The Effectiveness of Website Design in Higher Education Recruitment

摘要

This paper explores the effectiveness of visual elements and aesthetics in university websites for recruiting prospective students. College and university websites are the gateway to an educational institution and the public face for both academics and athletics. According to Ruffalo Noel Levitz's study on consumer behavior, websites play an important role in providing information for prospective students (both new and transfer), current students, parents, and alumni [9]. Universities' recruiters constantly strive to maximize the utility and depth of information on their websites while offering pleasing and powerful aesthetics to attract potential students and donors. Entirely qualitative in content, this study examines the role of aesthetics in the three key categories: web design, website functionality, and universities' online recruitment strategies. The website functionality key category divides further into subcategories including website usability, accessibility and credibility.