Vandelay Design

25 of the Best Websites for Educational Institutions

Published May 19th, 2009 in Galleries

The need for schools, universities and other educational institutions to have a quality website is constantly increasing as online technologies become a bigger part of the educational process, and as students and prospective students turn to the internet for information.

In this post we’ll feature 25 well-designed educational websites.

Stone Laboratory

Stone Laboratory

Office of Communications – The University of Texas

UT Office of Communications

Denver Seminary

Denver Seminary

Asheville School

Ashville School

Tennessee Education

Tennessee Education

Be a Longhorn

Be a Longhorn

Byron Bay Schoolies

Byron Bay Schoolies

Washtenaw Community College

Washtenaw Comm. College

Pacific Union College

Pacific Union College

Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence

Undergrad Research Excellence

Biola Undergrad

Biola Undergrad

Maryland Institute College of Art

MICA

Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech

William and Mary

William and Mary

Champlain College

Champlain College

Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Loyola Marymount University

Loyola Marymount University

American University

American University

Global College – Long Island University

Global College - Long Island University

Bostonia

Bostonia

Forest & Wildlife Research Center – MSU

Rice University

Rice University

University of Virginia

UVA

VCU Undergraduate Admissions

VCU Undergrad Admissions

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame

For more design inspiration, please see:

47 Responses to “25 of the Best Websites for Educational Institutions”

Lachlan Payne May 19th, 2009

Byron Bay Schoolies is NOT an educational institution.

It’s an accommodation directory for school leavers going on their post-graduation holiday [a.k.a. schoolies].

Nothing educational about that!

Piquesel May 19th, 2009

Very nice selection. Thanks a lot.

@maxbeatty May 19th, 2009

Indiana University just launched a new homepage this week and it’s pretty sweet, too. http://www.iub.edu/

Samantha Norton May 19th, 2009

Don’t forget http://www.fullsail.edu/ :D

karen May 19th, 2009

I think you’re forgetting the coolest: http://www.assumption.edu

Bobert May 20th, 2009

I’ll promote a few more BU designs:

http://www.bu.edu
http://www.bu.edu/ar
http://www.bu.edu/admissions/

Anthony Proulx May 20th, 2009

Great list! Very helpful in seeing some of the more reputable online educational sources. They are way too many out there that are a scam and not legit.

Thanks!

Stewart Foss May 21st, 2009

Great list. Many of these sites are nominated for Awards in the eduStyle Higher-Ed Web Awards. People’s Choice voting is open until June 1st
http://www.edustyle.net/awards/2009/ballot.php

Cody May 21st, 2009

If you really want to dig into higher-ed web design, http://www.edustyle.net is the place to start.

andol May 21st, 2009

wonderful designs.

TJ Kelly May 21st, 2009

UMass Amherst used to have a great all-CSS design until a few months ago. Not sure who designed the latest version of http://www.umass.edu but it definitely pales in comparison to the previous version: http://web.archive.org/web/20070202193903rn_1/umass.edu/umhome/index.php

Chanh May 21st, 2009

If you liked ashville, there’s more here:
http://www.silverpoint.net/design/portfolio.aspx

May May 21st, 2009

Glad you have some VA schools :D
Go Hookies!

Heres another,

http://www.nvcc.edu

:P

michael May 21st, 2009

just to reiterate what Lachlan Payne said… Byron Bay Schoolies is definitely not educational! Schoolies is just a massive piss up for school leavers most of which are below the legal drinking age.

timmah May 21st, 2009

Whilst not an educational institute, its for educational purposes. Looks good too.

http://www.studyadelaide.com/

Eric Rasch May 22nd, 2009

I’m honored to be on the list (especially @ #2) and in such great company!

Jay Fanelli May 22nd, 2009

As a designer of higher ed websites (I designed the Global College website on this list), it’s great to see the rising tide of EDU web work.

P.S. We all need to bow down to the New Media team at BU. At this point, they’re lapping the field.

Carla May 22nd, 2009

They’re very well-designed Web sites, but what about the usability or compliance measures of the sites?

Is that incorporated into a “best” .edu category?

Just a thought.

llllllllllllllllllllllll May 22nd, 2009

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Kaplan University’s website:

http://talent.kaplan.edu/home.aspx

i mean it’s done in flash, not sure if that’s the criteria for this post…

Jamison Banham May 23rd, 2009

“Byron Bay Schoolies is NOT an educational institution.”

the title is 25 of the Best Websites FOR Educational Institutions.

As the owner of Byron Bay Schoolies I have done a few talks to schools students and find it is a good resource for educational institutions and their students.

Vandelay Design May 23rd, 2009

Maxbeatty,
Thanks. IU’s site looks really good.

Samsntha,
That’s a pretty good site too. Thanks.

Karen,
That site’s not bad, but honestly I don’t like it as much as the others.

Stewart and Cody,
EduStyle is a great niche gallery.

Carla,
Usability is every bit as important as appearance. However, for the purposes of this post I was pretty much just going based on design and aesthetics. Honestly, I didn’t have the time to do much usability testing on sites to see how they did.

Regina May 23rd, 2009

Very nice, but check out

http://www.iupui.edu

Graeme Smith May 26th, 2009

Some nice sites…

Heres the site from our College – http://webelieveyoucan.co.uk/

fensonism May 27th, 2009

Thanks, nice site.
Our college has a nice website too – http://limkokwing.edu.my

aledesign.it May 28th, 2009

Nice, fantastic selection. Now I see all the site! :) Is a good post for the creativity…more idea here!

Website Design June 5th, 2009

Undoubtedly fantastic sites..but are they easily navigable?

Their are some amazing designers put on this planet and they are all here with this fantastic list of well design websites. Well done thanks for this post!

Sabrina June 16th, 2009

I thought you might be interested in another educational resource called Explore.org. Explore is a library of philanthropy that consists of short documentary films, stunning photography, and interviews with great minds from the non-profit world. Check out the website at http://explore.org. Enjoy!

rajesh July 6th, 2009

i liked all the websites and it is a great effort.
we at fomaxtech.com too do lot of educational websites and it was great ideas we learned out of the 25 designs.
thanks
rajesh

sunschild57 August 14th, 2009

Bennington College should be on this list. http://www.bennington.edu/

Free Xbox Live August 15th, 2009

Wow Stone Laboratory has a very nice design.
All of the others are elegant and beautiful, just the first one caught my eye.

coyo September 1st, 2009

Our Sucktastic college site
http://cob.edu.bs/

Kyle September 18th, 2009

Check out my alma matter’s site. Great use of the hand made elements in web design

Kyle September 18th, 2009

http://www.kutztown.edu/acad/commdes/

Todd September 19th, 2009

This is very nice work – thanks for the inspiration. We just finished a site for an educational institution we’re proud of and thought we’d return the favor.
http://www.stdavidscenter.org/
All the best
Todd

iMac October 1st, 2009

Great list – wonderful designs.
thanks…

nicko November 17th, 2009

exellent!

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