Federico II University is transforming its university portal into a customized digital experience platform
From the institutional portal to restricted-access areas: the University of Naples Federico II is centralizing its digital services and using Liferay DXP to build a personalized experience for 72,000 users.
Key Takeaways
- Over 72,000 users served through a unified digital ecosystem that centralizes services, content, and restricted-access areas
- A digital experience redesigned from the ground up, tailored for students, faculty, and staff
- More stable, secure, and up-to-date services delivered in record time
- Implementation completed in less than a year
Background: Federico II, one of Europe’s oldest universities
Founded in 1224, the University of Naples Federico II is one of Europe’s oldest and most prestigious universities, with over 72,000 enrolled students, a wide range of schools and departments spread across the region, and a constantly growing international academic community. Ensuring that this community has simple, secure, and uninterrupted access to digital services—from academic programs to administrative offices, from calls for applications to institutional communications—is a responsibility that grows alongside the university.
A Liferay client since 2012, Federico II decided in 2023 to take a significant evolutionary step: not just a simple technological upgrade, but a complete redesign of its digital ecosystem. The goal was to build a centralized hub for all services, built on a modern and scalable cloud-native infrastructure capable of delivering personalized experiences to every type of user. This decision consolidates and renews a technological partnership that has lasted over a decade.
Challenges: Centralizing and Personalizing the Digital Services of a Complex University Portal
Before the project began, Federico II had identified four priorities for improvement.
- Fragmentation of digital
services The systems supporting teaching, administration, international mobility, and institutional communication operated separately and were not integrated, forcing users to navigate multiple platforms to access different services. - Information
overload The enormous volume of content produced by the university (calls for applications, news, regulations, departmental communications) was not structured in a way that allowed for effective searching. Users struggled to find the information they needed, resulting in a frustrating experience and lengthy navigation times. - Inconsistent
User Experience Students, faculty, staff, and international users have very different needs and digital journeys: the previous platform was unable to offer personalized content and experiences tailored to each user profile. - Insufficient
Editorial Efficiency Content management was handled by numerous editors spread across various departments, without adequate tools to ensure consistency, quality, and speed of publication. The lack of structured workflows slowed down processes and increased the risk of errors, making it difficult to keep the portal up-to-date and reliable.
Implementation: How Liferay DXP Powers the Federico II University Portal
The new project began in 2023 with the migration from Liferay Portal EE 6.1, taking the opportunity not only to update the technology but also to completely redesign the UX, UI, and user journeys, thereby transforming the university portal into a comprehensive cloud-native digital ecosystem.
The implementation involved collaboration with SMC Treviso, part of the Liferay, Open Source & RIOS Center of Excellence within the DGS Group, which supported the architectural assessment of the solution and the provision of subscriptions.
The solution leverages a set of Liferay features that cover the entire lifecycle of content and the user experience:
- CMS (Web Content Management): structured management of news, announcements, events, and regulations using structures, templates, and categories.
- Sites & Page Management: multi-site architecture for the public portal, restricted areas, and departmental sub-portals.
- Personalization by segments and roles: differentiated paths and content for students (prospects, enrolled students, active students), faculty, staff, and the external public.
- Low-code and Workflow: Structured approval processes for distributed publishing across departments.
- API Integration: Connection with the university’s application systems, including ESSE3 for student academic record management.
The platform serves over 72,000 users with personalized navigation paths based on their profile. On the homepage, students find dynamic content on news, events, and deadlines; they then progressively access the academic offerings, application portals for enrollment and competitive admissions, and finally the authenticated area via SSO. Faculty and staff, on the other hand, access calls for applications, institutional documentation, and communications using the private portal and CMS features to manage and publish content within their purview.
Results: A Unified, Cloud-Native Digital Ecosystem for Students and Faculty
The project has profoundly transformed the digital ecosystem of the University of Naples Federico II, with tangible benefits across multiple dimensions:
- Centralization and accessibility (+25%)
A unified digital hub has eliminated fragmentation among separate systems, making all services accessible from a single point of entry. Navigation is clearer and more intuitive, and content is better structured and easier to find. - Operational efficiency and time-to-market (+30%)
The cloud-native infrastructure and CI/CD pipelines have significantly reduced the time required to release new features. Liferay’s simplified publishing tools have empowered departmental teams to publish content independently, eliminating the need for technical intervention. - Stability, Security, and Compliance
The new platform ensures service continuity for tens of thousands of users. Security solutions integrated by design have raised data protection standards, ensuring GDPR compliance and a proactive approach to vulnerability management.
The new digital ecosystem allows us to offer more accessible, integrated, and innovative services, tangibly improving the experience of students, new users, faculty, and staff.
; Head of the Systems Division; Technical Director of the Microinformatics Processing Systems Area; Technical Director of the User Support Area; University Center for Information Services (C.S.I.), University of Naples Federico II.
Evolution: The Department Portal
The evolution of Federico II’s digital ecosystem is underway: the departments’ portal, based on Liferay DXP, extends the digital experience platform to the entire departmental structure, completing the design of an integrated and cohesive digital ecosystem for the entire academic community. At the same time, the cloud-native platform is designed to integrate AI governance and intelligent operations, with the goal of continuing to innovate the university’s digital services.
The Partner: SMC Treviso, a Liferay leader in education digitization
SMC Treviso, part of the DGS Group’s Liferay, Open Source & RIOS Center of Excellence, is a certified Liferay partner with extensive experience in the design and implementation of advanced, scalable, and user-centric digital platforms.
Thanks to its specialized expertise and consultative approach, it enables integrated digital experiences by leveraging Artificial Intelligence to improve processes, user experiences, and engagement.
In the Federico II project, SMC Treviso supported the university in the architectural assessment of the solution, ensuring the continuity of a collaboration with the DGS Group that has lasted for over 10 years. Thanks to its in-depth knowledge of the Liferay platform and the institutional context, SMC Treviso helped guide technology choices toward a modern, scalable solution capable of meeting the needs of a university as complex as Federico II.
