Five fantastic features of the new Bridgend College website

In November the new Bridgend College website was launched. The college is clearly thriving and has ambitious plans to develop a new town centre college campus. For now, the college has a wonderful new website produced by Concept4 which has many great elements. Here are five fantastic features:

1. PERSONALISED PROSPECTUS

Via the website you can create your very own English or Welsh personalised prospectus as a digital download. Any course can be added to the ‘My Favourites’ area and after filling in a simple form, the user receives a download link straight to their inbox within moments – a bespoke booklet with their selection of courses, some wraparound content and personalised with their name on it!

Bridgend College no longer produce a printed prospectus and by creating this totally customisable digital alternative they are playing their part in an ongoing commitment to sustainability. The personalised digital prospectus saves on paper and delivery, helping to reduce their carbon footprint.

We’re pleased to be associated with Bridgend College on this initiative – colleges need to maximise every opportunity to connect with prospective students in a way that is relevant and tailored to the individual. This personal touch helps the college stand out whilst giving a reason to stay in touch as the student considers their options.

2. STANDOUT DESIGN

The new website design takes cues from the college’s varied brand colour palette, drawn together in to a clean and clear user interface across all devices. The use of icons across all course and interest categories visually enhances the layout, whilst offering at-a-glance understanding of the subject matters and keeps a consistency throughout the website. Along with an easy-to-use navigation across desktop and mobile, clear audience segmentation and an intuitive course search, the user experience is as seamless as possible for all types of user.

In addition, the colour palette, colour contrast, design styling and overall build factors in accessibility, specifically meeting the international WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility standard required of public sector bodies.

3. BILINGUAL WEBSITE

On entry to the new site, you’re asked which language you want the site to be presented in, English or Welsh – thereafter stored as a cookie with your preference. Every single aspect of the college website is bi-lingual. The college recognises the importance of the Welsh language and offers a range of services to support students and staff, including a the entirely of the website content including course pages and course PDF downloads being bi-lingual, hand-translated through a CMS language plugin. The college is fully committed to compliance with the Welsh Language Standards which you can find on the website. Plus, of course, there is the ability to gain Welsh language qualifications at the college.

4. SEARCH BY INTERESTS

One really interesting aspect of the website is the ‘Search by Interest’ feature which is aimed at helping those users that may not know what course to search for but can identify an area of interest. This feature allows the college to tag their courses with one or more categories of interest, so that school leavers, part-time students and those looking to change career have an easy way to see what the college can offer them. As an alternative to a career-based search, we can see this idea being used more and more. Certainly, giving your prospective students another different way to find a route into education can only be a good thing!

5. COURSE MANAGER

A common feature in our college websites, Concept4’s Course Manager can really help a marketing team lift and augment the course data. The system takes a live feed from the college’s MIS (EBS) to accurately represent all course information, mode of study, start date and fees, meaning no duplication of effort in delivering course information to the website. In Bridgend’s case, Course Manager then offers ability to add equivalent Welsh course content, plus it also handles a range of courses that don’t sit within EBS – a range of Community College courses, free courses, Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) courses. Lastly, Course Manager shows users a range of related courses to the one they are currently viewing.

Be all that you can be – be extraordinary with Bridgend College. We like to think the website does the college ethos justice. See our recent collection of college websites including Bridgend College here.