Accessibility statement

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

This accessibility statement applies to the Admissions Portal and https://admissions.bham.ac.uk. It does not cover other University of Birmingham websites including www.birmingham.ac.uk which has its own accessibility statement.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings.
  • zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen.
  • navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software.
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including NVDA).

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.

  • Some pages are less accessible for screen reader users because of incorrectly labelled form controls and fields not properly identified in the legend.
  • Some pages use the same link text for different destinations.
  • Some pdfs are not correctly formatted.

Feedback and contact information

If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact: pgadmissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk

If you need information on this website in a different format like an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact pgadmissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk or call 0121 387 5910 (option 3).

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance Status

The website has been tested against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard.

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

Non-accessible content

Non-compliance issues listed here are being included in our product roadmap. Whilst we prepare the roadmap and work on fixing issues, you can email us directly at pgadmissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk.

  • Not all our form controls have labels. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A).
  • Not all our fields are in a legend. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A). This means that some pages are less accessible to screen reading software.
  • Some pages use the same link text for different destinations. This fails WCAG 2.4.4 Link Purpose (A) and means some pages are less accessible to screen reading software.
  • A form label is present, but it is not correctly associated with a form control. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content, 1.3.1 Info and Relationships, 2.4.6 Headings and Labels and 3.3.2 Labels and Instructions (A).
  • A * (star) before the comment is being read out instead of making content mandatory.
  • A layout table is present. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (A) and 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (A).
  • Some headings contain no content. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks (A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA). This may cause confusion for keyboard and screen reader users.
  • A fieldset is missing a legend. This fails WCAG 1.1.1 Non-text content, 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 3.3.2 Labels and Instructions (A) and 2.4.6 Headings and Labels (AA). This can cause confusion when using a screen reader.
  • PDF content does not contain tags which may cause confusion for assistive technology users. This fails WCAG 1.3.1 Information and Relationships (A).
  • PDF content does not include a language attribute which may cause confusion for users of assistive technology where English is not the first language. This fails WCAG 3.1.1 Language of a Page (A).
  • Some content in PDF may not read in the expected order which may cause confusion when using a screen reader. This fails WCAG 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence (A).
  • When PDF content is zoomed to 400% it may require the user to horizontally scroll to see all the content. This fails WCAG 1.4.10 Reflow (AA).

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to share our roadmap in January 2025 and will show how and when we expect to improve accessibility on the Admissions portal.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was first prepared on 4 May 2023 and was updated in September 2024.

This website was last tested during September 2024 against the WCAG 2.2 AA standard.

The initial test was carried out by the University of Birmingham using automated testing tools by our product team. A further audit of the website was carried out to the WCAG 2.2 AA standard using manual and automated testing.

As part of our roadmap to be published in January 2025, we will continue to prioritise addressing non-compliance items and areas we want to improve.