Politechnika Śląska — WCAG 2.0-Compliant Admissions Website

Situation, goals and challenges

Politechnika Śląska (Silesian University of Technology) needed a new admissions website that would clearly present its degree programs, admissions rules, and the candidate journey from applicant to enrolled student. The previous solution was unintuitive, hard to update, and fell short of modern accessibility standards.

Key project goals: - design and build an admissions website for undergraduate, graduate, and English-language program candidates - achieve full WCAG 2.0 compliance (contrast, keyboard navigation, screen reader support, heading structure) - implement an advanced program search with filters (faculty, mode of study, degree level, language, location) - prepare the site for very high traffic during peak admissions periods (thousands of concurrent users) - give the admissions office a simple way to update content, thresholds, deadlines, and documents on their own

Major challenges: - reconciling WCAG 2.0 requirements with a visually rich university layout - structuring content so candidates don't get lost among programs, faculties, and study formats - optimizing performance for traffic spikes during peak admissions days without slowdowns or timeouts - integrating with the university's external systems and electronic admissions platform (links, journeys, CTAs) - staying consistent with the university's visual identity and brand voice

Scope and delivered functionality

UX/UI and information architecture - an audit of the university's existing admissions communications - a candidate journey mapped from the admissions homepage to a specific program page - clear segmentation into undergraduate programs, graduate programs, English-language programs, and part-time/other formats - modules such as "Why study at Politechnika Śląska?" along with key statistics and strengths - a premium visual design consistent with the university's brand guidelines, with a strong focus on readability

Program search and presentation - an advanced program search with filters for faculty, mode of study, degree level, language, and location - program cards with descriptions, requirements, coursework, admission thresholds where published, and a direct path to the university's electronic recruitment system - fast filtering, e.g., "undergraduate, full-time, in Gliwice"

WCAG 2.0 and accessibility - a WCAG-compliant H1–H6 heading structure - proper color contrast on navigation and CTA elements - full keyboard navigation, visible focus states, and functioning skip links - tested compatibility with screen readers - alt text for key informational graphics - semantic HTML using landmark elements (header, nav, main, footer, aside)

Performance and security - a WordPress backend built on a stripped-down theme with no unnecessary page builders - page and object caching - CSS/JS minification - reduced database load through lightweight search queries - custom pagination for search results and program listings - CDN delivery for static assets - hardened admin panel security (login limits, additional roles, IP blocking)

Results

• candidates now have a clear path to choosing a program — from a general university overview through filters to a specific program landing page
• the site meets WCAG 2.0 requirements, essential for a public-sector project
• during peak admissions traffic, the site stays stable and fast under heavy load
• the admissions office can update program information, deadlines, and rules independently, without developer involvement
• the admissions website has become an important part of the university's brand presence, consistent with its overall communications and ready to support digital campaigns, social media, and offline materials

Technology stack