Cross-cultural Perspective on Websites of Higher Education in Austria and Russia

Abstract

This article aims at conducting a cross-cultural comparison of university websites by taking the example of Austria and Russia. Numerous studies in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI) have revealed that cultural differences are likely to be present in website design. The rationale behind this article is twofold. On the one hand, the author pursues her personal interest in the field due to both her own cultural background and the fact that she studies in Austria. On the other hand, there is a scarcity of cross-cultural comparative studies of higher education institution (HEI) websites between Russia and Austria, and thus this study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge. Cultural differences in the design of HEI websites, identified within the scope of this study, may become a helpful tool which universities of both Austria and Russia could use for the English version of their websites in order to make them more culturally appropriate.

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