University of South Wales Accessibility Statement

University of South Wales Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to https://www.southwales.ac.uk/

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This website is run by the University of South Wales. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• 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. 

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. You can see a full list of any issues we currently know about in the non-accessible content section of this statement.

Alternative formats

We've designed our content to be as accessible as possible. However, if you experience barriers, you can request alternate formats.

For more information, please email [email protected] or contact us. 

Feedback and contact information

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website.

Please contact us if you have an accessibility query, including:

• If you are experiencing issues with accessing information or using the website
• If you find an accessibility problem not listed on this statement
• If you have feedback on the accessibility considerations made.

When contacting us, please provide:

• the web address (URL) of the page where you found the problem
• what the problem is, and whether you were using a mobile or desktop device
• the name and, if possible, version of the web browser you were using
• any assistive technology you use, for example a screen reader 

Please email [email protected] or contact us.

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

The University of South Wales is committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is currently being tested for conformance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Some areas may not yet meet all success criteria. Testing for WCAG 2.2 Level AA has begun, and we are working toward full conformance. 

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Global Accessibility Concerns:

1. Alternative Text Deficiencies: A number of images across the site lack appropriate alternative text descriptions, hindering the experience for users who rely on screen readers.
   This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text Content (A)
   We’re working to continuously improve this.
2. Some of our PDFs lack a valid title.
   This fails WCAG 2.4.2 Page Titled (A)
   We’re working to continuously improve this.
3. Some of our PDFs need to be tagged in a valid reading order for accessibility.
   This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
   We’re working to continuously improve this.
4. Embeded iframes sometimes lack accessible titles. This fails WCAG:
   We’re working to continuously improve this.
5. Across the website there are various focus indication failures where elements do not receive clearly visible focus indication, such as some interactive controls not being clearly selected or on occasion where there are invisible social media icons which disrupt focus and the keyboard journey.
   Fails WCAG 2.4.7 Focus Visible (AA).
   Fix schedule TBC with supplier.

Specific Content-Related Accessibility Issues:

1. Carousel Touch Interactivity: Carousels displaying testimonials are not optimized for touch interaction on smaller devices, lacking the necessary touch target size and spacing.
   This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
   Fix schedule TBC with supplier.
2. Carousel Navigation Labelling: The navigation icons within the testimonial carousels are devoid of accessible labels, rendering them non-navigable via assistive technologies.
   This fails WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (A).
   Fix schedule TBC with supplier.
3. Media-grid images: When our website is viewed on small screens like mobile phones, we need to ensure pages don’t scroll in two dimensions. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA)
   Fix schedule TBC with supplier.
4. Event Slider Item Headers: Titles are inappropriately coded for their headings.  This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
   Fix schedule TBC with supplier.

Third-Party Tools

Our website includes content and functionality provided by third-party vendors. While we strive to ensure all services meet accessibility standards, some elements are not under our direct control. We have requested and reviewed accessibility documentation from these vendors where possible.

The following third-party services are currently in use:

Unibuddy

Our website uses Unibuddy, a chat interface to enable prospective students to send instant messages to select University Staff and registered Ambassadors. This tool is developed by a third party and is not fully under our control.

Accessibility information for Unibuddy is based on a VPAT 2.4 provided by AllAble and was assessed as meeting the required criteria, dated 27/03/2025.

OneTrust

Our website uses OneTrust to provide users with cookie consent for our digital products. This tool is developed by a third party and is not fully under our control.

Accessibility information for OneTrust is based on a VPAT 2.4 provided by OneTrust and was assessed as meeting the required criteria, dated May 2025.

Issuu

Some of our documents are published as ISSUU flipbooks. For the most accessible experience, we also provide an accessible PDF of each document to view online or download. We upload the same accessible PDF to ISSUU, but some accessibility features may not be fully supported on the ISSUU platform.

Microsoft Forms

We use Microsoft Forms to provide online surveys. This is a third-party service, and some aspects are outside our direct control.

The accessibility information below is based on Microsoft’s Accessibility Conformance Report – WCAG 2.2 Edition (based on VPAT® 2.5Rev) for Microsoft Forms (Web), dated 29 November 2024.

Known accessibility issues:

• Announcements for screen reader users: Some controls do not programmatically expose their state or announce extra information. For example, on the portal page the List view and Tiles view buttons are missing the required aria-checked state, and tab components announce their index twice. This fails WCAG 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A).

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

If you find an issue that we have yet to identify, please contact us using one of the routes described in the ‘Reporting accessibility problems with this website’ section of this statement.

Ongoing improvements are made dynamically throughout the year following feedback from our ongoing audit processes and users.

Disproportionate burden

We are not claiming a disproportionate burden for our website

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

At this time, we have not identified any content that is not within scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

The University of South Wales is doing the following to improve accessibility:

• We are developing a Digital Accessibility Policy.
• We have a Digital Accessibility Working Group to monitor and coordinate Digital Accessibility of our Services and Systems

European Accessibility Act (EAA)

While this website is designed to meet the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, which require compliance with WCAG 2.2 Level AA, we are actively reviewing and updating our content and services in line with the European Accessibility Act (EAA), which comes into effect on 28 June 2025.

This website is partially compliant with technical standard EN 301 549 v.3.2.1. See Non-accessibility content section for more details.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

Pages from across the site were tested against WCAG 2.1 AA using axe DevTools Pro v4.10.3 and Chrome Lighthouse 12.8.2 Tests ran on Mac OSX and Windows in Firefox and Chrome, NVDA v2025.3.1.

This statement was prepared on 01/10/2024.

This website was last tested on 22/08/2025.

It was last reviewed on 03/11/2025

This accessibility statement is reviewed annually.