Website accessibility statement inline with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This accessibility statement applies to:
www.business-school.ed.ac.uk
and also covers all other websites containing .business-school.ed.ac.uk in the URL.

These websites are run by the Business School at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use these applications. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Using your browser settings, change colours, contrast levels and fonts to some extent
  • Zoom in up to 200% without the text spilling off the screen
  • Navigate around most of the site using screen reader software e.g. JAWS, NVDA etc
  • Navigate around most of the site using speech recognition software e.g. Dragon
  • Not experience any flashing, scrolling or moving text

We’ve also made the application text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording, we could use without changing what the text means.

Customising the website / application

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet - My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website / application using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess

How accessible this website / application is

We know some parts of this application are not fully accessible:

  • Not all non-text content as appropriate alternative text
  • Some heading levels are missed
  • Not all video content has human corrected captions and / or audio descriptions
  • Navigation displays are not consistent
  • There is a cognitive text (reCAPTCHA) that is not fully accessible
  • Pop-ups and new browser tabs open without alerting the user
  • Skip to main content options do not always operate as intended
  • Keyboard navigation can not necessarily reach all content
  • Navigation by keyboard may not always be clear to the user
  • Links are not underlined by default resulting in an information by colour error
  • Some messages disappear after a set time without any user interaction
  • The website is not fully compatible with assistive software, such as screen readers and voice recognition software
  • Tooltips are required in some cases for the operation of an item
  • Portable document format (PDF) files are not necessarily fully accessible

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this application in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website / application

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this application. If you find any problems not listed on this page, or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of Edinburgh is committed to making its websites and applications accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance Status

This application is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard

Non accessible content

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

Noncompliance with the accessibility regulations

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

We aim to improve our websites and application’s accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility.

At this time we believe all elements of the website are within our control. We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted to seek a complete solution or significant improvement by June 2026.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

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

At this time, we believe no content is outwith the scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

At this time, we believe all elements of the website are within our control. We are working on a complete redesign and rebuild of the entire site taking into consideration accessibility from the beginning. We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted to seek a complete solution or significant improvement by June 2026.

While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this application.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 4 October 2019. It was last reviewed on 20 June 2025.

The application was last tested in May 2025. The testing was carried out by the Business School Web Team at the University of Edinburgh using both automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using Microsoft Edge alongside Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:

WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey

The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.

We ran automated testing using Little Forest, Wave WebAIM and the AXE browser extension (for Google Chrome), and then manual testing that included:

  • Spell check functionality;
  • Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
  • Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
  • Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
  • Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
  • Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
  • Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
  • Use with screen reading software (for example JAWS);
  • Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
  • Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
  • Time limits;
  • Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS);
  • Any drag functionality and alternatives;
  • Consistent help function;
  • Submission and re-entry of data;
  • Any cognitive tests.

Change Log

2025

  • Manual accessibility audit (May) surfaced additional issues which have been added to the statement.

2024

2023

  • The email field in our personal consultation forms have been assigned a label where previously they were missing.

2022

  • Manual accessibility audit (April) surfaced additional issues which have been added to the statement.
  • Policy change to reduce/eliminate (where possible) links opening in new tabs.
  • Policy change to eliminate use of single-item lists for links going forward.

2021

  • Some forms previously contained hidden fields with no labels or input. Following a change of third-party supplier, we no longer require these hidden fields.
  • Accessibility guidance and policies for web content were written and disseminated to staff. This content is updated as guidance for best practice changes, and colleagues are referred to this content any time they request updates to our sites.

2020

  • Student profile listing pages originally had all buttons saying 'View Profile' but linking to different destinations. These buttons now identify which specific profile they link to.
  • Policy change to reduce/eliminate (where possible) links opening in new tabs.
  • The ID fields for the Search, Submit Form and Apply Filter buttons were identical. This is now resolved.