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Cookie Notice

The information on this page is relevant to www.durham.ac.uk and its sub-sites. Some subdomains or web applications provided by Durham University may use other cookies. Please see the individual site or app cookie policy for more information. 

What are cookies and why do we use them?

Most websites use cookies to remember information about you and your preferences, either for the duration of your visit or for repeat visits. A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website, and that website can then retrieve the contents of that cookie.


Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting ('first party cookies') or by other websites which provide content on the page you are viewing ('third party cookies').


More information on cookies can be found here at www.allaboutcookies.org.


What types of cookies do we use?

The following is an explanation of cookie types that may be used.


Necessary

These cookies are necessary for the basic operation of our website. They help to make it usable by enabling functions like page navigation. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.


Performance

These cookies allow us to track the performance and usage of the Durham website with anonymised "statistics". We use cookies to track how you navigate around the website and use the statistics that these create to improve the website's performance and user experience.


Our website uses the Hotjar website session recording service. We may collect information on your use of our website, such as pages visited, links clicked, non-sensitive text entered, and mouse movements, as well as information more commonly collected such as the referring URL, browser, operating system and Internet Service Provider. The purpose of collecting usage information is to better understand how visitors use the website in order to improve our website's usability. We don't use the usage information to identify its visitors. Data collected is for aggregated, statistical reporting and internal use only. If you prefer to opt-out of the session recording service you can do so following the HotJar opt-out instructions.


We don't control the dissemination of these third-party cookies and you should check the relevant third-party's website for more information.


We don't sell the information collected by cookies, nor do we disclose the information to third parties, except where required by law.


Functional

These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly. These services include:


Website search: The website search facilities use a bespoke Terminalfour search engine to index web pages, and provide search results and associated sorting and filtering tools. 


Holly chatbot: On certain web pages we have deployed an AI-based chatbot widget to assist with enquiries about studying at Durham. 


Live chat: On certain web pages, we have deployed a live chat widget so that visitors can chat directly with a member of our Admissions Enquiries team.


Discover Uni widget: Our course pages include the Discover Uni widget which provides useful additional course data from student surveys.


Speedy Booker: If you are booking a room to stay at one of our facilities, we use the Speedy Booker service, which allows us to collect information to process your enquiry or booking.


Gecko web forms: We use the Gecko service to embed web forms on our website which allows us to process and manage your enquiry through our CRM system.


Maxmind: We use the Maxmind service to allow us to personalise some of our web content for different regions of the world.


We also embed social media and video content from third-party websites such as:


  • YouTube
  • Panopto
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram 

As a result, when you visit one of our pages containing such content, you may be presented with cookies from these services.


Advertising

We sometimes use Google AdWords Remarketing pixels to assist with our marketing and delivery of online advertising across the Internet, in particular on the Google Display Network. By better understanding what our audiences are interested in, we can more efficiently promote the University. The technology to do this is made possible by cookies and as such we may place a "remarketing cookie" during your visit.


AdWords remarketing will display ads to you based on what parts of the Durham website you have viewed by placing a cookie on your web browser. This cookie does not in any way identify you or give access to your computer or mobile device. The cookie is used to indicate to other websites that "This person visited a particular page, so show them ads relating to that page." This way we can show you ads that are personalised to you.


If you do not wish to see personalised ads from Durham University, you can opt-out in several ways:


Opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting Google's Ads Settings
Opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies by visiting youradchoices opt-out.


Please note that opting out won't stop you from seeing adverts, just that they won't be tailored specifically to you.


How can I control which cookies are allowed?

If you don’t want websites to store cookies on your device, you can modify your browser so that it asks for your permission when a website wants to set a cookie, or you can refuse cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been set. If you wish to restrict or block web browser cookies on your device then you can do this through your browser settings; the Help function within your browser should tell you how.


For Google Analytics cookies, Google provides a Google Analytics opt-out tool which allows you to specify that you don't want to accept their cookies, not just for our site, but for all sites which use Google Analytics.


To find out more information and opt out of third-party cookies, please visit the relevant privacy and cookie policy pages on third-party websites.


To opt-out of the HotJar session recording service you can do so using the following instructions. Please note you will need to opt-out on each browser that you use.


To disable personalised ads you can update your preferences by visiting Google's Ads Settings and for third-party vendor's cookies by visiting youradchoices opt-out.


Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit knowcookies.com.


Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:


Google Chrome
Edge
Internet Explorer
Firefox
Opera
Safari