As winter firmly beds in and we look back on another busy quarter, it's time to update you on some significant developments – projects that represent not just technical improvements, but fundamental shifts in how we support student recruitment and communicate course information.
Online prospectus – a new chapter in student recruitment
One standout achievement of Q3 has been the launch of an entirely new online prospectus system, marking the end of an era for the traditional printed prospectus and the beginning of something altogether more dynamic and sustainable.
This has been a genuine team effort, bringing together Digital Development, Digital Content, and the Student Marketing team. We launched with taught postgraduate courses in September 2025, giving potential applicants the ability to create a personalised prospectus tailored to their interests – no more leafing through hundreds of pages to find what matters to them.
The benefits are significant: We're drastically reducing the carbon footprint of printing and transporting thousands of prospectuses. We can capture data from interested applicants (with their consent) for better communication. And, unlike a printed prospectus that runs the risk of becoming outdated the moment it's printed, the online version can be updated whenever needed.
We're now gathering usage data and making improvements based on what we learn. Undergraduate courses will follow in February 2026.
SAMIS integration – another major milestone
Regular readers will know that our backend developer, Farooq, has been working closely with Rhian Griggs, Head of Content Strategy, on integrating SAMIS – the single source of truth for course information – with our website systems.
Q3 brought another milestone when we went live with 2026 undergraduate courses, pulling data directly from SAMIS. Postgraduate taught courses followed in July. We took a carefully phased approach, going live department by department and working closely with Digital Content Managers across all faculties to ensure everything was meticulously checked before publication.
With the bulk of integration work now complete, we're tidying up and moving to Curriculum Planner – the new system that will provide the ongoing connection between SAMIS and our course pages.
New homepage – development continues
Another exciting project which has gathered new pace in Q3 is development work on the new University homepage (i.e. the version of the page that is seen by users viewing the website from outside of the University’s network; when on site, visitors see a tailored staff landing page).
The new homepage will be bolder and more impactful, whilst being considerably more flexible for editors to use. New developments include an evocative video reel and support for multiple layouts (for Open Days, graduation, and other key events) with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. This foundation work will help us convey the University's message to visitors in an altogether more dynamic and engaging manner.
With work progressing rapidly alongside a number of other large projects, we are currently working towards launching in early 2026.
Looking ahead
Finally, we're delighted to welcome back Justin Keevill, former staff developer and all-round worker of code magic, for another round of project work from Q4. The next instalment of the quarterly review blog will contain some exciting updates on the things that he’s been working on!
Once again, it's been an extremely productive and eventful quarter. I look forward to sharing further developments in the next update.
Luke Roskilly, Head of Digital Development
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