The newest edition of the degree finder launched on 2 March 2026. This is the first year that degree finder School editors had access to make changes in the new system, and the first time we’ve had two editions of the degree finder hosted in the same location. We also had to contend with new legislative requirements in the run-up. However, once again, the result is a real team effort and a testament to collaboration across the University.

Feedback from our editors

While we launched our first edition of undergraduate in the new system for 2026 entry, 2027 entry was the first time editors had direct access to their drafts in the degree finder instead of using Content Workflow.

Each year we gather feedback from our editor pool about how the cycle has gone. This year we are seeing signs that the new system is making certain aspects of the editorial period easier. For example:

• 55% of respondents said that it was a bit or a lot easier to preview their upcoming content in the new system than 2026
• 33% said it was a bit or much easier to edit content in the new content management system (CMS) than 2026

This is encouraging as Content Workflow had been used for the undergraduate cycle for a while, so it was good to see moving wholesale to the new system hadn’t added too many obstacles this time around.

We also have some great insights to use as a foundation for future enhancements to the system. Our editors’ feedback also showed:

• Some aspects of getting in/out of editing mode that could be smoother
• Comments functionality still needs work and guidance
• Agreeing content with non-editors remains a consistent challenge, with editors needing to use a variety of third-party tools for this
• Issues around timing of academic reviews and their impact on degree finder timelines

We’ll add this feedback to our own review findings and look to address what we can in the coming year when we turn to the UG 2028 editorial cycle.

Fees and additional costs: responding to the DMCC Act

One of the biggest challenges of Undergraduate 2027 was responding to new legislation in the form of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. It also aligned neatly with a broader piece of work on improving our cost of study information provision for prospective students, which is part of the Prospective Student Web backlog.

Prospective Student Web enhancement projects in 2026

When preparing for 2027 entry we knew that we’d need to address some of these areas with degree finder content, particularly pricing and additional costs.

We worked with stakeholders from CAM, Legal and Registry on initial steps to ensure we are compliant with the terms of the Act. In the first instance, this meant:

• ensuring programmes explicitly describe all mandatory costs outwith the tuition fee (such as equipment, uniform, travel costs) and where possible any optional costs as well
• a new default section on study abroad costs for programmes where this is available
• a new optional section highlighting possible tuition fee discounts for those studying abroad
• an update to the wraparound wording around tuition fees
• tweaking the wording around accommodation and living costs to hopefully make clearer that costs are monthly not annual

What we found at the end of the cycle

UG 2027 is our clearest edition yet in terms of additional costs. Many subject areas are more specific about their additional costs, whether mandatory or optional, compared to previous years. This means our prospective students will have more information about the affordability of the experience as a whole than ever before.

What we’re planning next in this area

There are some areas we did not have time to resolve in full, and other areas that are dependent on work happening behind the scenes. For example:

• the wider Prospective Student Web Team is working to further improve the generic cost of living content
• we are exploring options for enhancing the presentation of tuition fees and information about when these are published
• we are planning further work on budgeting for study abroad particularly when this is a mandatory feature of a programme

Two editions live in the same location

This is also the first year that we’ve published two editions of the degree finder in the same location. Historically, the ‘previous’ year of entry was either relegated to a subsite of the Undergraduate study section, or in some instances hosted on a separate subdomain.

The undergraduate degree finder uses a couple of features to ensure a level of continuity in search results and links as we add and remove editions at different times of the year. However, even when we used to host programmes on different sites, going by past analytics we appear to have had issues with people accessing the ‘wrong’ year of entry. This is particularly true when we enter the ‘crossover’ period for applications in the summer:

• Prospective students looking for ‘current’ year of entry (for example, 2026) during the Clearing period (typically June to August)
• Prospective students looking at programmes for the ‘future’ year of entry (for example, 2027) once UCAS applications open (May to September)

Analytics data historically shows significant spikes in our traffic on A-level and SQA results days across both live editions (current and future year). Some of this may be attributed to people both receiving their results and looking at a future year of entry. However, it does not tally with Enquiry Management statistics that indicate most enquiries in the summer are for the current year of entry.

To address some of these issues, our team started with some hypotheses:

• That most people use search terms to get to their desired programme(s)
• That people would not realise they were on a different year of entry to the one they were looking for
• That a proportion of people – particularly on high-intensity days like results days – would end up on the wrong edition of the degree finder

This resulted in a few requirements:

• A search filter for year of entry
• A way to ‘switch’ between editions if you were on the wrong one
• That search results should indicate year of entry on the listing
• Search should also pair 2026 and 2027 entries

Of all these features, we were most keen to assess the Search results experience, as we know that this is the key way people find programmes.

To do this, we conducted some usability testing on campus with undergraduate students the day after the 2027 undergraduate entry was published.

The usability testing yielded positive results and has given us confidence that prospective students will not face the same issues they have previously.

Read Pete’s blog on what we learned from usability testing with undergraduate students

We’ve also had positive feedback from editors and stakeholders that they like the ability to flip between editions on a programme page, and that they like seeing 2026 and 2027 entries side-by-side on subject rollup pages.

Final thoughts

This is probably the first ‘business-as-usual’ year for undergraduate that I’ve experienced since I started this role. I’m pleased to say that from an operational perspective this was the easiest launch yet on 2 March, which I think is testament amount of preparation going on behind the scenes in the months before it.

While we have had a slightly higher number of in-cycle changes than last year since we went live, our processes for managing these continue to improve. There will always be unavoidable changes as we prepare our undergraduate content 18 months before students start their programmes, so having a consistent and managed process for change means we can do this in a way that is fair for the students and compliant with legislation.

Thanks again to all the editors, subject matter experts, and colleagues in teams across the University for pulling together to make this happen.

If you have any questions about degree finder, please contact the team at cam-student-content@ed.ac.uk.

Developing our service with the launch of Undergraduate 2027 entry / Future student online experiences by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0