Key Information Sets in Action

As today is the deadline for UK universities to implement the Key Information Sets (KIS) widget, we decided to see how Higher Education web teams across the country have tackled the project.

Developed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), key information sets allows students to compare undergraduate degree programmes across different institutions.

Institutions are required to include a government-issued widget onto almost all of their undergraduate programme pages, containing data about student satisfaction, entry requirements, graduate salaries, employment statistics and dropout rates.

While HEFCE has issued a detailed document of requirements, the widget is primarily required for:

• All undergraduate courses composed of more than 120 credits and of a duration greater than 1 year
• A course is defined as a programme of study for which a student can apply to, either through UCAS or directly to the institution

The preset nature of the widget's dimensions has made it difficult for institutions to encompass the data into their course page design, without considering at least a partial template redesign. For many designers, the widget will pose a visual identity nightmare, with its preset fonts and colour palette.

How have institutions handled the task?

For many institutions, the widget has been temporarily 'tacked' onto the bottom of the page or pushed into the white space underneath the navigation, while others have refreshed their template design to perfectly incorporate the widget.

For some, time will have been a key issue. As the dimensions of the widget were only released in July, this extra task will have arrived on the desks of web managers right before the start of one of the most competitive clearing cycles to date.

It's slightly worrying to see that some websites aren't yet showcasing the widget. Only time will tell as to the penalty HEFCE will apply for institutions that fail to comply within the timescale.

For those institutions looking to better incorporate the KIS widget into their course pages, we've outlined five of our favourite implementations:

The University of Bath

The University of Cardiff

Leeds Metropolitan University

The University of West England (UWE)

The University of Southampton

Get in touch, we'd love to heard from you!