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Deciphering the Code (@timeshighered)

“This week’s A-level results may lead to the keenest clearing rush yet. But do universities’ websites tell prospective students what they need to know, Hannah Fearn asks a panel of sixth-formers.

Most university websites don’t show you information you want to know, they just show you the information that they want you to know. That’s quite stupid really.”

The comment, from a pupil at Didcot Sixth Form in Oxfordshire, is damning but representative. When Times Higher Education asked UK sixth-formers what they thought of university websites, the message was clear: applicants want to hear less from universities themselves, and much more from their students.

Gone are the days when a clear explanation of an undergraduate curriculum and an online prospectus would be enough to elicit an application. Today, prospective students going through the clearing process will want a “warts and all” guide to the university before they make a decision.”

Read full story in the Times Higher Ed. When I get my paper copy, be interesting to see where Winchester’s new site comes, it’s not in the top or the bottom according to the list online. (Winchester’s new Twitter account, and new video on Facebook group… there’s also this page which appears to belong to students!).

Update: Nope, we’re not in the list either way… and there’s another short story in a similar vein.

By Digital Fingerprint

Digiexplorer (not guru), Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing @ Manchester Metropolitan University. Interested in digital literacy and digital culture  in the third sector (especially faith). Author of 'Raising Children in a Digital Age', regularly checks hashtag #DigitalParenting.

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