Metadata
Title
Accessibility
Category
graduate
UUID
183e40d8fd094d94b084815434029196
Source URL
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/about/website/accessibility
Parent URL
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/masters
Crawl Time
2026-03-25T01:37:08+00:00
Rendered Raw Markdown

Accessibility

Source: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/about/website/accessibility Parent: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/masters

Find out how to navigate the University of Sussex website and see our accessibility statement.

Accessibility statement for the University of Sussex

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

This accessibility statement applies to the University of Sussex website, Student hub, Staff pages, jobs portal and mobile applications.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. That means you should be able to:

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. Within our content management system (CMS), we have a built in readability score tool. This generates a score which tells us how readable our content is.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible, for example some:

Further detail on our compliance status and non-accessible content is set out below.

Feedback and contact information

If you are having trouble accessing content on this site, need content in a different format, or wish to provide feedback, contact us at: web-accessibility@sussex.ac.uk.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: web-accessibility@sussex.ac.uk.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website

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

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and the exceptions listed below. Some areas of the website which were developed before September 2018 may not meet the AA accessibility standard.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Jobs portal

Our jobs portal does not completely meet WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 accessibility standards. This system is provided by an external supplier. We are currently working with the external supplier to resolve these issues. You can find out more about the content which is not compliant with the accessibility regulations below.

We audited our jobs pages in May 2024 and found they are only partially compliant with WCAG 2.1 and 2.2. We are working with our external supplier to address these issues, however until they are remedied the content listed below is non-accessible for the following reason(s):

#### Keyboard-only issues

#### Colour contrast issues

#### Link text issues

There are issues with link text such as: non descriptive links being used for files/file names, social media links, and links in the cookie banner in the application form. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. We are working to fix  descriptive link text issues by December 2024.\ \ There are also issues with some text links not showing any indication of focus – the cursor is not changing to the hand or arrow pointer (or any other symbol or indication) to show it is a clickable link. We are currently working with the third party organisation to resolve this by December 2024.

On the jobs portal landing page, each job has link text which reads 'View job'. There is currently no way in the third party providers system to make this text unique to each vacancy. The third party provider is looking to update their system and this should be resolved by September 2025.

Some links are underlined in the html using Link. This should be styled using CSS. We are currently working to resolve this issue with our third party provider by December 2024.

#### Zoom issues

At 400% zoom, the 'Select language' box and other page elements do not reflow to fit the webpage. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.4.10 Reflow. This will be resolved by end of December 2024.

#### Accessibility labels

#### Header issues

Heading levels are not always being used and if they are, they are not in a logical order. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels. This is planned to be fixed by end of December 2024.

#### Written content and language

We are working to web best practice guidelines so that language is readable, perceivable and understandable.

The cookie banner is using a sentence in capital letters. We are currently working to resolve this by December 2024.

#### CV uploader tool

The CV uploader does not always import information into the correct fields of the application form. This is planned to be fixed by end of December 2024.

#### PDFs

Some of the job description PDFs do not meet accessibility requirements. This is because of issues with header levels, colour contrast and images and logos not having alt-tags. We are currently working to make the PDF templates accessible. This is planned to be fixed by end of December 2024.

Sharepoint sites

Our Sussex Projects Knowledge Hub (which uses Sharepoint) does not completely meet WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 accessibility standards. This system is provided by an external supplier. We are currently working to resolve these issues. You can find out more about the content which is not compliant with the accessibility regulations below.

ARIA labels: some elements have an aria-labelled by or aria-describedby value that does not match the ID attribute value of another element in the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value. We are working to resolve this by April 2025.

Access key: Some of the pages have an accesskey attribute. An accesskey provides a way to define shortcut keys for web page elements but they can conflict with assistive technology. This fails WCAG 2.2 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks. We are working to resolve this by April 2025.

Heading levels: There are no H1s on the pages. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 1.3.1 Info and Relationships. This is because of a hardcoded rule in the system itself. ARIA labels have been used to correctly tag H1 headers.

Headers, paragraphs and written content: Some of the headings and paragraphs have been numbered. Some of these paragraphs are also spread across two columns rather than one single column. Some of the words used are also bolded. This fails WCAG 2.2 We are working to resolve this by April 2025.

Skip to main content: This link exists on every page but it fails to always link the user to the main content of the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks. We are working to resolve this by April 2025.

Redundant title text: Some of the content (links, headers, buttons) have redundant title text in place. This can be difficult for people using assistive technology because link names are being read out more than once. We are working to resolve this by April 2025.

Redundant links and link names: Some pages have adjacent links going to same location. There are also some links for things like files (PDF and Word Documents), which are not descriptive or include file size. This fails WCAG 2.2 2.4.4 Link Purpose. We are working to combine the redundant links into one link, remove any redundant text and ensure all links are descriptive by April 2025.

Colour contrast: There are some instances where colour contrast does not meet the WCAG requirement. For example, grey text being used on the table within the Glossary. This fails WCAG 2.2 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum. We are working to resolve this by April 2025.

Text on images: There is a large use of images depicting diagrams and other essential information. This fails WCAG 2.2 1.4.5 Images of text. We are working towards providing a text alternative for these images in the interim while we plan how to create these using semantic html.

Menu list expanding on hover: Currently the menu opens upon hovering and is dismissed when focus is removed. This can be difficult for people to use. This only partially meets WCAG 2.2 1.4.13 Content on Hover or Focus. We looking to make the menu list appear upon click.

Text spacing: The user is unable to increase text spacing. This fails WCAG 2.2 1.4.12 text spacing.

Reflow: When zooming into the pages from 200% to 400%, some text does not reflow. This fails WCAG 2.2 1.4.10 Reflow.

Focus indicator: This does not always meet colour contrast requirements or fulfil the criteria for pixels size. This makes it difficult for users using keyboard only to see where they are in the page. This fails WCAG 2.2 2.4.7 Focus Visible.

Documents

Many documents are in non-HTML formats, for example PDF. Some of these PDFs and other files may not be optimised for screen readers. 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. Some are pre-2018 and some are in the Archive. We plan to either fix post 2018 ones or replace them with accessible HTML pages. This is an ongoing process, we have created accessibility guides for staff and we are raising awareness across the University.\ \ If you require access to a PDF that does not meet accessibility standards email web-accessibility@sussex.ac.uk and we will provide an accessible version to you.

Video

We are currently working to audit the video content on our site. We are currently focused on auditing our undergraduate content and hope to have this complete by Summer 2024.

Disproportionate Burden

We believe that fixing some of the accessibility issues found in our jobs portal would place a disproportionate burden on the University. We believe the cost and resources needed to fix the issues outweighs the benefits for users. We have therefore submitted a Disproportionate Burden Claim for the following issues related to our jobs portal. If granted, we are committed to resolving the issues either by December 2024 or September 2025.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Many of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value).

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. For example, we do not plan to fix old pdfs which are in our archive.

Video and audio content

Video and audio content from before 23rd September 2020 is exempt from meeting these standards. We are doing our best to replace older video content and replace it with content that meets standards.

Live video

Live video streams do not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.2 success criterion 1.2.4 (captions - live).\ \ We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Maps

Maps fall outside of current accessibility standards. Our university maps are not accessible by screen readers. All addresses highlighted on our maps are available elsewhere on the website. We are looking into an accessible solution to our maps.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

Recent audits

See our recent audits below, the issues identified and the timescale for fixing them.

We audited our Sussexsport app and booking system in April 2024 and found it is only partially compliant with WCAG 2.2 because of some of the following top level issues. We are now working with a third party provider to address these issues.

We audited our self-guided tour app in May 2024 and found it is only partially compliant with WCAG 2.2 because of some of the following top level issues.

European Accessibility Act 2025

As a UK-based institution, the University of Sussex is governed by the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018. These require us to meet WCAG 2.2 AA standards across our websites and digital services.

Although the European Accessibility Act (EAA) does not apply directly to UK public sector bodies, we are indirectly committed to ensuring our digital services are accessible to EU-based students and partner institutions.\ \ Where applicable, we may:

We are monitoring the evolving impact of the EAA and continue to review our accessibility processes in line with international standards.

If you are an EU-based student or partner and have accessibility concerns about a digital service at the University of Sussex, contact us at web-accessibility@sussex.ac.uk.

Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared on 20 September 2019. It was reviewed on 26 June 2024 and will be updated regularly as we move forward with our actions and research.

This website was tested in-house in 2020 and had a further in-house audit in May 2022. It was audited by AbilityNet in July 2022 and reaudited by AbilityNet in March 2024.

Further information about our website

There are a variety of techniques you can use to navigate our site.

You can use the top-level drop-down navigation and the site search, both of which give you access across our website and resources contained within. On most sections of the site you can use the page navigation (which appears to the left of this content) and the breadcrumb trail (which appears just above this content). - Text resizing and page zooming

Most modern browsers support some form of built-in text resizing or page zooming. Changing the text size or zoom varies depending on the browser you are using.

Resizing a page depends on the browser you are using:

Our site supports:

Refer to the following websites to get information relating to accessibility matters such as how to adjust your browser, computer, keyboard and mouse settings to suit your individual needs

The website has been developed following guidelines which are aimed at achieving a good level of accessibility – we endeavour to meet with WCAG 2.2 AA standards.

We have taken the following accessibility and usability guidelines into consideration when developing the site:

We have delivered training on accessibility to a number of our devolved web editors. This is an ongoing task.

We have developed our accessible web components library and are in the process of training all web editors to use these.

We have develped a series of "How to" pages for creating accessible documents and are currently preparing to deliver a series of training sessions for all staff who produce online documents. - How we tested this website

This website is tested for accessibility whenever we develop new web conponents. We also crawl the site regularly to find issues such as where images without alt tags are located. Tests are carried out with users and via automated software.

### We have tested the website using the following methods so far:

### The pages the components library cover and the ones we have tested are:

### How we tested PDFs:

We have set up an accessibility working group which will oversee digital accessibility improvements. The group will form part of wider accessibility group within the University.

Members of our development team have taken training courses provided by W3 and WebAIM to enable them to provide a more accessible experience for our visitors.