Accessibility statement
This statement applies to the University of Oxford’s primary website at www.ox.ac.uk, as well as the research campaigns website managed by the Public Affairs Directorate at www.research.ox.ac.uk.
The University of Oxford is committed to providing an accessible web presence that gives members of the public and members of the University community full access to University information, courses and activities offered publicly through the web. Our Equality Policy outlines our commitment to a culture which ‘maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected’.
Our aims
In order to ensure that all of our visitors can use our website, these pages aim to meet Level-AA standard of WCAG 2.2. This includes elements such as:
- Alt text for all images and providing non-visual alternatives where appropriate
- All essential audiovisual information is captioned, described as necessary or provided in alternative formats
- Content can be navigated with just a keyboard or speech recognition tools
- The website can be used with a screen reader
- Content is structured, ordered and labelled appropriately
Guidance is available for editors and moderators of this site to help them maintain accessibility standards.
The Government Digital Service, on behalf of the Minister for the Cabinet Office, have determined this statement was compliant on 9 September 2022.
Making changes to your device or system
AbilityNet has advice on making your devices easier to use if you have a disability. In addition, major operating systems produce the following guidance:
How accessible this website is
We are aware that some parts of our website are not fully accessible. These include:
- Some PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software (see 'Course Information Sheet' information below)
- Some form inputs don’t magnify or zoom appropriately
- Although all audio on videos is captioned, some multimedia content doesn’t yet have audio or text description
- You cannot always modify the line height or spacing of text
We are working to address areas where our accessibility needs improvement. Please see 'Technical information' below and our known issues page for more details.
Feedback and alternative formats
The Accessible Resources Acquisition and Creation Unit (ARACU), who are part of the Bodleian Libraries, offer alternative formats for pages on this website for students referred by the Disability Advisory Services. They produce materials in electronic text (RTF document fully structured and with XML tags for navigation) and DAISY 2.02 human voice audio. Both products can be sent out physically (DVD) or via file transfer. They can also produce Braille documents. Please contact [email protected] to discuss your requirements.
You can also use the free SensusAccess tool on the Bodleian website to convert certain types of files into a more accessible format.
Our Graduate Course Information Sheets may not be accessible. To request an accessible version of a Course Information Sheet, please contact Graduate Admissions and Recruitment using the online form or by sending an email to [email protected].
If you have any further questions about content or wish to discuss provision of an alternative format, please contact the webmaster at [email protected].
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
If you have any questions or concerns about this statement or the accessibility of our webpages, please contact the webmaster at [email protected].
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).
Other accessibility resources
If you’d like more information about accessibility and resources for students, staff and visitors in Oxford more generally, please visit our Equality and Diversity pages.
If you’re looking for information on building accessibility, please try the Access Guide or the University’s interactive map.
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
The University of Oxford is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. As part of this commitment, we are required to publish known issues with our website.
The websites we cover (see ‘How we tested this website’) are partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed on our known issues page.
What we’re doing to improve accessibility
We want our website to offer the best experience possible for all of our users. In addition to our plan to fix known issues, we continue to work on website content and structure. We are working with our suppliers to fix issues and think about future developments. We are also updating the ways in which we provide training and best practice to those working on our website.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 20 September 2019. It was last reviewed and updated on 30 October 2023.
How we tested this website
This website was last tested over a number of weeks leading up to 30 October 2023. The test was carried out internally, using a quality assurance tool across all pages as well as a manual check of a substantial and carefully chosen sample of pages and content types. We continue to review the site on a monthly basis to check new content.
We tested:
- our main website, available at www.ox.ac.uk
- campaign microsites managed by the Public Affairs Directorate, available at www.research.ox.ac.uk
Other sites within our domain
The University of Oxford’s web estate consists of many related sub-sites with the ox.ac.uk domain, including various divisions and departments, museums and libraries, administrative sites and more. Accessibility statements for such sub-sites will be found locally on each site.