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Ede Christian University of Applied Sciences
The Christian University is a community; a Christian learning and working community where staff and students shape a high-quality and innovative climate of higher professional education and knowledge development. The University with an impact for you and others.
The project at a glance
For the Christian University, Xuntos, in close cooperation with its partner Online Department, has developed a new website with an optimal user experience and branding with a focus on recruiting students. With important priorities such as user-friendliness, mobile first, personalization, optimization of work processes, performance and safety
Deliverables
User-friendly website
for CHE and ICB Netherlands
Content Management System
From design to implementation
Hosting, maintenance and management
Integrations
SSO connection: surfconnect
Surfsharekit publications
Connect to CRM Mycrosoft Dynamics
Umbraco Engage
Umbraco Workflow
Expertise partner
UX Research
UX Design
UX Testing
Expertise
Front-end development
Back-end development
Umbraco expert
Project management
The question from the Christian College
Design and develop a new website with an optimal user experience and branding with a focus on recruiting students.
We are looking for a user-friendly CMS that allows us to easily collaborate with a large editorial team. Safety, privacy and accessibility are important pillars here.
We are proud of the cooperation with the Christian College team and our partners
Strategy & Discovery
Together with the Christian University, we started a joint kick-off to formulate goals and assumptions. Through interviews, data analyses and a content audit, we gained insight into the current website and user needs. Based on personas and a customer journey, we identified opportunities. A card-sorting study helped with the new structure. The phase ended with a validated prototype and a prioritized UX backlog as a solid basis for the sequel.
Design & Validation
Based on the insights from the discovery phase, we developed the first concepts into a visual and functional design vision. Together with Christelijke Hogeschool, we determined the desired look & feel and translated the new structure into wireframes and prototypes. During ideation sessions, various design variants were tested and refined. With a clickable prototype, we tested the user experience with end users, so that choices could be substantiated and validated. The results formed the basis for the UI style guide and the start of the development phase.
Build & Launch
In this phase, we worked with all disciplines in short sprints. While the design team further refined the UX and UI, the development team worked to implement it in Umbraco Cloud. Components and templates from the style guide were translated into scalable front-end modules. During the sprints, links were created with Surfworks, Surfcontext and Microsoft CRM. After extensive testing, bug fixes, and SEO migration, the new CHE website went live in September 2025. Ready for further growth and optimization
Optimization & Growth
After going live, the cooperation with the Christian University remains focused on further development and profitability. Xuntos offers daily support, management and maintenance. Every six months, we look ahead and determine new priorities together based on data, user insights and technological developments. Based on various data from monitoring, Umbraco Engage and the organization, among others, we recommend improvements for the user experience and platform performance.
Putting the student at the center and the value of the University ensures an optimal experience
Young people live partly on their mobile, so a mobile-first design is a must. By talking to pupils, students and stakeholders from the organization, valuable information was collected.
User-friendly also means accessible. A legal obligation, but also an expressed wish on the part of the Christian University. The website was delivered in accordance with the WCAG guidelines for design and technology
Security, privacy and integration of systems as important principles
We are fans of the Umbraco CMS and now the editors of the Christian University too. Not only because Umbraco Cloud is a secure basis, but also because it is so user-friendly and flexible for editors. For the editors, we have fully customized the CMS. Because the website consists of a large group of editorial members, each with different responsibilities, we have installed Umbraco Workflow. Thanks to the SSO connection, an editor can log in directly and securely.
A link has been made to the Mycrosoft Dynamics CRM for presenting data for courses, courses and enrolling courses. In addition, all publications are fetched with an api from Surfsharekit.
Through Umbraco Engage, the Christian University can further optimize the website by using AB testing, segmentation and personalization.
The cooperation is pleasant and professional: clear communication, clear agreements and short lines of communication ensured a smooth process. There was a lot of action, but always with a touch of humor, exactly the mix that works.
The result
The website proudly bears the label “user-friendly”. After going live, the website was tested by means of a Usabiliy test and was received very positively by the candidates.
Collaborate on digital solutions?
We are happy to think along with you when developing your new website. Schedule an informal introductory meeting or request an Umbraco demo.
Cases
What else we built
We work for our customers on the safety and well-being of people and animals. Here are a few examples of what we have achieved together.
