21 January 2013, 2:40 p.m. – THE Office for Admissions (OFAD) has launched a new “user-friendly” website, in a bid to improve the University’s marketing efforts as well as draw more applicants.
The website, ofad.ust.edu.ph, is a “one-stop shop” that makes the application process easier, and information about testing centers more accessible.
Among the features of the website are program descriptions, scholarship information, and career opportunities.
Prospective students first look at the admissions information of the University, said Steve Michael Moore, OFAD marketing officer, in a press conference earlier today. “The OFAD is where they first go and this will make their first impression of UST,” Moore said.
The office decided to maximize social media since high school students are the target audience. “The good thing about our website is that it is very user-friendly. It is not difficult to navigate the website because it is attractive, colorful and at the same time it also showcases interesting facts about the university,” Moore said.
The OFAD proposed the website to Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P. last August.
The website team, headed by Moore, was composed of students with skills in photography, computer programming and layout and design, recruited from the Faculties of Arts and Letters and Engineering and the College of Fine Arts and Design. Former Varsitarian photography editor Paul Allyson Quiambao was tapped for the project. Nikka Lavinia G. Valenzuela
The website looks cute, with all the candy-colored scheme, logos and layout. This is truly UST’s forte – DESIGN.
However, a lot of things need to be done on the CONTENT and INFORMATION MANAGEMENT aspects.
On CONTENT:
The current information seems to be a rehash of the old description from the main website. Nothing has changed here. While there is nothing wrong about having short descriptions, I believe prospective applicants also want to know about course syllabus/ flow, outline, description, faculty profile, etc. This will help the applicants have a firm decision on the course they want to take. Perhaps the administrators can look at Ivy League school websites for inspiration on what to include. The amount of information these universities showcase might be overwhelming at first, but it shows that we just have to get out of our usual box when looking at things. Wrapping the same old things in a colorful blanket does not make it new – most of the time people will just notice how old and incomplete things are inside.
On the INFORMATION MANAGEMENT side:
“The OFAD is where they first go and this will make their first impression of UST,” Moore said.
I believe it is the UST website that the applicants first go, and not the OFAD. First timers will most likely go directly to UST’s general website a couple of times before they realize that they have to google search OFAD to go to its webpage (OFAD’s website is not even visible in UST’s). The web administrators will probably bank on word-of-mouth marketing or even on UST’s FB page to promote. Again, nothing wrong here. But looking at it on a macro level, it just shows that the university needs to give more attention on information management if they want to portray the image of “cohesiveness” to the general public.
Second point: Admissions info are also shown in college-specific websites. It might only breed confusion especially when the two webpages offer completely different info.
Third point: The UST website needs a serious updating. Can’t highlight this fact much further.
Just a constructive opinion from a concerned alumnus.