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Every day users visit more than 3,500 pages of their website -cenie.eu-.
The importance of a website cannot be underestimated. Although the websites of universities and research centres have existed for 20 years, many institutions still underestimate their importance. While the websites of universities and research institutions have become ubiquitous, many consider their websites to be a formality.
A website today has a critical mission, which means that its presence determines its status and recognition.
When thinking about the importance of a website, a good criterion is to start by analyzing the data. The website of the International Centre on Ageing has registered, in the last 6 months, more than 350,000 pages. In that time, users have spent more than 7,000 hours on the CENIE website. Inevitably, we must agree that the web is the main point of contact with people interested in the activities and actions that are developed.
A web site, which has as its objective a formative and informative character, badly presented carries a considerable risk. While many people focus only on legal risks such as copyright and privacy, there is also a reputational risk. A poorly designed website reflects negatively on the institution and its consequences decisively influence the perception of your brand. Broken links, outdated content, misspelled words, etc. are symptoms of a site that does not receive proper attention and nutrition, and damages its credibility.
Universities and research centres are increasingly competing to approach users with quality content and, finally, to be attractive to their target audience. A generation ago there were very few marketing offices on university campuses. Now the competition is intense and the web is the most important channel to disseminate and determine the importance of the work being done. Having a good website is fundamental. Recent data, referring to the university world, from the Noel-Levitz e-Expectations Report, found that 92% of high school seniors looking for a center to develop their higher education will feel disappointed and discouraged if they have a bad experience on a university's website. More importantly, 24% of them said they had removed from their list, in their choice of a college, those at which they had had a bad web experience.
The Millennials will be replaced by the Internet generation that will take the use of technology to a whole new level. While Millennials grew up with computers, iGeneration will be the first to be born into a technological universe. These digital natives are connected 24/7. They are inseparable from their wireless devices and have high expectations for their digital experiences.
Looking to the future, the web will have an exponential growth in its importance. Soon, in universities, we will see how the physical campus will be replaced by the digital campus. Twenty years ago, Nicholas Negroponte wrote the influential book "The Digital World". In it, Negroponte affirmed his conviction that we were heading towards a future where everything that could be digitized would be digitized. That we would make the transition from atoms to bits. Today, little by little, we are seeing this in multiple activities and, consequently, the web is becoming the center of activity.
The International Centre on Ageing (CENIE), promoted by the Fundación General de la Universidad de Salamanca, Fundación General Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Direção-Geral da Saúde and Universidade do Algarve, within the framework of the INTERREG V-A Programme, Spain-Portugal, 2014-2020, (POCTEP), of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is very aware of all the above; therefore, it tries to ensure that its web platform, www.cenie.eu, lives up to the expectations of users' interests. That is why we are delighted with their acceptance and recognition, for which we are very grateful.