Mohd Sharul Hafiz Razak, Nor Azman Ismail, Hadi Nur, Ahmad Hoirul Basori, Farkhana Muchtar, Weng Howe Chan, Mahmuddin Yunus, Muhammad Nurwiseso Wibisono
In the digital age, university websites are pivotal platforms for institutional communication, academic resource dissemination, and stakeholder engagement. This study presents a large-scale analysis of the official websites of 20 Malaysian public universities, encompassing 7.3 million web pages. Employing a hybrid methodology that integrates machine learning (XGBoost) and web-crawling techniques, we classified website content into nine categories: Admission, e-learning, endowment, department, repository, events, news, research, and directory. Our findings reveal that directory pages overwhelmingly dominate the content landscape, indicating a sector-wide emphasis on administrative transparency and accessibility. Research and e-learning content are substantial in some institutions but are not the leading categories overall. The study also identifies underrepresented areas such as endowment, events, and news, highlighting opportunities for improved digital engagement. These content distribution patterns reflect the diverse strategic orientations of Malaysian universities and have implications for student recruitment, research visibility, and global rankings. The proposed framework offers actionable insights for optimizing university web strategies and serves as a replicable model for digital transformation in higher education. © 2025 IEEE.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Computing, Johor, Malaysia; Universitas Negeri Malang, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Malang, Jawa Timur, Indonesia; King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Computing and Info. Technology in Rabigh, Rabigh, Saudi Arabia; Universitas Negeri Malang, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Malang, Indonesia; Universitas Negeri Malang, Faculty of Letters, Malang, Indonesia
