Accessibility statement for Anglia Ruskin University
This accessibility statement applies to:
aru.ac.uk is run by Anglia Ruskin University while jobs.aru.ac.uk is designed and hosted by a third party. We want as many people as possible to be able to use these websites. For example, that means you should be able to:
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
We know some parts of aru.ac.uk are not fully accessible:
PDF documents that are not fully accessible to screen reader software are:
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of these websites. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: [email protected].
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).
Anglia Ruskin University is committed to making these websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Some of our video content does not have captions. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 (captions (pre-recorded)). We plan to include captions on all new videos uploaded from 23 September 2020.
Some of our video content does not have an audio description or media alternative. The fails WCAG 1.2.3 (Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)). Fixing this has been assessed as a disproportionate burden.
In September 2024 we published our Access and Participation Plan 2025-26, which is a regulatory requirement, as a PDF supplied by the Office for Students. An accessibility check has identified a number of issues with the PDF. We do not have recourse to the original file in order to address these issues, so have presented 'as is'.
On a small number of pages there are heading tags in 'story cards' which are missing text. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and relationships). We are investigating now and plan to fix this by October 2024.
Some of the video content on aru.ac.uk does not contain audio descriptions.
An example could be a video about a particular course, for example a Course Leader discussing some of the things that students will learn on the course. This information is spoken and conveyed through subtitles. Similar, detailed information is given on the course page itself. Typically, the video will appear on the course page, so visitors will not need to navigate away to access this information.
The video may include some incidental footage of our campuses. For example, the Course Leader may be seen walking into a building or sitting in a particular room. A visitor to the website can find information about our campuses through a dedicated suite of campus pages. All our course pages contain direct links to relevant campus pages.
We've assessed the cost of implementing audio descriptions. We believe that doing so now would be a disproportionate burden within the meaning of the accessibility regulations. We will make an assessment on an ongoing basis as new video content is commissioned.
On a small number of pages that include contact or booking forms, we use the reCAPTCHA security device (version 2). This can help to confirm that form submissions are genuine, rather than from bots or malware. The reCAPTCHA device is designed and owned by Google. The current colour contrast may make it difficult for someone with sight loss to see the content properly. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 (Contrast - minimum). We have investigated the possibility of using reCAPTCHA version 3 and found the same issues with colour contrast. We have assessed our use of reCAPTCHA and believe that it meets the disproportionate burden threshold.
A small number of documents in the Practice Hub section of our website, which is for NHS staff who mentor ARU students on placement, contain some accessibility issues. We've assessed the cost of redesigning and reproducing documents, the intended audience and level of use, and believe that this meets the disproportionate burden threshold. All new documents are checked before publication and, where possible, any accessibility issues are addressed.
A small number of documents in the Sport section of our website contain some accessibility issues. These are risk assessment documents that are published for the purposes of possible external auditing, rather than for public use. We've assessed the cost of redesigning and reproducing documents, the intended audience and level of use, and believe that this meets the disproportionate burden threshold. We have recommended that the document template is adjusted in future to ensure full accessibility. All new documents are checked before publication and, where possible, any accessibility issues are addressed.
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.
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.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
We have a rolling programme of updating the content and design of these websites in accordance with the guidelines set out by the WCAG. We will continue to assess and improve our accessibility based on these guidelines, user testing and user feedback. We use the Siteimprove tool to monitor and report on aru.ac.uk to aid in identifying and prioritising issues which need to be resolved.
This statement was prepared on 25 October 2019. It was last updated on 16 January 2025.
aru.ac.uk is continually monitored by the Siteimprove tool, which reports any errors it finds. Errors are either addressed immediately or reported for further investigation. We supplement this with periodic manual audits.