Cookie Policy

IP Addresses and Cookies

We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report aggregate information. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.

For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer.

What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes a unique identifier that is sent to your computer browser from a website’s computer and is stored on your computer’s hard drive. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other websites. Many websites do this whenever a user visits their website in order to track online traffic flows.

What Type of Cookies Do We Use?

We use the following cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
  • Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
  • Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties, such as universities during clearing, for this purpose.

How Can Cookies be Managed/Blocked?

Users have the opportunity to set their devices to accept all cookies, to notify them when a cookie is issued, or not to receive cookies at any time. The last of these means that certain personalised features cannot then be provided to that user and accordingly they may not be able to take full advantage of all of the website’s features. Each browser is different, so check the “Help” menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. Alternatively, you may wish to visit http://www.aboutcookies.org/, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.

During the course of any visit to our site, the pages you see, along with a cookie, are downloaded to your computer. Our site uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our site. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and also allows us to improve our site.

Third Party Cookies

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

To find out which third party cookies are stored on your computer and possibly to remove them, please visit http://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/ to opt out.