The University of London is a federation unlike any other — 17 independent institutions operating as one, serving 45,000+ active students spread across 190 countries. Over 250,000 students and 3,700 courses. Global distance learning at scale.

Their previous digital presence, however, was anything but unified. 150 microsites fragmented across disparate systems, each school operating independently online. The vision was clear: consolidate into a single, coherent digital home that strengthened their positioning as the world’s leading distance learning institution while enabling the internal teams to move faster and depend less on external support.

As development lead, I got to work on something genuinely complex. We upgraded to Drupal 10 and architected a system that could hold together 17 schools without losing their individual character. The site restructuring wasn’t guesswork — it came from rigorous audience mapping and user testing, so prospective students navigating from Nairobi or São Paulo or Jakarta could find exactly what they needed: courses, teaching centers, entry requirements, the whole journey.

The design thinking was meticulous. A redesigned course finder puts remote learning front and centre. An interactive map shows teaching center locations worldwide. And there’s a subtle beauty in the ribbon animations that echo the university crest — a visual metaphor for how separate strands weave together into something stronger.

The numbers were extraordinary: organic traffic jumped 227%, international visitors surged 556%, and students were spending 119% longer on the site exploring what’s available. Page views on the School of Advanced Study alone grew by 133%.

But the deeper win was the “one university” strategy finally taking digital form. A unified design system. A platform that lets internal teams move with confidence. A website that says to the world: we are one institution serving global students, not 17 schools trying to figure out how to work together.

You can read more here: https://numiko.com/projects/university-of-london/

And you can visit the live site here: https://www.london.ac.uk/