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Accessibility statement for this website

This statement applies to the main St Mary’s University external website: www.stmarys.ac.uk.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. To do this the website uses a piece of software named ReciteMe (available by selecting ‘accessibility tools’ in the top menu bar). These tools include:

  • Font, colour and contrast customisation
  • Plain text and text width customisation
  • Text translation
  • Screen mask and line ruler
  • Audio screen reading and downloadable audio
  • Zoom and magnifying options
  • Dictionary

The following can also be done without the use of ReciteMe tools:

  • Zoom in up to 500% 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

How accessible is this website

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible. This includes:

  • Most older documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Videos may not be captioned
  • The contrast between some foreground and background colours may not be strong enough
  • Some images may be missing alt text
  • Some headings may not be correctly nested
  • You can't modify the line height or spacing of text

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page, need information on this website in a different format (such as an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille)  or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please email web.accessibility@stmarys.ac.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in ten working days.

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’s accessibility

We are committed to making our 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 (WCAG) 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

Several links across the website are not as descriptive as they could be such as our latest news sections and some links in news and events pages. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A). We are currently working through our templates and webpages to improve how the link descriptions are generated.

The apply via live chat for live chat popup is not accessible via keyboard. This fails WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard (A). The live chat feature is managed by a third-party named Zendesk. We have raised this issue with their support team.

In some places our links are not visually distinguished from surrounding text by means other than colour. This fails WCAG 1.4.1 Use of Colour (A). We are currently identifying these links and amending their styling.

Disproportionate burden

At this time, we have made no claims of disproportionate burden.

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

Portable Document Format (PDF) and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23rd September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards. Some documents created and owned by organisations outside of St Mary’s University that have been published on our website after 23rd September 2018 may not be fully accessible. We are currently working through all documents uploaded since 23rd September 2018 to ensure that they are fully accessible.

Online maps

Maps that are present on our website and are not used for navigational purposes are exempt under the regulations. We use several maps to show planning or other geographical information. If users require an accessible alternative to this information, please contact us.

Virtual tour

Text within the images on the virtual tour may not be fully accessible to all screen readers. We intend to reassess this with the view of fixing this issue when we next review the virtual tour. If you require any information from within the tour please email webmaster@stmarys.ac.uk.

Live chat

The live chat function is run via a third-party provided by Zopim. We are able to amend a limit amount of features on the chat widget, such as the colour. However, we are not able to make edits to the code. Due to this, it is possible that the live chat feature may not be fully accessible. If you are unable to use the live chat please contact the Admissions team by emailing apply@stmarys.ac.uk or calling  020 8240 2394. We intend to reassess this with the view of fixing this issue when we next review our live chat functionality.

Discover Uni widget

On undergraduate and foundation course webpages is a ‘Discover Uni’ widget with key stats about the course. This widget uses a carousel. There is no way to pause, stop or hide this animated content. This fails WCAG 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (A). The widget also has a low contrast between the text and background colours, which failes WCAG 1.4.3 Perceivable / Distinguishable / Contrast (Minimum) (AA). It is a requirement that we display these widgets on our course pages, but we are unable to edit them in any way.

Pre-existing video content

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Some of our older videos don't have accurate edited captions or transcripts. This doesn’t meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 (audio-only and video-only pre-recorded), 1.2.2 (captions pre-recorded), 1.2.3 (audio description or media alternative pre-recorded) and 1.2.5 (audio description pre-recorded). The regulations do not apply to recorded videos published before 23rd September 2020.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We have audited this website to identify any non-accessible content. This audit was completed in August 2020 and we are currently implementing corrections. We are currently awaiting confirmation from third-party developers for completing these changes. We anticipate that the work will be completed by 1st March 2021 and will review and update this date when we receive a response from the developers.

This includes ensuring all link text has a clear purpose, headings are correctly nested, images have alternative text, colour contrast is sufficient and that all content can be read by a screen reader.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on Wednesday 22nd July 2020. It was last reviewed on 11th February 2021.

This website was last tested internally on 13th January 2021. A comprehensive sample of webpages were tested.

This website was last tested externally on 14th August 2020 and was carried out by All Able Ltd.
All pages of the website were tested along with a sample of the documents from each area of the website.