Request an update to a course page

The course pages on the University website are our main method of advertising our undergraduate, postgraduate taught, and short course offerings to the world, whether on-campus or distance learning. As such, there are a number of rules and procedures that need to be followed to update information on this part of the website.

Some information is driven by corporate data systems, such as SITS, and the pages are bound by a strict set of guidelines to ensure compliance with both the University style guide and the Consumer Protection Act.

If you have updated copy, or have noticed an issue with a page, check what section the issue is in and follow the instructions provided to update it.

Overview

Course title

The course title is written with the designation as a suffix. All designations are written to match the format in Ordinance 39. Part time, or distance learning variations of a full time course will include this information as part of the title, for example Basket Weaving (part-time) MSc.

Summary

A 160 character summary of the course. This is used in search results both on external search engines and the University website's internal search. We therefore would not repeat the course title and designation in the summary.

Location

In the event of a course being taught at multiple locations, locations will be listed in the order you attend them. For blended learning, the location will be Online followed by the physical location.

Description

The main course description has a limit of 1,200 characters (about 200-250 words). This should be written in the second person, addressing the applicant with the assumption that they will both apply and be awarded a place.

Professional accreditation

If the course is accredited by a professional body, we can include this, a link to their website, and their logo. This does not count towards the word limit. If there is more than one body, we use a green tick rather than multiple logos.

Template

If you wish to write new copy for your course page, you can download the template with character limits and style guide.

Testimonials

Testimonials from current or former students have to be an accurate, authentic quote. Photographs need to be high quality. A release form needs to be signed to use student quotes and photos.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements are managed by Admissions and Applicant Experience. If you wish to adjust an entry requirement this will be escalated to the Course Operations Group (COG) as any changes need to be confirmed by Admissions, and any existing applicants affected by such a change would need to be contacted. Web Services will not adjust an entry requirement without confirmation from COG.

Fees and funding

Fees information is provided from the Fees and Scholarship Committee to COG. Fees are displayed using the standard University fee statuses even when the fee is identical for all applicants. A fee is displayed with a charging structure statement to clarify how the fees are calculated.

This will either be

• per year of study
  default for undergraduate or postgraduate on-campus courses
• per xx credits
  where a fee is paid per stage or module, with the number being either the normal number of credits taken per year or most common module rating
• [blank]
  for short courses with a duration under one year, such as a pre-sessional English course

A sentence about student funding, and scholarship opportunities follows each fee. At the moment this is fixed with a default for UG, PGT, and Short however our goal is to eventually match scholarships to a course.

Additional costs

This is a standard paragraph provided by Fees and Scholarship committee to cover the Consumer Protection requirement to inform applicants of potential additional costs.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching

This should be a bullet point list of teaching methods. If the teaching methods differ depending on optional modules, we will say this, and then list all possible teaching methods.

Assessment

This should be a bullet point list of assessment methods used on the course. If the assessment methods differ depending on optional modules, we will say this, and then list all possible assessment methods.

Modules

The list of modules is created using a feed from the Defined Module Diet data in SITS and is intended to give applicants a good idea of what they will study.

Modules are displayed either as Core or Optional. There is no further customisation possible to the automatically generated lists. For undergraduate, modules are further split into tabs for each module level.

If there is an issue with the module list, such as a module displayed in Core when it should be Optional, please contact Registry to request your module diet be updated. The website refreshes the data from SITS at least once per week and changes will be reflected at the next update.

Individual module pages

Each module links out to a page containing a description of the module. The title and credit rating is sourced from SITS so will need to be corrected by Registry if incorrect. If this description needs updated, please email updated copy to help4u@dundee.ac.uk with Web in the subject field and a link to the module page in question.

Copy for these pages should be written to the University’s content style guide as this is marketing material aimed at both prospective and current students. It should not simply be lifted from the approval paperwork, nor use QAA jargon.

How to apply

These pages use fixed templates depending on the application method, whether UCAS, or Direct Application. Only the application deadline can be customised, and this is usually provided by Admissions via COG.

Careers / progression

This page has a 1,000 character limit (150-200 words) and should explain the potential skills the course gives graduates and examples of jobs graduates have gone to work for.

Our user research has shown different applicants react differently to the same graduate stories. Make sure there is a spread of both normal and inspirational options.

If a course is designed to lead into another course (such as Gateway to Medicine) this page is called Progression and is focussed on how a student successfully passes the course to get access to the next stage of their education.

Our undergraduate course pages use a tool called Pathways Graduate from Float. This displays information about graduate occupations and salary ranges related to the particular course. On pages where this tool is displayed, the manual content should complement, not repeat, the data in the tool.

Interview or portfolio pages

These additional pages are shown on courses that have interviews or require a portfolio. The information on these pages is provided by the Admissions and Applicant Experience team and any requests for changes will be escalated to that team. The web team will only make changes when authorised by Admissions and Applicant Experience.

Submitting your updates

Course renames, new courses, and other major changes via QASC will be dealt proactively following COG meetings. For other requests for updates, email help4u@dundee.ac.uk in the first instance. You should include the URL of the page you wish to discuss to avoid confusion with similarly named courses, and to avoid confusion with updates to systems such as My Dundee which are the remit of a separate team.