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Accessibility statement for Short Courses

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

This accessibility statement applies to shortcourses.ed.ac.uk

This website is run by Digital Learning Applications and Media at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • Change most of the colours and contrast levels
  • Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • Navigate the site without experiencing time limits
  • Navigate the site without encountering flashing or scrolling text
  • Video content offers human corrected captions throughout
  • Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We've also made the website 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

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 (opens in a new window)

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

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance (opens in a new window)

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

Information on SensusAccess (opens in a new window)

How accessible this website is

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

  • There are some site objects where colour contrast could be improved
  • Some links open new tabs or browser windows without warning
  • When navigating using a keyboard a contrasting colour outline shows your location, however this could be made clearer and is missing in some places
  • The skip to main content option is unavailable
  • Reflow is not fully accessible, introducing horizontal scrolling in some areas of the site from 200% magnification.
  • Automated testing highlighted a missing Form Label
  • Not all videos have human corrected captions and audio descriptions
  • The site is not fully compatible with screen reading and voice recognition software

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website 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

We are 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, 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) (opens in a new window)

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

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website (opens in a new window)

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

Contact Scotland BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland's public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8.00am to 12.00am, 7 days a week.

Contact Scotland BSL service details. (opens in a new window)

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 website 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 (opens in a new window)

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 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.

We are working towards solving these problems and expect several improvements by May 2025. The site is fully within our control.

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

We will continue to address and make adequate improvements to the accessibility issues highlighted. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place by September 2025, with many changes scheduled to take place earlier in the year as part of the Short Course Platform rollout.

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 website.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 10th December 2024. It was last reviewed on 10th January 2025.

The website was last tested on 10th January 2025. The testing was carried out by the Digital Learning Applications and Media 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 (opens in a new window)

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

We ran automated testing using WAVE WebAIM (opens in a new window) and AXE 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;
  • Data validation;
  • Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
  • Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
  • Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
  • Operability if JavaScript is disabled;
  • 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).

Change Log

All issues highlighted in this statement have been raised and work is underway to resolve each item. This log reflects any items that have since been closed off as resolved following successful re-testing.

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