Accessibility statement for Unibuddy - Ambassador Community

Accessibility statement for Unibuddy - Ambassador Community

Website accessibility statement in line with Public Sector Body (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018

This accessibility statement applies to Unibuddy Community, an invitation only platform.

This website is run by the Student Recruitment and Admissions Directors Office at the University of Edinburgh. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• Experience no time limits when using the site 
• Change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
• Use the website without having repeatedly input information 
• Use the site without the need to drag any content with a mouse
• Navigate most of the site using voice recognition software (including Dragon NaturallySpeaking) 
• Navigate most of the site using a screen reader
• Navigate most of the content with keyboard only 

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand. However, some of our content is technical, and we use technical terms where there is no easier wording, we could use without changing what the text means.

Customising the website

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability. This is an external site with suggestions to make your computer more accessible:

AbilityNet - My Computer My Way

With a few simple steps you can customise the appearance of our website using your browser settings to make it easier to read and navigate:

Additional information on how to customise our website appearance

If you are a member of University staff or a student, you can use the free SensusAccess accessible document conversion service:

Information on SensusAccess

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Some colour contrast could be improved.
• Some information is conveyed by colour only.
• Keyboard focus indicator is not always visible.
• There is not a skip to main content option
• Not all non-text content has suitable alt text. 
• There are moving gifs that user cannot stop or pause.
• Some parts may not be fully compatible with screen readers or other assistive technologies.
• There are some pop-ups that appear without warning.
• Error suggestion could be more meaningful.
• Reflow is not enabled to 400%
• Mobile device compatibility is partial, customisation is limited and screen reader compatibility could be improved, even though most content is read.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, including accessible PDF, large print, audio recording or braille:

• Email: student.ambassadors@ed.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0131 6504198
• British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are 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, please contact:

• Email: student.ambassadors@ed.ac.uk
• Telephone: 0131 6504198
• British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us via Contact Scotland BSL, the on-line BSL interpreting service.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 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 please contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) directly:

Contact details for the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS)

The government has produced information on how to report accessibility issues:

Reporting an accessibility problem on a public sector website

Contacting us by phone using British Sign Language

British Sign Language service

Contact Scotland BSL runs a service for British Sign Language users and all of Scotland’s public bodies using video relay. This enables sign language users to contact public bodies and vice versa. The service operates from 8.00am to 12.00am, 7 days a week.

Contact Scotland BSL service details.

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

Compliance Status

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

The full guidelines are available at:

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 AA standard

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

The following items to not comply with the WCAG 2.2 AA success criteria:

• Images lack alternative text, and there are instances of text as an image
  • 1.1.1 Non-text Content
• Some information was conveyed by colour only
  • 1.4.1 Use of Colour
• Colour contrast is not always sufficient between text and background colours
  • 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)
• Reflow is not enabled to 400%
• 1.4.10 Reflow
• Users cannot stop or pause moving gifs
  • 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide
• There is not a skip to main content option
• 2.4.1 Bypass Blocks
• Headings and labels are not correctly identified by screen readers
  • 2.4.6 Headings and Labels
• It can be unclear where user has navigated to by keyboard 
  • 2.4.7 Focus Visible
• Users are not alerted when links open pop-ups
  • 3.2.2 On Input
• Error suggestion could be more meaningful
  • 3.3.3 Error Suggestion
• Content is not robust enough that it can be interpreted by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies e.g. buttons do not have discernible text
  • 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

We aim to improve our websites accessibility on a regular and continuous basis. See the section below ('What we're doing to improve accessibility') on how we are improving our site accessibility. 

We are working towards solving these problems and expect significant improvements by April 2027. The site is out with our control.

Disproportionate burden

We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.

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

At this time, we believe no content is out with the scope of the accessibility regulations.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We will continue to address the accessibility issues highlighted, working alongside the software suppliers for Unibuddy to deliver a solution or suitable workaround. Unless specified otherwise, a complete solution or significant improvement will be in place for those items within our control by April 2027. However, most of the issues are not within our control but sit with Unibuddy. We are in contact with Unibuddy to discuss how best to resolve these issues as soon as possible and will continue to liaise with them.

While we are in the process of resolving these accessibility issues, we will ensure reasonable adjustments are in place to make sure no user is disadvantaged. As changes are made, we will continue to review accessibility and retest the accessibility of this website.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 7^th of April, 2026. It was last reviewed on 7^th of April, 2026.

The website was last tested in April 2026. The testing was carried out by the Disability Information Service at the University of Edinburgh using both automated and manual methods. The site was tested on a PC, primarily using the browsers Microsoft Edge (146.0.3856.72), Mozilla Firefox (140.9.0esr (64-bit)) and Google Chrome (146.0.7680.165). Recent world-wide usage levels survey for different screen readers and browsers shows that Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge are increasing in popularity and Google Chrome is now the favoured browser for screen readers:

 WebAIM: Screen Reader User Survey

The aforementioned three browsers have been used in certain questions for reasons of breadth and variety.

We ran automated testing using Axe DevTools and then manual testing that included:

• Spell check functionality;
• Scaling using different resolutions and reflow;
• Options to customise the interface (magnification, font, background colour, etc);
• Keyboard navigation and keyboard traps;
• Data validation;
• Warning of links opening in new tab or window;
• Information conveyed in the colour or sound only;
• Flashing, moving or scrolling text;
• Use with screen reading software (for example JAWS);
• Assistive software (TextHelp Read and Write, Windows Magnifier, ZoomText, Dragon Naturally Speaking, TalkBack and VoiceOver);
• Tooltips and text alternatives for any non-text content;
• Time limits;
• Compatibility with mobile accessibility functionality (Android and iOS);
• Any drag functionality and alternatives;
• Consistent help functions;
• No need to re-enter data already submitted;
• Any cognitive tests.