Hero embarks on epic voyage

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A new internet portal is set to launch today (Friday), providing an online information service to anyone interested in UK higher education (HE).

Hero, which stands for Higher Education and Research Opportunities, has been developed by a partnership of major HE organisations, including Sussex. The portal (www.hero.ac.uk) represents an opportunity for the partners to present themselves in a helpful way to a wide range of Web surfers who are currently bemused by the hundreds of different higher education sites.

Epic, a Brighton-based new-media company, has been appointed to design and operate the service under contract. A not-for-profit company, representing the major partners, will oversee and manage Hero.

The information is organised into zones covering major areas of higher education - including research, knowledge transfer, learning and teaching, culture and sport- and is aimed at prospective students and their parents, current students and staff, industry and commerce, job seekers and employers, international audiences and the general public.

The portal provides relatively little content of its own and mostly consists of links to material held on individual websites in universities, colleges, research councils and institutes, funding bodies and other HE agencies.

Information providers such as Sussex should benefit from higher levels of interested visitors to their sites, extended marketing opportunities and intelligent feedback about Hero's users and their requirements.

The partners hope that the higher education sector as a whole will benefit from Hero in two ways: as a powerful marketing channel in the UK and overseas, and via the creation of a new platform for increased collaboration by users and information providers.