Data Model

This is the HEI URI model we are recommending to the sector as a result of our analysis of existing institutional website structures and also our own informed opinions on URI structure.

As developers we are used to the concept of objects and key/values and this is reflected in the model's structure. We've gone for namespaced type/identifier object nodes, such as /event/openday/{identifier}, /about/campuses/{identifier}, and /academic_departments/{identifier}/courses.

The only contention we had on the model was whether or not to have courses as a top level object, or have them as a sub-object of student type (undergraduate/postgraduate/foundation). In the end we went with sub-objects as this seems to be a standard that other HEIs have agreed on because postgraduate courses are structured and administered in a different way to undergraduate courses. Despite this, individual courses should still always be forwarded to the /course/{id} resource, as a course in itself has no undergraduate or postgraduate status outside of the institution's own administrative structure.

institution.ac.uk

• /{ucas_code} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
• /courses
• /course/{id}
• /undergraduate
  • /courses
    • /{id} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
    • /search/{query}
    • /entry_requirements
  • /prospectus
• /postgraduate
  • /courses
    • /{id} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
    • /search/{query}
    • /entry_requirements
  • /prospectus
• /foundation
  • /courses
    • /{id} → Redirect to appropriate /course/{id}.
    • /entry_requirements
  • /prospectus
• /events
  • /opendays
  • /conferences
  • /public_lectures
  • /graduation
• /business
  • /incubation
  • /ktp
• /research
• /academic_depts
  • /{id}
    • /courses
      • /undergraduate → Redirect to /undergraduate/courses/search/{query}.
      • /postgraduate → Redirect to /postgraduate/courses/search/{query}.
  • /staff → Redirect to /contact/search/{query}.
  • /news → Redirect to /news/search/{query}.
• /support_depts
  • /{id}
  • /staff → Redirect to /contact/search/{query}.
  • /news → Redirect to /news/search/{query}.
• /about
  • /vc
  • /parents
  • /{city}
  • /campuses
    • /{id}
• /search
• /press
  • /facts
• /news
  • /{date}
  • /{id}
  • /search/{query}
• /jobs
• /legal
  • /policies
  • /data_protection
  • /environment
  • /equality
  • /foi
  • /ict
  • /website
  • /regulations
• /contact
  • /staff
  • /{id}
  • /search/{query}

Easy conformance

There are a couple of easy steps that institutions can take to conform to the model above today.

1. Add Apache/ISS/Nginx redirects to existing pages and advertise these redirects instead:
   e.g. Set up a redirect from /undergraduate/courses to /study/undergraduate/courses

2. Add a CNAME record for www. to the DNS for the domain to add support for prefix less addresses:
   e.g. CNAME www.example.ac.uk. → example.ac.uk.

   Then update Apache/IIS/Nginx to add an alias for the domain:
   e.g. (Apache):
   

   ServerName institution.ac.uk
   ServerAlias www.institution.ac.uk

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