UC G C AR E

ANALYSIS OF UNIVERSITY WEBSITES - A STUDY APPROVED

ABSTRACT
Web based resources are playing an important place in the academic life of the students in our country.
The students use the website for getting the primary information with regard to any educational institution.
University websites are the gateways for the students. The students are empowered to get the information
virtually without visiting the campus physically. The students get information with regard to admissions,
examinations, results etc. Therefore, it become the need of the hour to conduct a website analysis of the
university’s websites. The aim and objective of the present study was to analyse the content of the websites of
the Universities situated in Gujarat State. A Checklist in this regard was used by the investigator to conduct
the website analysis. Sixty five universities are there in Gujarat, but the present study was delimited to the
four Agricultural Universities of Gujarat State.
Keywords : Website analysis, University Website, World Wide Web, Higher Education.

Introduction Website
The use of websites in educational contexts is The internet has become a common place for us to
increasing day by day. There is a great impact of technology surf the web pages of any particular websites. It gives us a
on the educational system. The technology has increased lot of information within seconds. The information available
the usage of websites in educational contexts in India. The on the internet is generated from a multiple sources and is
delivery of content through websites is possible due to the organised in such a way that users are given step by step
World Wide Web. It serves as a base for making the content procedures to access the information. The files are
available to the beneficiaries in no time. In today’s era there organised, and web pages are created which ultimately form
is a great demand for education in various countries. There a website.
are various efforts done by the between many countries to Hence, we can say that a website is a collection of
collaborate with other universities virtually. The coordination web pages that contain text, images and all other multimedia
between universities is possible due to the World Wide Web. information that is presented to the users in an easy method.
The Web has made our life easy and we can freely All Internet-enabled websites form the World Wide Web
collaborate. Various universities are there who are using (WWW).A website is a group of related web pages, images,
the Web as a communication tool. The Website that works videos or other digital resources accessed through a unique
on the principles of the World Wide Web caters to the needs Uniform Resource Locator.
of the students virtually. The students get access to various
Higher Education Websites
things online with a single click. The website becomes the
primary gateway for the students. It caters to the various Higher education websites need great attention in
needs of the students. The students get admission, results terms of their development. The website must appeal to
related information from the websites. The World Wide Web
(WWW) can be considered as the main source for getting Ishfaq Majid
academic or research based information and thus enables Ph.D. Scholar, School of Education, Central
us to test new methods online like conducting an analysis of University of Gujarat.
the content of the website(Madhuri, Babu and Ramesh, Dr. Y. Vijaya Lakshmi
2010). Assistant Professor, School of Education, Central
University of Gujarat.

Research and Reflections on Education ISSN 0974 - 648 X Vol. 18 No. 02B August 2020 11
the university’s commercial interests, which are primarily As per the data available on UC G C AR E
the sources of presenting their objectives to the visitors and the online portal of Gujarat Education A P P R O V E D
especially to those visitors who are interested in seeking Department, Gujarat has a total number
information. Baka and Leyni (2015) in a related study of 65 Universities that includes 18 State Universities, 04
revealed that top rank universities websites are more visible Agricultural Universities, 03 Central Universities, 02 private
and accessible as compared to the other website. aided Universities, 32 private Universities and 06 institute
The Higher Education website aims to facilitate their of National Importance. Hence all the 65 Universities
prospective students and scholars by providing the proper constitute the population of the study.
guidelines on the website to help them accordingly. Sample
Nevertheless, of equal importance, a university website Based on the population, the investigator selected
should at least contain that type of information that the four agricultural Universities as the sample of the study.
students and its faculty members are in need of. Information These four Universities are mentioned below along with
like the complexities of curriculum choices and the their website address :
information about the daily events and procedures that
happen within a busy university campus. Therefore, usability Table 1
is considered the key credential of effective higher education Name of Universities along with their website
website design. Maintaining institutional repositories, open address
access, and collaboration with other universities, online S. No. Name of the University Website Address
communication etc. help to increase the visibility of the Anand Agricultural
particular website (Sujithai and Jeyshankar, 2013). 1 www.aau.in
University
Rationale of the Study Navsari Agricultural
2 www.nau.in
University
The World Wide Web connects people via the Sardarkrushinagar
internet and makes millions of web resources accessible 3 Dantiwada Agricultural www.sdau.edu.in
for them. The website is the collection of related documents. University
Junagarh Agricultural
The website is considered as the first gate way of students 4 www.jau.in
University
towards a particular educational institution. Today’s the
Tool
access of the internet is common. So the popularity of the
websites has been increased. The millions of new web pages The investigator developed a self-made checklist
are designed daily. Many of these are designed and consisting of 17 items. The items were framed according to
developed by the people who give little attention to the fact the following category:
that how this information will be used and who will use. It Table 2
would be very beneficial to provide guidelines and
Dimensions of Checklist
frameworks for making the pleasing user experiences in
Total No
such systems. The web content available on the University Category Item No.
of Items
website should as such that fullfills the need of its users. Web Design 1,2, 3, 4,6, 13,14 7
Hence there is an immense need to conduct the webometric Website Language 5, 7, 2
study of the university website. Contact Details 8, 9, 17 3
Objective of the Study Introduction about
15,16 2
University
To study the web content of University Websites Website Updation &
11,12 2
Method and Procedure Visitor count
Students section 10 1
Population

Research and Reflections on Education ISSN 0974 - 648 X Vol. 18 No. 02B August 2020 12
Technique of Analysis and Interpretation UC G C AR E
For the analysis and interpretation of the data, the APPROVED

investigator used the technique of content analysis.

Delimitations The website
10 contains a feedback Yes No No No
• The study is delimited to Universities of Gujarat form for students.
State. The website
• The study is delimited to four agricultural universities 11 mentions the visitor Yes No No Yes
of Gujarat. counter.
The website
Result and Discussion Updation is being
12 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Table 3 made on regular
basis.
Checklist for Analysis of University Websites The website has a
S. dedicated
Question AAU NAU SDAU JAU 13 No Yes No No
No. examination result
webpage.
The interface of the
1 Yes No Yes Yes The result web page
website is attractive.
14 contains the latest No Yes No No
The website is examination result.
easily accessible
2 Yes Yes Yes Yes
through search The website has a
engines. dedicated webpage
The website URL is 15 regarding the Yes No No Yes
3 Yes Yes Yes Yes introduction of the
easy to remember.
university.
The website has a The website
4 Yes Yes Yes Yes
smooth navigation. contains an
The text on the 16 introductory video No No No No
5 website is easily Yes Yes Yes Yes about the
readable. Universities.
The website has an The website
events webpage for mentions its full
6 Yes Yes Yes Yes 17 address and contact Yes Yes Yes Yes
latest happenings in
the University. details on the
contact us webpage.
The website has
7 Multilanguage No No No No Website Interface and Access through Search
support. Engines
The website
The website interface of all the four Agricultural
contains a telephone
8 directory of all the No No No No Universities is attractive. The Website of Anand Agricultural
University University has a static background image with a photo slide
employees. of the University on the Homepage. The website is designed
The website with multiple colors that gives a decent look to its interface.
contains the Similarly the Website of Navsari Agricultural University also
9 dedicated profile Yes No No Yes carries a photo slide show of University but the interface is
details of all the to some extent not attractive. The website has a static plain
faculty members.
background image. The website interface of Sardar
Research and Reflections on Education ISSN 0974 - 648 X Vol. 18 No. 02B August 2020 13
krushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University is quite The website of Anand and UC G C AR E
attractive. With a photo slideshow and a static coloured Junagarh Agricultural University have APPROVED
background image, the interface of the website is giving a maintained dedicated profile details
new look to its website. Similarly, the website interface of of all the faculty members on their website. However, the
Junagarh Agricultural University is also good but lacks in website of Navsari and S. D. Agricultural University have
the background image setting. not updated the profile details of their faculty members on
While search the all the four website through popular their website.
search engines like Google & Yahoo, all the four universities With reference to the availability of feedback form,
were easily accessible and were able to be find through the the Anand Agricultural University has maintained feedback
search engines. form link under ‘Contact Us’ web page. However Junagarh,
Website URL and Smooth Navigation Navsari and S. D. Agricultural University haven’t kept any
feedback form for students on their website.
The website URL of all the four Universities is very
easy to remember. The website URL consists of at least 3- Website Visitor Counter and Updation
5 words which is very much easy to remember.Regarding The website of Anand and Junagarh Agricultural
the smooth navigation of the websites, all the four websites University have maintained website visitor counter on their
are having a smooth navigation. It is very much easy to website. TheAnand Agricultural University has put the visitor
switch to page on the website. counter badge at the bottom of their website. Similarly,
Website text and Events Webpage Junagarh Agricultural University has put the visitor counter
badge on the left down side of their website. However, the
The websites of all the four Universities contains the
website of Navsari and S. D. Agricultural University have
text which is readable and all the website contain an events
not kept any visitor counter on their website.
webpage on their website where the latest happening and
the upcoming events in the University can be found. Regarding the website Updation, all the websites are
being updated timely as look like from the homepages of
Website Multilingual Support and availability of
the websites.
University Telephone Directory
Website result Webpage with latest exam results
The website of all the four agricultural Universities
do not have multilingual support nor do they have any kind The Website of Navsari Agricultural University
of telephone directory available on their website. The contains a dedicated webpage for examination results on
Website interface of Anand Agricultural University, Navsari its homepage that is updated with latest results. However
Agricultural University and Junagarh Agricultural University the researcher fails to find any such thing on the official
contain text in English in one side and on the other side, websites of Junagarh, Anand and S. D. Agricultural
Gujarati language text can be found. The website even does University.
not have support to Google translator for translating the Website Introductory Webpage and Video
Gujarati language into English or some other language. The websites of Navsari and Junagarh Agricultural
Similarly, the Website of S. D. Agricultural University is University have maintained an introductory webpage about
mainly having English language as their default website the University on their website. However, the author fails
language and the website doesn’t have support to Google to find any such webpage on the websites of Anand and S.
Translator as well.Regarding the availability of telephone D. Agricultural University.
directory on the website, all the four agricultural universities
While analysing the website of all the four universities,
are lacking behind.
the researcher fails to find an introductory video about the
Availability of Profile details of faculty members and University.
feedback from for students

Research and Reflections on Education ISSN 0974 - 648 X Vol. 18 No. 02B August 2020 14
University Contact Details on Website 8. The Website of Navsari UC G C AR E
While analysing the website of the Agricultural Agricultural University contains APPROVED

Universities, the researcher found that all the four universities a dedicated webpage for
have updated their contact details in the ‘Contact us’ examination results on its homepage that is updated
webpage including official address, email, Telephone with latest results. However the researcher fails to find
number and Fax. any such web page on the websites of Junagarh, Anand
and S. D. Agricultural University.
Findings of the Study
9. The websites of Navsari and Junagarh Agricultural
1. The website interface of all the four Agricultural University have maintained an introductory webpage
Universities are attractive and all the websites are about the University on their website. However, the
accessible through various search engines like Google researcher fails to find any such webpage on the
and Yahoo. websites of Anand and S. D. Agricultural University.
2. The website URL of all the four Universities is very While analysing the website of all the four universities,
easy to remember and all the website has a smooth the researcher fails to find an introductory video about
navigation across different web pages. the University.
10. While analysing the website of the Agricultural
3. The websites of all the four Agricultural Universities
Universities, the researcher found that all the four
contain the text which is readable and all the website
universities has updated their contact details in the
contain an events webpage on their website where
‘Contact us’ webpage including official address, email,
the latest happening and the upcoming events in the
Telephone number and Fax.
University can be found.
Recommendations
4. The website of all the four agricultural Universities do Based on the results of the study, the following
not have multilingual support nor do they have any recommendations are given:
kind of telephone directory available on their website. 1. The website needs to be updated on regular basis.
5. The website of Anand and Junagarh Agricultural 2. There is a need to maintain a telephone directory on
University have maintained dedicated profile details the website containing the telephone numbers of all
of all the faculty members on their website. However, the employees of the University.
3. Each educational institution must have a feedback form
the website of Navsari and S. D. Agricultural University
for students so that students can share their valuable
has not updated the profile details of their faculty
views with university authorities.
members on their website. 4. The website must have multi lingual support or the IT
6. With reference to the availability of feedback form, team should enable the Google Translator badge on
the Anand Agricultural University has maintained the website.
feedback form link under ‘Contact Us’ web page. Conclusion
However Junagarh, Navsari and S. D. Agricultural Based on the study, the researcher is aware of the
University haven’t kept any feedback form for students fact that no broad conclusion can be made. The websites
on their website. of universities in Gujarat is an uncharted area of webometric
7. The website of Anand and Junagarh Agricultural research. This study presents a fair thought about the
University have maintained website visitor counter on information provided by the websites of the 04 Agricultural
their website. However, the website of Navsari and Universities of Gujarat. These findings open the door to
S. D. Agricultural University have not kept any visitor further studies of other new areas of the web. This study
counter on their website. Regarding the website could be extended further by doing a webometric study of
Updation, all the four Agricultural websites are being State, Private Aided and Central University of Gujarat State.
updated on regular basis. Continued on Page 20

Research and Reflections on Education ISSN 0974 - 648 X Vol. 18 No. 02B August 2020 15
state is not adequate. Therefore, there is need to make some 8. United Nations General Assembly .
UC G C AR E
reformation in imparting human rights education to the (1948). Resolution adopted by the APPROVED
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education should be rightly placed in all the course papers 9. United Nations General Assembly. (2012). United Nations
especially in the pedagogical subject of science. A project Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training.
on human rights education is a requisite to enhance the Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 19
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human rights culture. n1146704.pdf?openelement
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