Web accessibility statement

Scope

This statement covers information published at www.gla.ac.uk.

Using this website

This website is run by the University of Glasgow. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also tried to make the website text as simple to understand as possible.

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible: for example:

  • Many legacy sub-sites that are archived, but not updated, as part of their funding terms
  • most older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • live video streams don’t have captions
  • some of our online forms, including our job application form, are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • there’s a limit to how far you can magnify the map on our ‘contact us’ page

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and try get back to you within 10 days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact: webteam@glasgow.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the accessibility regulations. If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Visiting us in person

If you are visiting in person, see our information about Physical accessibility.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Glasgow is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Issues with text

Some link text doesn’t make sense when read on its own (for example, ‘click here’). We use a quality assurance application to identify these links and inform content editors of the requirement to change these. There will be occassions, however, when these changes have not yet been made. We will monitor and correct such links on an ongoing basis.

Issues with PDFs and other documents

  • WCAG 1.4.1: Non-text Content
  • WCAG 2.4.2: Page titled

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents don’t meet accessibility standards: for example, they may not be marked up so they’re accessible to a screen reader.

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information on how users can access our services, and forms published as Word documents. We plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

We are currently auditing PDFs and other documents and working with our publishers to make these accessible or to remove them from the site.

Issues with images, video and audio

  • WCAG 1.1.1: Text alternatives
  • WCAG 1.2.1: Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)
  • WCAG 1.2.2: Captions (Prerecorded)
  • WCAG 1.2.3: Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)

Some images don’t have appropriate alternative text. We use a quality assurance application to identify these images and inform content editors of the requirement to change these. There will be occasions, however, when these changes have not yet been made.

Some legacy video content doesn't have captions. 

Live video streams don’t have captions.

We don’t as yet plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

British Sign Language

BSL users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, the on-line British Sign Language interpreting video relay service.

How we tested this website

This website is tested weekly using a quality assurance tool, SiteImprove, to identify accessibility issues.

We tested:

  • our main website platform, available at www.gla.ac.uk

Other sites within our domain

The University of Glasgow's website consists of many related sub-sites: such as our student record system, our Human Resources system and our helpdesk application. Accessibility statements for such sub-sites will be found locally for each of these.

This statement was prepared on 17 September 2019.

It was last reviewed and updated on 30 September 2022.

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