A national review of higher education websites has ranked the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the top four in terms of accessibility.

This is the third year in a row that the university website finished in the “Sweet 16” of the annual “Athletic Rivalries and Web Accessibility: Who is in the Sweet 16 this Year” list. The survey is completed annually by Jon Gunderson of the University of Illinois and presented at the national conference of Educause, the world’s largest information technology organization for higher education.

The 2019 study compared the websites of 152 members in 14 NCAA Division I basketball conferences. The results mark the first time Nebraska has led the Big Ten Conference in the survey and it is only one of three institutions — along with University of Colorado and Missouri State University — to make the top 16 in each of the last three years.

“Web accessibility is a critical component of our institution’s emphasis on diversity and inclusion,” said Bob Crisler, director of the university’s Digital Experience Group. “We have a lot to do yet with ensuring equality of experience on our digital campus, but this is another strong affirmation of the hard work and attention to detail that is part of the culture of the web community here at Nebraska.”

Crisler, who also facilitates the university’s Web Developer Network, one of the oldest and largest institutional web communities in higher education, said the launch of a new web framework this year helped the university earn the top-four ranking.

“We introduced a new sitewide framework in January, with that work led by Ryan Dee, our senior designer/developer, and I think that explains the jump this year from the middle of the Sweet 16 into the top group,” Crisler said. “Digital Campus Framework is really cutting-edge in a lot of ways, including its great foundation for web accessibility, and it positions us for healthy collaborations in our own system and across higher ed.”

Crisler also said teamwork across the university — including the partnership between University Communication and Information Technology Services that formed the Digital Experience Group — helped the institution score a top-four finish.

Other Big Ten institutions included in the “Sweet 16” list include Indiana and Illinois.

Gunderson is coordinator of the accessible information technology group at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. Data collected in his annual survey helps universities develop and monitor progress of website accessibility plans. Results can be used to understand which campus units are in compliance with accessibility standards; identifying the types of accessibility features being implemented; and discovering areas where training/upgrades are needed.