Higher Education Homepages

For years I’ve performed performance analysis on a list of independently curated highered responsive websites. I’ve recently wanted to expand that list to include many more highered homepages. So I set out to try and create a list of as many highered homepages as possible.

You can find the complete list on GitHub. Feel free to submit updates or suggestions.

Creating the list

While I was searching for lists to work from, I happened across one from Search Engines Marketer’s with 1,930 urls. It seemed like great list, so I ran some tests to make sure the url’s were still valid. Here’s where I ended up:

  • Normalized urls (add https, www, etc. where applicable)
  • Removed 61 dead urls
  • Removed 12 with messages they were shutting down (going out of business)
  • Removed 4 .com urls
  • Removed 82 non-qualifying urls (see Requirements below)
  • Added 83 from my RWD list that were missing from SEM’s list
  • Subsequent additions and removals

My goal is to keep this list as active and up-to-date as possible.

Requirements

First and foremost, it’s possible that not every url in this list meets these criteria. It was a lot of sites to comb through, and I’m sure I missed some.

  • Must be an accredited, degree granting higher education institution.
  • Must be the front-most url for a university, college, or campus. This excludes mobile versions, but may include campuses that fall under a larger umbrella.
  • Cannot be a school or medical facility that exists under a parent university (that includes business schools, law schools, etc.).
  • Must not be a specialty school such as chiropractic or cosmetology.
  • Requirements are subject to change and are up for debate.

Contributing

If you find a url that should be added or removed from the list, send a pull request or contact me.