This accessibility statement applies to the Bangor University website. This website is run by Bangor University.
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 the 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 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.
Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
Accessibility of this website
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the non-accessible content section of this statement.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email webmarketing@bangor.ac.uk
We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 7 days. If you cannot view the map on our campus map page, call us on +44 (0)1248 250008
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any issues not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact, please email Web and Digital Team webmarketing@bangor.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 unhappy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Bangor University 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 2.1 AA standard due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons:
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
- The Unibuddy chat function is not accessible and will present significant blockers to keyboard, screen reader and dictation users. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A), 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A), 1.4.10 Reflow (AA), 2.1.1 Keyboard (A), 2.4.3 Focus Order (A), 2.4.7 Focus Visible (AA) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A). We are in conversations with third party suppliers to investigate alternative options.
- Carousel content across the website and subdomains presents a wide variety of accessibility issues to the point where they should be avoided by any keyboard, screen reader or dictation user, or any user with colour or vision access needs. This fails a large variety of WCAG success criteria. We are working on resolving this issue and aim to have a solution in place before the end of September 2023.
- On staff pages, there are contact icons which are not clearly described for screen reader users. This fails WCAG 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (A). We are working on fixing this issue and aim to have it resolved before the end of September 2022.
- There are various links across the website which do not have appropriate link text and may not be apparent to some users. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A). We are training our content producers and editors to ensure that moving forward; this will not be the protocol that we will follow. We will use SiteImprove to identify all instances on our website and aim to have them changed by June 2023.
- There are various contrast issues across the website with a variety of text. These may make some context extremely difficult for some viewers to read. This fails WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast Minimum (AA). We are in the process of recruiting two new Front End Developers/Designers to have the capacity to address issues on our website. We have scheduled a redesign to be completed before the end of this year.
- There are various images across the website, such as the Bangor University logo, various news articles, carousels or other images which do not have appropriate alt text descriptions. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A). We have added alternative text descriptions to a number of images over the last 12 weeks. We are in the process of acquiring a Site Improve Licence for our website to ensure we have a tool to help us identify all instances of missing alternative descriptions; we have training for content owners in place to make sure all content owners not only know why we need to have alternative text but how to write it well.
- Video content across the website has various problems, including a lack of captions, audio descriptions and media alternatives. This fails WCAG 1.2.2, 1.2.3 and 1.2.5, which cover captions, audio descriptions and media alternatives requirements.
- The Unistats widget at the bottom of many pages presents significant issues to screen reader users for incorrect presentation of information. This fails WCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A). Third party content displayed on our website that's under someone else’s control and which we have not paid for or developed is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.
- There are various parts of the website that are not keyboard accessible such as the Issuu embedded content, which shows some document content within the web page, video pages on the older templates and others. This fails WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard (A). We are making sure that where we use Issuu to present information, we will have an accessible version of the document. We are also discussing it with our third-party supplier.
- The University has some content still being moved into a more accessible platform due to several accessibility issues ( validation errors, not keyboard accessible, no skip content function). The pages with URLs ending with PHP are still in the process of being migrated or archived if no longer needed. We hope to have that process completed by the end of June 2023.
Issues with PDFs and other documents
- 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; they might lack alternative image descriptions or have language selected for the file.
- Part of our documents, PDF and Word, are essential to providing our services. By May 2023, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages or accessible PDF files.
- Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
- If we are informed about a customer having an issue accessing any of the files, we will update that file to accessible format within seven working days.
Issues with images, video and audio
- Images on some pages don’t have alternative text. We plan to add alt text to all images by May 2023.
Videos on some pages don’t have captions
- We plan to add captions to all videos by June 2023. We already include captions on new videos. We have changed the way videos display to ensure there is dedicated space to add transcripts.
- If informed about a video causing issues to any of our customers, we will aim to provide a transcript of it within seven working days.
Disproportionate burden
At this time, we have made no claims of disproportionate burden.
Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Portable Document Format (PDF) and other documents
Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. By September 2020, we plan to either fix these or replace them with accessible HTML pages. 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 historical council meeting minute documents published before 23rd September 2018.
Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.
Video content
We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations. We also have some existing pre-recorded video content that was published before the 23rd of September 2020. This content is also exempt from the regulations.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
Bangor University is doing the following to improve accessibility:
- Training content producers and CMS editors to ensure that accessibility is at the forefront of what we do
- Creating an accessibility help section with how-to guides and access to on-demand video training
- Training web and development teams in how to perform accessibility training
- Gather all relevant stakeholders in a Digital Access Working Group
- Started conversations to make accessibility part of a university induction process
- Started conversations to ensure accessibility becomes part of procurement process requirements
- Acquiring a licence for SiteImprove to provide us with technology allowing 100% of our pages to be tested regularly
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 12/11/2020. It was last reviewed on 30/08/2022. This website was last tested on 12/01/2022. All Able Ltd carried out the test. A representative sample of pages of the website were tested along with a sample of the documents from each website area.
Further tests have been carried out on 30/08/2022 by the Web Team on a selection of the most visited pages - representative of different content and pages types on our website using the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool, which facilitates human evaluation of web content, and axe DevTools.