Teesside’s website rated the tops by teens

Teesside University’s website has been rated as one of the most successful in the higher education sector, according to a new survey.

In a study commissioned by The Times Higher Education magazine, lower sixth form students gave high scores to www.tees.ac.uk. The survey of lower sixth-form (aged 16 to 17) students from Didcot Sixth Form, Gillingham School and Chigwell School, reviewed the websites of 152 higher education institutions. The pupils marked the sites one to five for five criteria, with the following scores for Teesside:

>accessibility - 5 >contact information - 5 >peer review - 5 >unique selling point - 4 >insight - 5. A total of 24 out of a possible 25. Professor Graham Henderson, Teesside University’s Vice-Chancellor, said: 'Having a high quality website has been an aim of our University for some time and its success lies in the fact that we have never lost sight of the overall aim of providing a lively, vibrant and dynamic environment, while still enabling students to easily find all the information they need to apply to study at the University. Innovative design, clear navigation, lively video, strong photography and imaginative content 'We have actively tried to use a combination of innovative design, clear navigation, lively video, strong photography and imaginative content to engage with all of the audiences who visit the site.

'Feedback suggests that our website works well for prospective students because each study section – undergraduate, postgraduate, part-time, international and study at Darlington, carries all the essential information for students wishing to study with us. 'We are delighted that the website has been voted as ‘high performing’ by prospective students in this Times Higher Education research, which continues to prove that focusing on all elements of the ‘journey’ of our prospective students is the right way to show them what the University can offer. The survey’s questions were drawn up with James Allan, digital strategist at Mission Media. In 2010 Teesside University has also won an excellence award from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations for Best Website and a silver award from HEIST – the Higher Education Information Services Trust.

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