The verdict in three sentences
Most private business school websites talk to prospective students and forget the second customer: the company that hosts the intern or placement student. A redesign built around corporate relations, with a dedicated portal to post placements and a figure-based case for hosting students, turns the site into a partner acquisition engine. For a 900-student school in Dublin, the project fits in 9 weeks and costs 1,220 to 5,340 EUR depending on the tier.
What a company wants to know before hosting a student
An HR manager at a Dublin tech firm or a mid-sized Irish exporter will not read the "Student Life" page. In under two minutes they want the cost, the placement schedule, the available profiles and the paperwork. If the answers are buried in a 2023 PDF, they go to the school next door.
| Employer question | Expected answer on the site (2026 ballpark) |
|---|---|
| What does it cost the company? | Placement stipend, typically 1,800 to 2,600 EUR per month for a paid internship in Dublin |
| Is there public support? | Work placement and graduate schemes vary, link to the official government pages |
| What is the schedule? | 6 to 12 month placements, or 2 days a week during term |
| Which profiles are available? | BBS, MSc Marketing, MSc Finance, around 320 candidates a year |
| How long to sign? | Prefilled placement agreement, signed in 5 to 10 working days |
| Who supervises? | Named academic supervisor and mid-placement review |
| Can we sponsor the school? | Corporate sponsorship, guest lectures, capstone projects |
Each row deserves a page or a dedicated block, with a short contact form routed to the corporate relations team.
Redesign architecture: three possible tiers
The current site has 220 pages: programmes, news, testimonials, campus pages. Migrating them without losing search rankings requires a page-by-page 301 redirect plan, tested before go-live.
| Item | Starter (1,220 EUR) | Growth (about 3,050 EUR) | Premium (up to 5,340 EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dedicated employer pages | 5 pages | 12 pages + cost calculator | 20 pages + calculator + case studies |
| Employer portal to post placements | Simple form | Placement posting with approval | Company account, application tracking |
| Migration of 220 pages | Key pages only | Full migration + 301 | Migration + SEO audit + tested 301 |
| Sponsorship page | Informational text | Step-by-step guide | Guide + built-in follow-up campaign |
| Blog and news | No | Yes | Yes + content strategy |
| Animations and design | Standard | Polished | Advanced animations, premium identity |
| Indicative timeline | 5 weeks | 7 weeks | 9 weeks |
For a school targeting 150 extra partners, Growth covers the essentials. Premium makes sense if the school wants to track every application in a dashboard and publish sector case studies (fintech, pharma, aviation leasing, retail).
The 9-week schedule
| Week | Deliverable |
|---|---|
| 1 | Workshop with corporate relations, inventory of the 220 pages |
| 2 | Site map, separate "employer" and "applicant" journeys |
| 3-4 | Mockups, copy for employer pages and calculator |
| 5-6 | Development, employer portal, forms connected to the CRM |
| 7 | Content migration and 301 redirect plan |
| 8 | QA, mobile tests, accessibility |
| 9 | Go-live, rankings and form monitoring |
The schedule holds if the school appoints a single point of contact and approves mockups within 5 working days.
Mini case study
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Siobhan, head of corporate relations at the school, works with 410 partner companies and receives about 12 inbound requests a month through the site. Her goal: 150 more partners in 12 months.
After a Growth redesign (about 3,050 EUR), the school records 30 inbound requests a month. With a 45 % conversion rate, that is about 13.5 new companies a month, or 162 over the year. Each company hosts 1.3 students on average, and a strong placement record lifts enrolment: if it brings in just 5 extra fee-paying students at 12,000 EUR a year, that is 60,000 EUR of additional revenue. The site pays for itself with the first extra enrolment.
FAQ
Should the employer site be separate from the student site?
No, one domain is enough, with an "Employers" journey visible in the main menu. Splitting domains dilutes search rankings: 12 to 20 well-built employer pages on the main site work better.
How much traffic can a 220-page migration lose?
Without a redirect plan, a school can lose 30 to 50 % of organic traffic for several months. With page-by-page tested 301s, the drop usually stays under 10 % and recovers within 4 to 8 weeks.
Is the placement cost calculator reliable?
It uses 2026 Dublin stipend ranges and the school's own placement rules. It shows an estimate and routes the company to corporate relations for a final figure.
Can the employer portal connect to our CRM or student system?
Yes, at Growth and Premium: posted placements and forms can feed HubSpot, Salesforce or a daily CSV export. Allow 1 to 2 extra weeks for a custom student information system.
When should we start for a September intake?
Irish employers plan placements between February and June. Starting in December or January means going live in March, at the start of the peak.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current site map and partner target: we price the redesign between 1,220 and 5,340 EUR with a 9-week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
