Accessibility statement
This accessibility statement applies to https://swansea.ac.uk
This website has been developed by Swansea University. We want as many people as possible to be able to use the website, feel welcome and find the experience rewarding. For example, that means you should be able to
- Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen.
- Adjust text spacing without affecting layout or usability.
- Navigate the website using just a keyboard.
- Use ReciteMe Application to provide an array of accessibility tools.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible swansea.ac.uk is?
The website has been evaluated by our internal specialist and they certifiy that swansea.ac.uk is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.
We know some parts of swansea.ac.uk aren't as accessible as they should be:
- Main landmark roles contain repetitive content such as secondary navigation menu.
- On mobile devices some pages secondary navigation menu known as 'Related Pages' are obscured in portrait view on mobile phones.
- The website has some legacy forms are obscured in portrait view on mobile phones and do meet contrast guidelines.
- Jobs pages do not tab in the correct order for keyboard only users.
- Job Detail Pages do not have unique titles.
- Screen readers do not get announcements for all errors or statuses and require focus on search results and on some forms.
- Some pages do not parse and have valid HTML and ARIA markup has been incorrectly added.
Feedback and contact information
If you need information on swansea.ac.uk in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille you can contact our Transcription Centre:
Email: braille@swansea.ac.uk
Twitter: @SUTranscription
Swansea University Transcription Centre Amy Dillwyn Building, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, United Kingdom
How to find the transcription center: SUTC-Accessible-Guide
We'll consider your request and get back to you in 7 days.
Reporting accessibility problems with swansea.ac.uk
We're always looking to improve the accessibility of the website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements:
Email: accessibility@swansea.ac.uk
Call us: +44 (0)1792 295500
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
The university aims to provide professional information and guidance services for disabled students, students with specific needs and/or medical conditions. We can provide support if you would like to visit us or phone us.
Please contact the disability office:
Telephone: +44 (0)1792 60 6617
Email: disability@swansea.ac.uk
Technical information about the website’s accessibility
Swansea University is committed to making all its websites accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
swansea.ac.uk is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA/A standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Non accessible content
Swansea University is committed to sustain the Level AA accessibility. The following information explains any areas of the website that to our knowledge are not conformant and what we're doing to make that happen.
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 1.1.1 Non-text Content
Pages with poor image descriptions
Some pages including course pages have poor descriptions of images or images are identified as meaningful incorrectly.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships
Use of non-compliant ARIA attributes
The carousel component used across the site uses ARIA attributes that are not allowed.
Main landmark contains repetitive content
The main landmark contains secondary navigation and on course pages features uses repeated call to actions.
Table Headers
Some tables on the Module Information within the course pages do not have table headers.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 1.3.4: Orientation
Sub-navigation obscured in portrait view
The related pages dropdown has obscured text links on some pages, when viewed in portrait view on mobile phones. The dropdown needs to be rotated to landscape for all text links to be seen.
Legacy Form requires landscape viewport
The prospectus request form requires a landscape orientation to be used as intended.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 1.4.3: Contrast Minimum
Legacy Forms with poor contrast
The prospectus request form has text links that do not meet contrast guidelines.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 2.1.1: Keyboard
No spacebar support on course tabs
The course variants tabs only support enter and not spacebar interactions.
Virtual Tour Navigation
Keyboard users can only explore the virtual tour site and cannot navigate by undergraduate or postgraduate.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 2.4.1: Bypass Blocks
Bypass blocks broken on Jobs Pages
Due to a bug on these pages, tabbing behavior vypasses the skip to main link. The link can only be used after tabbing through links and content.
Frame Titles
Some embedded YouTube videos do not have a title attribute.
Missing Header Tags on Current Vacancies and Job detail
A h3 and h2 tag are missing on current vacancies and job detail pages.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 2.4.2: Page Titled
No unique Page Titles
The Jobs Detail uses the page title “Detail” which means all jobs would have same title when a screen reader reads the page.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 2.4.3: Focus Order
Course A-Z tab focus is not moved to content
When selecting a tab with hidden content, keyboard focus is not moved to tab content.
Current Vacancies and Job Detail Page Focus Order is incorrect
The focus order does not preserve meaning on this page as skip to main and links are bypassed, and “Job title” or “Back to Main” receives focus after address bar. This leads to a poor user experience for keyboard only or screen reader users.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context)
News carousel images state Image description, not link text
The news items use two links; one offers the descriptive text, the other an image description, which is linked to news article and states the image description, not the preceding page.
Images across the site
Some links, such as YouTube videos (with an image call to action) have been poorly labelled with non-descriptive text.
Search result numbered page links
The search returns paginated search results. The links are only described as numbers with no heading to set context. So, these links are not described by link text alone.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 2.4.6: Headings and Labels
Misuse of Headings
Some page's headings have been used for large areas of text and visual styling, not for structure.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 3.3.1: Error Identification
Legacy Forms do not give detailed error messages
The Prospectus request form only informs user of missing subject input fields, not any other required fields that are missing.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 3.3.2: Labels or Instructions
The site search is does not use implicit cue
The site search states “search:” rather than “Search Swansea University” as it does in visually in the user interface.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 4.1.1: Parsing
Missing End Tags
Due to the site being large and a content management system with HTML editable by content owners, some HTML is malformed e.g. missing end tags.
Duplicate Id in Legacy forms
Some older forms such as prospectus request form that have a duplicate ID within HTML.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 4.1.2: Name, Role, Value
Accessibility Tools Custom Widget
ReciteMe calls a custom widget toolbar, but does not state this with a role or ARIA label.
Aria hidden contains focused element
The carousel (slider) component contains elements that can be focused and uses the wrong ARIA attributes.
Mega Menu Custom Widget does not have an ARIA role
The mega menu has no ARIA role associated wit it. This affects “Study” and “Your University” as they offer more functionality. As a custom widget an ARIA role/s needs to added to allow browsers and assistive technology to understand its purpose.
Course Page Variant Dropdown do not have ARIA role
The variants on each course page feature a dropdown, but do not use applicable role.
Search controls do not have discernable text or labels
The submit and clear elements do not have aria labels on search page.
WCAG 2.1 success criterion: 4.1.3: Status Messages
Current Vacancies Status Message Needs Focus
When performing a filtered job search, the status (results found, filter added) is not within an ARIA role of alert. This means the status must be focused to be announced.
Search results and filter Announcements
The results of a search are not announced when available and the when filter parameters are added and removed, no announcements are made. All content must receive focus to be heard.
Legacy Forms do not give adequate error messages
The prospectus request form does not give detailed error messages if submitted incorrectly and no aria role=”alert” is applied to message area.
How we will address non-compliance
The above criterion failures will be addressed through the following:
- A process of accessibility awareness raising with Content Editors.
- Assigning designated time for the Web Development Team to address these issues.
- Investigate ways to automate accessibility testing within our development process.
Disproportionate Burden
An assessment has been made taking into account the size and resources available to the organization, any content that is judged a disproportionate burden are stated in this section.
Navigation and accessing information
No issues or not applicable.
Interactive tools and transactions
No issues or not applicable.
Interactive tools
No issues or not applicable.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
An assessment has been made taking into account the size and resources available to the organization, any content that is judged out of scope of the regulations are stated in this section.
PDFs and other documents
A sample selection of PDF's have been accessibility tested and some minor errors were reported. We will work with content editors to ensure they have the training and resources to address any errors found.
The accessibility regulations don’t 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.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
Our Accessibility Roadmap shows how and when we plan to improve accessibility on swansea.ac.uk.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 16/09/2020 It was last updated on 22/09/2020.
The website swansea.ac.uk was last tested on 15/09/2020. The test was carried out by our internal usability and accessibility specialist.
We used a consistent process and approach to deciding on a sample of pages to test. This is available in How we tested the website
The full accessibility report is available on request.