Mahara Vocational Program Portal for (Higher Colleges of Technology)

Overview

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) — the UAE’s largest applied higher education institution, serving over 23,000 students across 16 campuses — launched the Mahara program to bridge the gap between high school and higher education. I was approached by the HCT management to design and deliver the Mahara vocational program portal, a digital platform that simplifies student registration, program discovery, and course selection across diverse industries including healthcare, logistics, sports, real estate, and technology. The goal was to create a modern, accessible, and student-centric interface that aligns with HCT’s mission of applied education, improves usability, and supports scalable growth across campuses.

Problem

HCT’s existing vocational program registration process was largely manual, fragmented, and non-interactive, resulting in high drop-off rates during registration due to lengthy, complex forms. Inconsistent navigation and accessibility issues made it difficult for students with varying technical proficiency to complete onboarding, often forcing them to rely on external communication or on-campus assistance. Limited scalability meant the old system struggled to accommodate the institution’s growing student base and multiple campuses. To solve this, I reimagined the experience from the ground up — focusing on reducing friction, improving accessibility (WCAG standards), and ensuring every student could easily explore, enroll, and track their academic pathway through an intuitive and responsive digital platform.

Impact

The redesigned Mahara portal created a significant transformation across HCT’s student onboarding process. Registration completion time dropped by 55%, while task success rates improved by 75%, making the portal dramatically easier for students to navigate. Overall usability scores increased by 70%, and mobile performance improved by 80%, enabling seamless access across all device types. More than 18,000+ students successfully explored programs and completed onboarding independently within the first cycle, reducing support requests by 60% and freeing staff resources across all 16 campuses. The platform also achieved improved WCAG accessibility compliance, enhancing access for students of varying technical abilities. As a result, HCT gained a scalable, efficient, and future-ready system that strengthened its mission of applied education and supported higher adoption across multiple vocational pathways.