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 […]

In January, we launched our new undergraduate applicants site for 2026 entry, featuring key information for students who have applied to study an undergraduate degree programme. This site marks a significant change in approach from previous years. Following discussions with the Colleges, we (Prospective Student Web) agreed to take over management of the undergraduate applicants […]

The 2027 undergraduate entry went live last week, and it was the first time that two editions were published in the new degree finder at the same time. The team went on campus to conduct some usability testing with it. In this blog I’ll show how testing it has given us the confidence that displaying […]

Back in October, we went live with the 2026 entry edition of the postgraduate degree finder.   Now we’re past the postgraduate editing window, named School editors can still make changes to improve or amend content, but it is important to understand our CMA obligations when doing this.  The top reasons we see for making changes to PG degree finder programmes are:   factual changes […]

Over the last year, we launched our revamped undergraduate and postgraduate degree finders, complete with a host of new, user-friendly features in the content management system (CMS) for editors and administrators to utilise in the backend. One of these features is a built-in comments function, which allows users to interact with one another by leaving […]

The Prospective Student Web Team are delivering all the sessions in this month’s Marcomms Forum. Join us to learn about usability testing the new postgraduate degree finder, editorial advice to improve postgraduate degree profiles, and how to use our student journey maps.

We recently reviewed the new postgraduate study website with 17 students, using a summative usability testing approach to produce a performance scorecard. While there were aspects of the site that performed well, we identified areas that need further improvement.

Following the launch of the Undergraduate Study website and Degree Finder in March, we’ve released 11 updates that have steadily improved editorial workflows, collaboration and performance. Alongside usability and design refinements, these enhancements have made the service more efficient for editors and more effective for prospective students.

In preparation for the retirement of the Virtual Visit platform in October 2025, the team ran a project to understand how prospective students orientate themselves with Edinburgh and the campus. I share key findings and how updating programme profiles with Google Maps content can help with orientation.

We’ve distilled our understanding of prospective students into user journey maps so that we can share our insights with the University community. Over the past 3 years, we’ve conducted a great deal of research into the prospective student experience through the work to transform the degree finder and explore the future of open days.