How we use cookies

How we use cookies

Last updated: 24 April 2024

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are transferred to your computer's hard drive through your web browser and contain a unique number, but no personal data. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site and a more tailored site experience to you.

Most browsers allow you to choose whether cookies are used or not. However, by turning off cookies you may make the website less efficient and some services may not function properly.

Why we use cookies

We use cookies to make sure our website works effectively. They help us monitor visitors' movement from page to page, so we can ensure any choices you make and/or details you submit are 'remembered' as you navigate the site – and when you return to it within a set period.

Below is a detailed list of the cookies we use on our website. We classify cookies in the following categories:

  • Essential cookies
  • Performance cookies
  • Functional cookies
  • Targeting cookies

Essential cookies

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be turned off. They can be disabled using your browser but this may result in elements of the website not functioning.

Product Description Cookie
LiveChat We use LiveChat to improve the ease of communication with our users. The cookies do not store personal information. They are used for user authentication and user verification purposes.

LiveChat privacy information
__lc_cid (customerId)
__lc_cst
Microsoft We use these cookies to identify the browser session on our servers.

Microsoft privacy settings
ASP.NET_SessionId
__RequestVerificationToken
Sitecore The Sitecore cookies enable you to use functions of the site such as favourite pages, recent pages and course comparison. The cookies also identify repeat visits helping us tailor our content and user experience. SC_ANALYTICS_GLOBAL_COOKIE
UniBuddy Identifies which university the user is interacting with through the Unibuddy platform, used for authentication purposes.

UniBuddy privacy policy
ub-uni

Performance cookies

These cookies help us to understand how our users interact with the website using anonymous data.

Product Description Cookie
Google analytics This collects information about how visitors use the website, to be able to compile reports and make improvements to better meet our users' needs.

The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.

Google Analytics data and privacy information

Opt out add-on for Google Analytics
_ga
_ga_QQLXK8VXKY
_gat_gtag_UA_35400165_1
_gat_UA-71256766-1
_gid
Google conversion tracking We use conversion tracking to understand user behaviour and to improve our site. The Googleadservices.com cookies help website owners who buy ads from Google to determine how many people who click their ads end up purchasing their products. The conversion tracking cookie is set on your browser only when you click an ad delivered by Google where the advertiser has opted in to conversion tracking.

These cookies expire within 30 days and do not contain information that can identify you personally. If this cookie has not yet expired when you visit certain pages of the advertiser's website, Google and the advertiser will be able to tell that you clicked the ad and proceeded to that page. Each advertiser gets a different cookie, so no cookie can be tracked across advertiser websites.

Opt out of Google’s interest advertising
 _gcl_au
 MS Clarity  Clarity is a user behavior analytics tool that helps us understand how users are interacting with the website through session replays and heatmaps.

Clarity uses cookies to: persist the Clarity User ID and preferences; connects multiple page views by a user into a single Clarity session recording; identify the first-time Clarity saw this user on any site using Clarity; identify unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites.
 
 _clck, _clsk, CLID, ANONCHK, MR, MUID, SM
LinkedIn This cookie enables analytics for the LinkedIn platform.

LinkedIn privacy information and opt out options
ln_or
Online prospectus This cookie anonymously tracks a user’s search journey. olpSearchType
Optimal workshop We occasionally place user feedback forms onto the website to gauge opinion and how successful our services are. 

Read more about Optimal Workshop cookies
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YouTube YouTube uses cookies to help maintain the integrity of video statistics and prevent fraud.

We embed some videos on our site from our official YouTube channel; when we do this, we aim to use the privacy-enhanced mode which means YouTube will not set a cookie unless a user clicks to play the video. YouTube cookies contain the count of views of embedded videos

YouTube privacy enhanced mode information
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

Functional cookies

These cookies allow several services to operate using anonymous data. 

Product Description Cookie
Facebook This cookie enables advertsing and analytics for the facebook platform

Facebook privacy information and opt out options
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LinkedIn These cookies detect browser type, enable analytics and record authentication history to remember visiting users.

LinkedIn privacy information and opt out options
AnalyticsSyncHistory
bcookie
bscookie
li_gc
lidc
YouTube YouTube uses cookies to help maintain the integrity of video statistics and prevent fraud.

We embed some videos on our site from our official YouTube channel; when we do this, we aim to use the privacy-enhanced mode which means YouTube will not set a cookie unless a user clicks to play the video.

YouTube cookies contain the count of views of embedded videos.

YouTube privacy enhanced mode information
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

Targeting cookies

These cookies are utilised by our advertising associates. They may use the data to identify potential interests that are relayed in advertisements. They function by identifying your browser and device. If you opt out of these cookies, you will no longer see personalised adverts.

Product Description Cookie
Facebook We use Facebook to display relevant feeds on our site to enhance our content. Facebook cookies indicate logged in status information to show relevant and social information for the social plugins and services.

The Facebook cookies allow us to serve adverts on social media platforms and to improve our content, retargeting and user experience.

Facebook privacy information and opt out options
fr
_fbp
Google analytics We use Google Analytics Audience Demographics and Interest Reporting within Google Analytics to further our audience understanding so we can improve our content, retargeting and user experience accordingly.

Opt out of Google’s interest advertising
IDE
test_cookie
LinkedIn We use LinkedIn to display relevant feeds on our site to enhance our content. LinkedIn cookies indicate existing user status information and may tailor content accordingly as well as containing page load information. LinkedIn cookies allow us to serve adverts on social media platforms and to understand user actions on our site and improve our content, retargeting and user experience.

LinkedIn privacy information and opt out options
UserMatchHistory
Microsoft’s Universal Event Tracking We use Universal Event Tracking (UET) to understand user behaviour and to improve our site. The Microsoft Advertising cookies help website owners who buy ads from Microsoft to determine how many people who click their ads end up purchasing their products.

UET collects the data and Microsoft Advertising retains it for 180 days. UET will also collect the IP address and the Microsoft cookie (with an expiration date of 13 months). This cookie contains a GUID assigned to the user’s browser, and/or an ID assigned to a user as long as it authenticated through their Microsoft account. In general, the cookie in the relevant domain and IP address are always passed with every http request and not just via UET. Microsoft Advertising doesn't resell this data to third parties or share it with other advertisers.

Microsoft Advertising privacy information and how to manage your privacy settings

Opt out of Microsoft’s interest advertising
_uetsid
_uetvid
MUID
Tiktok Tiktok cookies allow us to serve adverts on social media platforms and to understand user actions made on our site once they have viewed or clicked an advert. We use it to improve our content, retargeting and user experience.

Tiktok privacy information and opt out options
_tt_enable_cookie
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Twitter We use Twitter to display relevant feeds on our site to enhance our content. Twitter widget data such as page visit and browser information is held within the cookie. Twitter also used logged in status information and may tailor content to improve your experience.

Twitter privacy information and preference options
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personalization_id