When ROC Friese Poort and Friesland College merged in August 2023, Firda was born with a bold ambition: become the go-to vocational education provider for youth, adults and businesses alike. But one organisation serving three distinct audiences needed more than a standard website. Together, we built a CMS for education that houses three domains under one roof, integrates with external systems, and gives content teams full control. The result: a digital foundation as flexible as Firda's educational offering.
Three audiences, one platform: youth, adults and businesses
Drupal CMS with modular paragraph system for content autonomy
Custom integrations with CAMBO and Eduarte registration systems
Co-creation process with stakeholders across the organisation
Digital identity aligned with Firda's new brand positioning
The challenge
How do you build one digital platform that speaks to teenagers choosing their first career path, adults seeking retraining, and businesses investing in their workforce? And how do you make it scalable for a newly merged organisation still finding its feet?
The solution
A flexible Drupal-based CMS for education with three distinct domains, modular content components, and seamless integrations with external registration systems. Built for autonomy, designed for growth.
Shaping vocational education's digital future
Firda is one of the Netherlands' largest vocational education institutions, formed from the merger of ROC Friese Poort and Friesland College in August 2023. With campuses across Friesland and Flevoland, Firda offers vocational training (mbo) to thousands of students while also serving adult learners and corporate clients.
We partnered with Firda from the very start of their digital transformation. Our collaboration began with an intensive discovery process, bringing together stakeholders from across the organisation to define what the new Firda should represent online. This wasn't just a website project; it was about translating a new organisational identity into a digital experience that serves vastly different audiences with equal care.
One merger, three audiences, countless expectations
A merger is more than combining two organisations. It's creating something new. Firda didn't just want to rebrand; they wanted to reposition vocational education itself. Their vision: a single institution that serves youth taking their first career steps, adults seeking new skills, and businesses investing in lifelong learning.
Each audience has fundamentally different needs. Young students explore, compare and dream. Adults need efficient pathways to specific qualifications. Businesses want training that delivers measurable results. One generic website could never speak to all three.
Why a CMS for education needs audience-specific domains
The strategic answer was clear: three distinct domains, one unified platform. Each audience gets a tailored experience with relevant content, navigation and tone of voice. Yet behind the scenes, everything runs on the same Drupal infrastructure.
This architecture gives Firda the best of both worlds. Marketing teams can craft audience-specific journeys without technical constraints. IT teams maintain one system instead of three. And as Firda grows, the platform scales without architectural overhaul.
Modular content for editorial autonomy
For a CMS for education to truly serve its users, content teams need independence. We built a modular paragraph system in Drupal that empowers editors to create, combine and publish content blocks without developer support.
This approach is deliberately practical. New courses can be added in minutes. Campaign pages can be built for open days. Programme information stays current because updating it is simple. The system doesn't just store content; it enables the organisation to communicate.
Seamless integration with registration systems
A vocational education website isn't complete without smooth enrolment pathways. We developed custom form systems that integrate with Firda's existing infrastructure: CAMBO for youth registrations and Eduarte for course management.
These integrations ensure that the user journey doesn't break at the most critical moment. A student exploring programmes can move seamlessly from inspiration to application. Data flows directly into Firda's administrative systems without manual re-entry or errors.
Co-creation: building with, not for
We started with questions, not assumptions. Through co-creation sessions with stakeholders from marketing, education and IT, we mapped what Firda truly needed. What should the digital identity convey? How do different audiences navigate? Where do current processes create friction?
This discovery process shaped every subsequent decision. The resulting platform isn't what we thought Firda needed; it's what Firda's own people helped design.
We wanted a website that you wouldn't necessarily describe as a website. A website that would embrace the story and identity of Firda.
The numbers
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Distinct audience domains on one platform
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Merged institutions united under one digital identity
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External system integrations (CAMBO, Eduarte)
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Modular Drupal CMS for full content autonomy
A digital foundation built for lifelong learning
Firda's new platform does more than present courses. It embodies a philosophy: that vocational education serves people at every stage of life and career. The three-domain structure makes this tangible, giving each audience a dedicated space while reinforcing that they're all part of the same Firda family.
For content teams, the modular CMS means agility. Updates happen in real-time, campaigns launch without bottlenecks, and the organisation can respond to changing educational demands. For prospective students and business clients, the seamless registration integrations remove friction at the moment of commitment.
As Firda continues to grow and evolve, the platform is ready. New programmes, new audiences, new integrations: the architecture supports ambition rather than constraining it.
