Accessibility statement

This website is run by Glasgow Caledonian University.

We are working towards creating an accessible website for all. The structure of the website and how it displays information is designed to be accessible.

This website is under regular review. We use a quality assurance application to identify any issues and make improvements on a monthly basis. There will be occasions, however, when these changes have not yet been made. All new content is checked to ensure compliance.

If you have any problems accessing pages or documents published on this website and would like a copy in a different format, please email, call or write to us at:

Many of our publications can be produced in alternative formats, including large type, braille and community languages. We’ll review your request and get back to you in five working days.

This accessibility statement applies to www.gcu.ac.uk.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website.

For example, that means you should be able to:

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:

What we're doing to improve accessibility

GCU is committed to providing an inclusive and accessible website. The University has invested in a new website, which is designed specifically to meet the WCAG 2.1 AA requirements.

We continually review our website for accessibility issues, with accessibility built into our development and content quality assurance  (QA) processes.

Technical information about the website's accessibility

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Issues with PDFs and documents

Some of our PDFs and Word documents are essential to providing our services. For example, we have PDFs with information about course specifications (PSPs) and our fees and refund policy.

As part of a University-wide accessibility project, we have been providing all staff with training about creating accessible documents and PDFs, with staff asked to confirm all documents have passed accessibility criteria before uploading them to the website. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards, with legacy documents made accessible by June 2025.

Third party embeds

We use a third party application for student recruitment, Unibuddy, that is only partially accessible to screen readers. We are working with them to improve accessibility within their product.

We use third party embed code for social platform embedding of Facebook and X to show latest posts. The inaccessibility of this content is off-set by links to the relevant user account published within the same component.

We use third party YouTube embed codes throughout the website for video hosting. As part of ongoing content processes, we are working with providers to create transcripts for all new videos that are embedded. In addition to this, all videos that are hosted on  YouTube have either captions or subtitles.

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

PDFs and other documents

The accessibility regulations do not 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.  We will continue to fix or replace our essential PDF and Word documents with accessible HTML pages (see above section: non-compliance with the accessibility regulations Issues with PDFs and documents for more information).

Video

We do not plan to add captions to live video streams because live video is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Some video published before 23 September, 2020 does not have captions and we do not plan to add captions, because it is exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Reproductions of some items from the University archive and from heritage collections may not be fully accessible; these are exempt from meeting the accessibility regulations.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 15 May 2022. It was last reviewed and updated on 28 November 2024.

The University’s Department of Marketing uses two methods of testing for accessibility.

Automated testing

The University has invested in a website quality improvement platform, SiteImprove, which performs a detailed check of content and functionality for WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. This tool is implemented across the www.gcu.ac.uk domain and provides a monthly report of ongoing and new issues.

Manual testing

This website was last manually tested site-wide in May 2022, though new components are manually tested before release as part of our on-going QA process. The test was carried out on approximately 100% of gcu.ac.uk webpages which included a selection of pages with a variety of templates, page layouts and components.

Feedback and contact information

If you would like to provide general feedback about this website, not requiring a response, please email marketing@gcu.ac.uk.

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:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within five 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, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Contacting us by phone or visiting us in person:

The University's contact details are available on our website.

British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via contactSCOTLAND-BSL, Scotland's national BSL interpreting video relay service.

If you are visiting us in person, our campus map provides an overview of our campus buildings. If you cannot view the map on our ‘contact us’ page, please call, email or write to us for directions. More detailed access guides for our campus buildings can be found on our AccessAble website.

Information for GCU students and applicants

GCU is committed to providing an inclusive student experience, which offers all students the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Our Disability Team provides advice, information and services to disabled students and applicants.

Please contact our student support team if you have any queries relating to your own needs, or if you wish to know more about GCU’s approach to supporting disabled students.