Portal progress: campus Web portals grow despite budget cuts. (Stats Watch).

According to CT-based Gartner group, in 2001 only about 5 percent of universities had campus portals, but Gartner analyst Ron Yanosky predicts that some 80 percent of U.S. colleges with enrollments of more than 1,000 will have campus portals 2005. In a tough economic climate, he's keeping his fingers crossed.

"We talk to a lot of clients interested portal projects, but they can't implement them because their budgets are in terrible shape," says Yanosky. "In the meantime, the portals in development will probably be a little lighter in weight than they would have been if budgets were in better condition." He adds that of those IHEs planning portals, there is a trend toward commercial portals and away from the homegrown.

Yet, if the 2002 Campus Computing Survey (www.campuscomputing.net) is any indication, by 2005, there will be many more schools with campus portals. Twenty-one percent of the participants in the survey (senior technology officers from 632 two and four-year public and private U.S. IHEs) report they have a single sign-on campus portal up and functioning as of fall 2002. Another 20 percent report that a portal in is under development or being installed in the current academic year. Just under 30 percent of respondents indicate that portal issues are now under review/discussion at their institutions. And 29 percent said there is no portal planning in progress.

But even those institutions not planning portals are enhancing portal services. is such as online registration and commerce Over 32 percent are now developing plans for portal services.