Accessibility statement
UCA.ac.uk is a website that is owned and maintained by the University for the Creative Arts (UCA). The university is committed to p
roviding an accessible web presence that gives all members of the public full access to its information and services.
This accessibility statement applies to the following university web domains: uca.ac.uk, gradshows.uca.ac.uk, staff.uca.ac.uk and students.uca.ac.uk. We aim to make all sites listed above compliant with the standards set by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2 AA).
The university's external website (uca.ac.uk), gradshows.uca.ac.uk, staff.uca.ac.uk and students.uca.ac.uk sites are all partially compliant with WCAG 2.2 AA. Known areas of non-compliance are detailed below in section 8.1. Details of what we're doing to continually test and improve our compliance can be found in section 10 of this statement.
1. How accessible is UCA?
The university's websites are partially compliant with the WCAG 2.2 AA guidelines. We are aware that some parts of UCA’s websites are not fully accessible and these areas are listed in section 8 of this webpage.
2. Feedback and contact information
If you need information on UCA’s website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please email web@uca.ac.uk. We’ll consider your request and aim to get back to you in three (3) working days.
3. 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, email the UCA Web Team web@uca.ac.uk.
4. 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).
5. Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person
For information about contacting us by phone or to arrange a visit to our offices, please visit the Contact us page.
6. Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University for the Creative Arts is committed to making its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
7. Compliance status
The uca.ac.uk, gradshows.uca.ac.uk and students.uca.ac.uk websites are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standards, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
8. Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
8.1 Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations.
External website (uca.ac.uk)
- PDFs and other documents: there is a larger number of documents on the UCA website, some of which may not be fully accessible. A project is currently starting to audit all documents on the website to understand how many are non-compliant and address the issues by either fixing them or converting the content into webpages. The project will also plans include training and awareness raising for colleagues across the University to ensure they understand their responsibilities when creating digital documents.
- Video audio descriptions: some embed YouTube videos may not have audio descriptions. A solution to generating audio descriptions for these videos is being investigated
Gradshows online (gradshows.uca.ac.uk)
A template refresh is due to be implemented in 2025 that will address the following non-compliance issues:
- Links are not clearly identifiable
- Colour contrast does not meet minimum requirement
Student portal (students.uca.ac.uk)
Template style updates are currently being made to address the following non-compliance issues:
- Colour contrast does not meet minimum requirement
- Text is clipped when resized
8.2 Disproportionate burden
None.
9. Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
- PDFs published before 23 September 2018
Some of our PDFs that provide information about the university and its services published before 23 September 2018 are exempt from accessibility regulations and we do not plan to fix these.
10. What we’re doing to improve accessibility
The university takes web accessibility seriously. In the past few years we have undertaken a number of major development updates across the UCA web environment to address website accessibility issues, such as launching a newly designed site and deploying accessibility controllers on all page layouts.
We continually monitor accessibility issues with the use of dedicated web accessibility tools and ensure that updates are fed directly into the university website development roadmap, managed by the Web Team.
To address issues identified in 8.1, the university undertakes the following procedures:
- Train staff members on the use of web content management best practice and web accessibility guidelines
- Assess and prioritise issues
- Deploy development updates, in scheduled sprints
- Undertake weekly content and accessibility reviews
- Invest into Web Accessibility tools and widgets to monitor and support our visitors
11. Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 22 September 2020. It was last updated on 5 August 2024.
Websites were last tested on 5 August 2024. The test was carried out by the University for the Creative Arts, using our web accessibility tools.