University websites are often beautifully designed and dynamic. They often are home to a treasure trove of information - everything from tuition and fee information to course catalogs to portals for faculty and students. Because higher education websites are inherently complex, it isn’t surprising that so many universities turn to Drupal when building a site.
Drupal is an open-source CMS with a reputation for being more technologically challenging. While you need some coding knowledge to use Drupal, the payoff is immense - with the ability to create a highly customizable, secure, accessible, feature-rich website. Drupal isalso easy to use from an administrative standpoint, particularly when managing multiple websites from one dashboard.
At Inclind, we work with all types of organizations - including universities and other institutions of higher education - to help them create beautiful, effective websites. We offer a full suite of website design and development services, including website redesigns, conversion optimization, and ongoing support and maintenance. If you want to build - or update - a website for your university, give us a call to learn more about how we can help.
The Prevalence Of Drupal For University Sites
Drupal is an open-source content management system - commonly called a CMS. According to data, Drupal provides the framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites globally. This CMS is also incredibly popular among institutes of higher education - with 80% of the top universities worldwide using it, including 95% of top American universities. Universities that use Drupal to power their websites include:
- Oxford University
- Harvard University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Stanford University
- Duke University
- UCLA
- University of Arizona
- Penn State University
- University of British Columbia
- University of Toronto
Drupal sometimes gets a bad rap because it requires more coding experience and knowledge, especially compared to other CMS like WordPress. Yet it also has a lot to offer, particularly for websites that need many unique features and customization. That is why so many top universities use Drupal for their websites.
Why Top Colleges and Universities Use Drupal
So, what makes Drupal so great for higher education? Below, we dig into some of the reasons why so many universities use this CMS.
Customization
Drupal’s framework includes themes and modules. Once a basic theme has been selected, modules can add new features and functionality and create custom layouts and content.
The ability to personalize a website to such a high degree is perfect for universities. A typical university website may include everything from course descriptions to the latest research to athletics and events. These websites also typically include subpages for each department or school. Allowing such a high degree of customization means each department and/or organization can tailor the site to meet their needs.
Drupal includes more than 50,000 ready-to-use modules. Many of these modules don’t have licensing fees, so building a highly customized website is often far less expensive than on an enterprise CMS.
Security
Universities are responsible for protecting a lot of confidential information, from student educational records to financial documentation to staff and faculty data. As such, their websites have to be secure - something that Drupal can handle. The CMS is known for its security, which is why other institutions that require a high level of security, like banks and government agencies, also use Drupal.
While Drupal is open-source software, its security team regularly releases security updates and patches. Over 1,000,000 developers contribute to Drupal, so many computer scientists constantly scan the code for security threats. Strict coding standards and a community review process mean that security problems are usually caught—and addressed—early.
Third-Party Integrations
Most websites need some form of third-party integration. Drupal supports several APIs (application program interfaces, which allow two pieces of software to interact with each other), allowing websites to connect with all types of third-party applications.
For example, a university may connect donor management software with its website. That way, it can more easily track donations and reach out to potential donors. You can also work with a developer to create a custom integration to connect your website with systems that manage student or financial aid information. With Drupal, it is relatively easy to do these integrations - and to take advantage of all the data and information a website offers.
Accessibility
Federal law requires universities to ensure that their websites are accessible to people with disabilities. It is also common sense for a university to have an accessible website because it helps ensure that everyone can access and benefit from the information that it offers.
Drupal comes with many accessibility features as standard, including Olivero, an accessible default theme that is WCAG Level AA compliant right from the start. It also supports alt text, transcripts, and captions. Universities can also add modules for even greater accessibility.
In addition to accessibility for people with disabilities, Drupal also includes core support for multilingual content. Universities can include features that allow content to be translated into different languages - perfect for international students and campuses.
Creating Multiple Sites
Many universities maintain subdomains - often for separate pages for departments, programs, or even branch campuses. Drupal is an excellent choice for higher education because it has a multisite feature that can be used to create many different websites from a single download. Most importantly, these linked sites can be managed in a central location.
At the same time, individual pages can be managed by a team in that department. In this way, universities decentralize the work of keeping individual websites up-to-date while maintaining control over the website as a whole.
Usability
One of the challenges that many institutions face with website administration is usability. A website should be relatively easy to administer, particularly if multiple people will be updating it. Drupal has a straightforward user interface (UI) that makes it simple for staff—including professors—to update a department’s website. For example, Layout Builder allows users to create pages by dragging and dropping content into place.
Drupal also includes advanced user permissions, which means that it is easy for universities to protect their brand even with many users. For example, a university may want to allow each department to update its website with news and events. It can use page roles to limit which employees can view, edit, and publish content and which sites and pages they can access. In this way, multiple collaborators can create content and keep the website up to date - without worrying that the brand’s integrity will be compromised.
Reach Out to Inclind for Higher Education Website Needs
Universities need websites to attract potential students, keep current students informed, and provide news and information to the community. These sites are multifaceted and often have many related pages with a plethora of features. While Drupal can be challenging, it has so many benefits for universities that choosing it is a no-brainer. Our team of website designers and developers can help you design, develop, and maintain your Drupal higher-ed website.
At Inclind, we know that every organization has different needs when it comes to website design and development. We stay on top of the latest trends and industry updates so that we can help our clients build the best possible websites. If you want to create a Drupal website for your university, we can guide you through the process and help your website stand out from the crowd.
We are always here to talk if you want to learn more about our web design, development, and support services. You can call 800-604-8139 or fill out our online contact form to talk to one of our team members about your higher education website.