Trusted by colleges and universities across Canada and the US
How Northern helps colleges and universities
Five ways we work with higher education teams, each with a real client example.
Discovery and strategy
Know what students need before you build
We start with user research, stakeholder interviews, competitive scans, and a review of your content and technology, so decisions about your site come from what prospective and current students tell us.
- User research, focus groups, and surveys with students, faculty, and staff (UX design services)
- Content and analytics reviews that show what to fix first
- Recommendations on governance, technology, and content your team can act on
Client example
Canisius University
Ongoing UX research with prospective students, current students, faculty, and staff shaped the site’s navigation, and grew into focus groups, surveys, and a new brand.
Website design and development
Move off Drupal 7, old platforms, and too many sites
Drupal 7 reached end of life on January 5, 2025, and Drupal 10 follows on December 9, 2026. We plan the content review, redirects, and editor tools before the move, so you migrate less and launch a site your team can run.
- Drupal 7, 9, and 10 upgrades and migrations (Drupal development services)
- Drupal and WordPress multisite builds with central governance
- Integrations with Salesforce, Google, Adobe, and your student systems
Also for public institutions. We build open source Drupal platforms for public service organizations too.
[TBD – Victor] Offer name, scope, price, and button, for example a Drupal health check.
Legacy sites replaced
68
Client result
University of Virginia
Twenty Drupal 7 sites moved to Acquia Cloud Site Factory, and 68 legacy sites were replaced through content consolidation.
Enrollment and paid media
Turn program page visits into applications
Paid media, SEO, and program pages that work together, so a prospective student gets the same clear answer in an ad, a search result, and on your site.
- Paid search and social for enrollment campaigns (performance marketing)
- Program pages built around cost, outcomes, and how to apply
- GA4 tracking from first click to application
Leads
+81%
Cost per lead
−40%
Client result
Ivey Business School
81% more leads and a 40% lower cost per lead, after Northern rebuilt Ivey’s paid campaigns, SEO, and tracking.
Accessibility and student experience
Help students find what they need, on any device
Clear navigation, search, and connected systems, built and tested to WCAG 2.1 Level AA from the start, the standard the ADA Title II rule requires for public colleges and universities in the US.
- Accessibility audits, fixes, and editor training (digital accessibility services)
- Information architecture from user research
- Course search and integrations with your SIS, CRM, and learning platform
Not sure where you stand? Book a $2,500 Accessibility Check-Up
Courses indexed
700+
Client result
U of T School of Continuing Studies
Three legacy sites became one Drupal site, with course search that lets search engines index 700+ courses.
Ongoing support
Keep your site secure and current after launch
Every complex system needs maintenance. We stay on as part of your web team, with end-to-end support, 24/7 in-house monitoring, account management, and security management, in a support model that fits your budget.
- Security monitoring, updates, and patches (managed services)
- A named account manager and a team that already knows your site
- Creative and marketing help when your team needs extra hands
Client voice
“They’re not just a vendor, they’re my team.”
Steve Erwin, UX/UI Web Lead, Tompkins Cortland Community College
Client story
How Olympic College’s new site supported a 9% enrollment increase
Olympic College serves more than 8,500 military and civilian students. Research with students and staff shaped new navigation built on Guided Pathways, Funnelback search, and templates built to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
Our work
Recent higher education websites
Canisius University
Drupal, UX research, SEO, and paid media reporting
Wharton Executive Education
WordPress, registration, and Salesforce connected
Albany Law School
Seven sites integrated into one, 2021 Acquia Engage award
UW Bothell
14,000-page site rebuilt as 50+ WordPress subsites
Mohawk College
Proprietary CMS moved to open source Drupal
UBC Continuing Professional Development
Drupal and Salesforce for 50,000+ learners
Higher education resources
Chat with one of our higher education experts
Tell us what you’re working on and someone who works with colleges and universities every day will follow up. No preparation required. The conversation covers
[TBD – Victor] Placeholder quote
“Quote from Victor on how Northern works with colleges and universities, for example how we plan a Drupal migration so a small web team can run the new site.”
VP, Public Service at Northern
Common questions about higher education web design and development
Both are open source and both run large university sites. Drupal fits sites with many content types, detailed editor permissions, and complex integrations. WordPress fits teams that want simpler block-based editing. Northern builds on both and recommends one after reviewing your governance, integrations, and editors. For UW Bothell, Northern compared the two and recommended WordPress for its Gutenberg content blocks.
Drupal 7 reached end of life on January 5, 2025, and no longer receives community security updates. Drupal 10 reaches end of life on December 9, 2026. Drupal 12.0.0 is scheduled for the week of December 7, 2026. Sites on Drupal 7 or 10 should plan a move to a supported version.
The Department of Justice’s 2024 ADA Title II rule requires state and local government web content and mobile apps, including those of public colleges and universities, to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA. An interim final rule published April 20, 2026, moved the compliance dates by one year. Public entities serving 50,000 or more people now have until April 26, 2027, and smaller entities have until April 26, 2028. The standard itself did not change.
Timelines depend on the number of sites, pages, and integrations. Recent Northern projects took 9 to 12 months, including the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (nine months), Tompkins Cortland Community College (10 months from research to launch), and UW Bothell (one year).