First Major Re-Design in Five Years

January 14, 2008

The University of Northern British Columbia today has launched a new homepage and website design that will enhance opportunities for onlinevisitors to get information about the University and the UNBCexperience.

The new design features additional photos of the campus and thenorthern region along with more links to UNBC programs and services. Anew online navigation system provides immediate access to about 50 webpages directly from the home page; the previous design provided linksto fewer than 20. This new navigation system is present on all officialUNBC web pages.

“We know that our website is a vitally important marketing tool,especially for prospective students, potential faculty and staff, anddonors. Current students and employees use the web daily to accessinformation. It’s hard to imagine communication today without the web,”says UNBC President Don Cozzetto. “A recent national survey confirmedthat the UNBC website was the single most important contact in astudent’s decision to attend UNBC. We need to use our website toprovide accurate information quickly, while conveying a sense of theUNBC experience.”

Currently, the UNBC home page receives up to 5400 visitors per day and more than 25,000 UNBC web pages are viewed daily.

The re-design of the home page was led by the University’s Office ofCommunications and it involved more than a year of market research.This research included a survey of nearly 2700 UNBC web users, a seriesof focus groups and presentations, a detailed analysis of otheruniversity and college websites, and a review of current usage of theUNBC website. For detailed statistics and results of the marketresearch, see the following web page: www.unbc.ca/survey.

Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC – 250.960.5622