Institute of International Education Issues Website RFP
The purpose of this RFI is to offer the opportunity for interested organizations and individuals to provide information, opinions, strategies and recommendations that present a logical, comprehensive, concrete and measurable set of interventions to achieve the stated purpose, objectives, and illustrative results as stated below.
Background:
The Institute of International Education (“IIE” or the “Institute”) is a New York not-for-profit corporation that is among the world’s largest and most experienced international education and training organizations. Founded in 1919, IIE promotes educational exchange around the world through a wealth of programs and services including Fellowship and Scholarship Management, Higher Education Institutional Development, Emergency Student and Scholar Assistance, and Leadership Development.
For more 100 years, IIE has promoted educational exchange around the world. The Institute currently implements more than 200 programs benefiting 40,000 participants from 183 countries. Protecting threatened scholars has been at the core of IIE’s mission since our founding. In 2020, we will mark the 100th anniversary of our first rescue mission, an effort that helped over 600 students and scholars in the crossfire of the Bolshevik Revolution reach safety in Europe and the United States. IIE has conducted rescue work ever since, aiding students and scholars caught up in conflicts and emergencies around the world, from the rise of fascism in Europe through the current political and economic crisis in Venezuela.
The IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) was established in 2002 to formalize IIE’s unwavering commitment to protecting the lives, voices, and ideas of threatened scholars. It is the only global program that arranges and funds fellowships for threatened and displaced scholars at partnering higher education institutions worldwide. Specifically, IIE-SRF offers assistance to scholars from any country and academic discipline who face threats to their personal security or academic careers, helping them escape danger, relocate to a safe country, and quickly re-establish themselves as teachers, researchers, writers, and intellectuals. At the heart of IIE-SRF is the idea that each scholar we support is a beacon of hope in our world.
To date, IIE-SRF has supported nearly 825 scholars from 59 countries, in partnership with more than 400 higher education institutions in 46 countries around the world.
Scope of Work:
The Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) is seeking information from industry experts that will assist in the redesign and technical updating of its current website (scholarrescuefund.org). The project must be in keeping with the Institute’s branding and design standards. A full site audit will be necessary to align with best practices for site content and design. The final product must be responsive and adhere to ADA web accessibility standards.
The scholarrescuefund.org website is currently built on the Drupal 7 content management framework. Our intention is to follow one of the following development pathways:
1. Upgrade to the latest version of Drupal, keeping in mind that support for Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 is scheduled to end in late 2021; or, alternately:
2. Redesign and relaunch the website on the WordPress content management system.
Website Redesign Goals:
• Integrate IIE-SRF’s brand strategy throughout scholarrescuefund.org so that the Institute’s message is effectively communicated
• Utilize existing design/branding guidelines and color palette
• Develop a homepage that features prominent, clear calls to action that underscore the site’s main goals (fellowship applications, hosting inquiries, donations, information sharing)
• Design a cross-browser compatible, mobile-friendly and responsive website
• Site architecture that requires a minimum number of templates that can house content for pages: Scholars, Hosts, Fellow & Alumni, News & Events, etc.
• Increased integration with IIE’s social media feeds
• Multi-language capability
• Adherence to ADA web accessibility standards
• Streamline the user experience
• Review current website analytics in the development of new page layout and structure
Due Date:
September 25, 2019
Address:
Michael San Filippo
Institute of International Education, Inc.
809 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Email: msanfilippo@iie.org
Relevant agencies include Hunter PR and Rubenstein PR.
