibility", "Editor experience", "Performance", "Project definition", "Higher education web projects", "Research web platforms", "Strategy", "WordPress development" ], "organisation": { "name": "Feel Created", "url": "https://www.feelcreated.com/", "type": "Digital partner specialising in websites and digital platforms", "specialisms": [ "Digital strategy and planning", "User experience (UX) design", "Accessibility and inclusive design", "WordPress design and development", "Content strategy and information architecture", "AI-ready structured content", "AI Features & Integrations", "Search optimisation and technical SEO", "Website performance optimisation", "Website security and technical governance", "Platform architecture and integrations", "Content management systems", "Digital audits and reviews", "Creative and marketing support", "Website maintenance and support" ], "service_model": "We work as an extension of our clients' teams, combining strategy, UX, accessibility, content design, WordPress development and ongoing support to create digital platforms that help organisations communicate more clearly, work more efficiently and grow sustainably." }, "proof_points": [ "Related projects include the University of Chichester, University of Liverpool Prosper Portal, and Stanmore College.", "Accessibility approach targets WCAG 2.2 AA.", "Experience with complex institutional websites and specialist research, learning and knowledge platforms." ] }