This accessibility statement applies to the website: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk

This website is run by Bournemouth 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 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) 

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 are not fully accessible: 

  • Alternative text attributes are not always present or meaningful.
  • Not all time-based media content has an accessible alternative.
  • A correctly formed heading structure is not present to facilitate navigation across the site.
  • Some components are unable to be interacted with using keyboard navigation.
  • HTML validation errors are present, which may introduce issues for users navigating with assistive technologies.
  • Some PDF titles are not descriptive or unique.
  • Some textual content does not meet the minimum recommended contrast ratios and may be difficult to read.
  • Some content is cut-off when custom text spacing is applied.
  • Additional content that is displayed, as well as change in states, are not always announced by screen readers.

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: 

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Call: 01202 961 916 
  • Write to us: Creative Services, Marketing & Communications, Studland House, 12 Christchurch Road, BH1 3NA

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 14 days.

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: [email protected]

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).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person

Accessibility information for Bournemouth University’s buildings and facilities can be found on the AccessAble website. 

Visit our Contact Us page for our contact details.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility 

Bournemouth 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 listed below. 

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations 

Accessible names are not provided for informative images, including complex images such as graphs, and images within PDF and Word documents. This can result in content not being presented to screen reader users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Pre-recorded videos without a soundtrack lack either a text or audio description. This results in users with visual impairments being unable to access the video content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.1 (Pre-Recorded Audio-Only and Video-Only).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Synchronised captions are not present for pre-recorded videos. Users with hearing impairments will be unable to access the auditory information within the videos. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.2 (Captions (Pre-Recorded)).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Audio descriptions or media alternatives, such as a descriptive text transcript or audio description track, are not present for pre-recorded video content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.2.3 (Audio Description or Media Alternative (Pre-Recorded)).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Table headers are not marked up as such, and layout tables are present. Tables may be difficult to navigate for screen reader users when header cells are not identified, and layout tables can introduce reading and navigation order issues. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Content within PDF documents is not tagged. Assistive technology users may not be able to access all content within the PDF documents. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

A fieldset element is used to contain heading and body text without any fields. This may result in screen readers announcing this text incorrectly. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships). 

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Some text is present on the website, as well as within PDFs, that does not have a sufficient contrast ratio against the page background. Users with low vision may have difficulty reading text that does not contrast with its background. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.3 (Contrast (Minimum)). 

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Rendering issues are present when zooming text only to 200% using browser zoom controls. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.4 (Resize Text). 

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Map images lack contrast within themselves. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Content that appears on hover is unable to be dismissed without moving the pointer cursor or keyboard focus. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.13 (Content on Hover or Focus).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

iframes are present that lack an appropriate title. Without an appropriate title, users will not be able to determine if the content within the iframe is of importance to them. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass Blocks).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Some PDF documents are lacking a title altogether. Users may have difficulty identifying the document contents by its title. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.2 (Page Titled).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Some PDF documents do not have a defined language. This may result in some content being announced incorrectly by screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.1.1 (Language of Page).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Form fields for the CRM forms do not provide specific formatting for phone, postcode, and email fields within the associated label or title attribute. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Some PDF documents were found to lack XMP meta data, which may result in some screen reader users missing information such as the PDF title. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Aria is not always used correctly, which may cause unexpected interactions with assistive technology software. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Changes in state such as displaying error messages on the page, as well as the updating of accordions opening and closing, are not announced to users of screen readers. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.3 (Status Messages).

We plan to resolve this by: June 2024

Disproportionate burden

We believe that fixing the accessibility problems related to some content would represent a disproportionate burden because the platform upon which our main website is built will be retired and replaced by 2025 and, after investing in a range of fixes to address accessibility issues, we are now in a development freeze due to our current platform reaching end of life.

Decorative images on the site do not have a null alternative attribute

A change deployed in January 2023 means many of the decorative ‘teaser’ images used across the site now return a null alternative attribute. We will also issue guidelines to editors to ensure they follow this practice when using decorative images in other contexts, for example in the body of a page.

However, some other areas of the site continue to feature decorative images that contain alt text. Our website features more than 8,000 pages and the media library contains over 17,000 images, with no means of mapping their use back to pages.

We have included requirements in our tender for a new platform to counteract such issues in future.

A correctly formed heading structure is not present to facilitate navigation across the site, with skipped heading levels present

We have engaged with our digital development partner to implement some site-wide changes to address this issue, for example making amends to the title tags used in our footer settings.

However, other site-wide elements, such as the order of headings on news pages, cannot be amended due to development limitations and our current CMS only having basic support as it reaches end of life.

Some pages contain HTML validation errors, which may introduce issues for users who navigate using assistive technologies

We have engaged with our digital development partner to implement some site-wide changes to address issues such as repeated IDs on our staff profile pages.

We are aware of <style> tags being nested outside of the main header on a number of pages; this is a temporary measure to provide specific styling to meet user needs and present content (for example, additional UCAS codes on course pages) where this is not otherwise possible in the CMS.

We are currently in the process of replacing our current CMS – which is under a development freeze due to reaching end of life – and have included a number of specific requirements in the tender for this work to ensure this will not be possible on the replacement website.

Zooming the page to 400% with a browser width of 1280px results in the navigation menu disappearing

We have been unable to fix this issue and are now in a development freeze due to our current content management system reaching end of life. We have taken steps to ensure our new website will comply with this requirement. 

Several user interface components are unable to be interacted with when using a keyboard to navigate the site. This includes Contact links on the Projects pages.

We have been unable to resolve this issue through development work; as we are now in a development freeze due to our current content management system reaching end of life, we will only be able to resolve this issue when we launch a replacement site in 2025.

When tabbing the page content, keyboard users are focused to visually hidden elements, and an illogical focus order is present throughout the site

This issue has been partially fixed through development work, but is still present on course and research pages of the site. We have committed to addressing this issue when we launch our replacement website in 2025, but cannot fully resolve it during the current development freeze.

Multiple ‘Read More’ links do not announce additional information relating to their location via screen reader

This issue has been fixed in areas other than our staff profiles, which are populated via an automated feed. We have committed to addressing this issue when we launch our replacement website in 2025, but cannot fully resolve it during the current development freeze.

Preparation of this accessibility statement 

This statement was prepared on 28/11/2023. It was last reviewed on 28/11/2023.

This website was last tested on 10/11/2023. The test was carried out by Zoonou.

We used this approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test WCAG-EM.