Accessibility statement for the University of Wolverhampton website

This accessibility statement applies to the University of Wolverhampton Website, run by the University of Wolverhampton.

The website is an integral part of how people access information, services and support at the University of Wolverhampton and therefore, the content is designed to be easy for everyone to find, access and use.

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
  • 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. 

Getting the best from your device

Before accessing the University of Wolverhampton website, we recommend that you are aware of the settings available for your hardware, such a laptop computer or mobile devices, including smartphones or tablets. These devices have individual accessibility settings that will help you access content, including website content.

Depending upon your choice of internet browser of mobile smart device operating system, there are further settings to help you access our content. Such settings may include the ability to change colours, contract and the size of text and images. 

You can find useful advice on making your device easier to use by visiting AbilityNet, which provides step-by-step guides to making individual adjustments to your laptop, tablet or smartphone.

The University also provides a number of assistive software products (e.g. Virtual Magnifying Glass, ssOverlay) as part of its Apps Anywhere software repository for current students and staff.

We know some parts of the University of Wolverhampton website are not fully accessible:

  • Some of our webpages are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • the ‘keyboard focus’ is not clear on some of our webpages, making them difficult to navigate with a keyboard
  • navigational elements maybe difficult to distinguish due to minimal contrast
  • some images are missing a description or alternative text
  • some navigational items and links are missing a descriptive accessible name
  • some of our older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • some PDFs do not specify a language.

If you need information about this website or this accessibility statement in a different format, please:

We’ll consider your request and get back to you within three working days.

If you cannot view the map on our contact us page, call or email us for directions.

We're always looking to improve the accessibility of the University of Wolverhampton website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, contact enquiries@wlv.ac.uk

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 have contacted us about an accessibility issue relating to our online content and you are not happy with the outcome of your complaint, you can contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

We consider digital accessibility a key part of our approach to being the 'University of Opportunity' and we want you to be able to use our services in a way that supports a positive learning experience.

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

The University of Wolverhampton website is partially compliant with the  Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version (WCAG) 2.1 AA standard; the non-compliances are listed below. We are working on outstanding issues with our developers to be fully compliant by July 2023.  

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Text alternatives: non-text content

To be completed by September 2024.

  • Some images are missing a description or alternative text

Some of the older images used on the University of Wolverhampton website may not have fully descriptive explanations or alternative text.

Not having descriptions or alternative text can impact upon the effectiveness of screen readers or other assistive devices.

Our website may hold images that are purely decorative, and these do not require descriptive or alternative text.

We are forming a working group to tackle web governance, providing training and best practice for our web editors and intend to launch this programme in early 2024 with all pages compliant by September 2024.

PDFs and other documents

To be actioned by September 2024.

  • Some of our older PDF documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software
  • Some PDFs do not specify a language.
  • Often title of pages is missing
  • Often headers of tables are not correctly marked up
  • Alternative text is often missing
  • Language of Page is often missing

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. Some of the University of Wolverhampton website may contain such content.

If you are having problems accessing this information, please consider visiting AbilityNet where you can find useful advice on making your device easier to use.

Please contact enquiries@wlv.ac.uk you are unable to access this information.

We are forming a working group to tackle web governance, providing training and best practice for our web editors and intend to launch this programme in early 2024 with all pages compliant by September 2024.

Third party content

The University of Wolverhampton Website links to other resources that are third-party products, that may also contain third-party content that we are not able to control or develop and therefore have no responsibility for.

If you find any of our University of Wolverhampton content hard to access, then please contact itsupport@wlv.ac.uk.

Examples of third-party content that may be found within the University of Wolverhampton website pages include, but are not limited to:

  • links to external sites not owned, managed or maintained by the University
  • links to software or services including Canvas, Panopto, Turnitin or Portfolium.

For any of the third-party products that you may have issues with accessing, you may be able to find accessibility statements in searchBOX.

This is a free, comprehensive directory created by textBox to support accessible content.  The University is not affiliated with searchBOX and is not responsible for its content.

This statement was prepared on 16 September 2020.  It was last reviewed on 25 January 2023.

This website was last tested on 16 January 2023. The test was carried out by the University of Wolverhampton, using the Silktide site audit tool. We are now testing the website on a monthly basis.

We audited a range of University of Wolverhampton webpages that reflect the breadth of access that prospective and current students would usually require at the University of Wolverhampton.

The audit was based upon specific web-based content across the Website, including Library pages, Student Support and Wellbeing pages, Digital Service pages and MyWLV pages.