HERO

1
HERO

• Higher Education and Research Opportunities
• Christopher Harris
• Executive Director
• HERO

2
Portal Definitions

• Portal definition single point of
  useful,comprehensive, ubiquitous and integrated
  access.
• Community portal definition a portal catering
  to specific communities of interest by providing
  tailored content.

3
The vision

• to be the primary Internet portal for higher
  education and academic research in the United
  Kingdom
• the natural entry point for enquiries about UK
  higher education for the widest possible range of
  customers

4
Heros stakeholders

• Organisations which will benefit from such a
  portal include
• universities, colleges and their representative
  bodies
• Research Councils and charities
• key HE agencies (UCAS, CSU, etc)
• HE funding bodies

5
Origins

• a project for the millennium
• too many lights hidden under too many bushels

6
Project history (1)

• Scoping study conducted by SQW.
• Main conclusions
• rationale is sound
• site will add value
• site will have support
• proposal is technically feasible

7
Project history (2)

• Development of a business plan (ArthurAndersen).
• main outcomes
• business structure
• financial model
• marketing strategy
• draft ITT and contract with the operator

8
Project history (3)

• Development Consultants
• main outcomes
• Procurement of operating company - Epic
• Setting up of limited company

9
Current Status

• Epic appointed as operator
• Executive Director appointed
• Hero Ltd being set up
• branding and naming exercise completed
• design phase has begun
• October 2000 Site launched

10
Heros shareholders

• CVCP
• UCAS
• SCOP
• HEFCE
• SHEFC
• NIHEC
• WFC
• CSU

• TTA
• AHRB
• NERC
• MRC
• BBSRC
• ESRC
• PPARC
• EPSRC

11
Aims and objectives

• showcase site with state-of-the-art design,
  search and navigation
• high quality content promoting UK higher
  education and research
• content model - zones of interest
• disability and multi-lingual access

12
Some target audiences

• prospective and current students
• teaching and research staff
• contacts in industry and commerce
• overseas users of all kinds
• those interested in life-long learning
• policy-makers, funders and managers
• the media and the public

13
Possible zones

• national/regional
• Studying - courses, learning and teaching,
  subjects, student interests
• Research
• Business - industry and knowledge transfer
• HE community - policy and funding
• Culture Sport

14
Benefits to stakeholders

• higher levels of interested visitors
• showcase content promoted by leading-edge
• site design
• extended marketing opportunities
• intelligent feedback about Heros users

15
Benefit to users

• higher quality online experience
• better navigation and intelligent searching
• access to authoritative and quality-controlled
  information

16
Benefits to HE

• creation of a powerful marketing channel
• new platform for increased collaboration
• better understanding of customer needs and how to
  meet them

17
Funding and management

• pump-priming funds initially
• review in the second year
• company limited by guarantee being set up
• commercial activities would be carried out by a
  wholly-owned trading company.

18
General portal characteristics

• Site structure plus navigation and search
  capabilities
• showcase content (news and current achievements)
• structure database of pointers to participating
  sites
• majority of content held on institutions
  web-sites

19
Conclusions

• to be a success Hero must be based on
  collaboration and consensus
• aim not to compete with existing web-sites but to
  add value to them
• input from HE and the research community vital to
  the next stage