Cookies
What are cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your computer when you visit any web pages that uses cookies. A cookie contains information that allows websites to recognise your computer and perform a variety of functions such as recording which pages of the website you visit or saving your preferences that allow you to personalise your viewing experience. Cookies are recorded via your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari) and are not visible on a website itself.
Cookies can be either ‘first party’, which means they are used by an organisation on its own website, or ‘third party’ which is when they are used by an organisation on another organisation’s website. Some cookies are ‘session’ cookies that are deleted from your computer as soon as you close your web browser. ‘Persistent’ cookies do not self-delete until a specific period of time has elapsed. Further below we provide information on the cookies we use and highlight which are first and third party.
For more general information about cookies visit:www.allaboutcookies.org. There is also a useful video about cookies on Google’s website.
How we use cookies
We use a variety of cookies to perform different functions, from remembering you are logged into a particular online service to tracking your usage of our websites. In the case of tracking, we use this information to enhance the usability and performance of our websites and online services and no personally-identifiable information is recorded.
By using and browsing our websites, you consent to cookies being used in accordance with our policy. If you do not consent, you must disable cookies or refrain from using the site.
First party cookies
The table below lists the first party cookies we use and their purpose:
| Cookie Name or Service; | Purpose | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| ASPSESSIONIDCQBSDQCQ | This is a functional cookie that does not contain any personal information and is automatically removed when the visitor closes their web browser. | |
| CAKEPHP | This is a functional cookie that does not contain any personal information and is automatically removed when the visitor closes their web browser. | |
| Google Analytics | These cookies are used by the Google Analytics service to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. 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. | Overview of privacy at Google |
| mktplace | This cookie is used to record the visitor’s preference to hide the notice that explains the purpose of the Staff marketplace. | |
| MoodleSessionTest MoodleSession MoodleID |
Our virtual learning environment, Moodle, uses cookies to record when visitors have successfully logged into the service. | |
| mosvisitor | Some of our websites use this cookie to track visits. | |
| BGIPServerSPS-Servers-http http%3A%2F%2Fmy%2Emmu%2Eac%2Euk%2FDiscovery WSS_KeepSessionAuthenticated | Our staff and student portal, ‘MyMMU’, uses cookies to record you have logged into the service. | |
| PHPSESSID | This cookie is used to identify you as a user between page loads. This allows our websites to remember certain settings. This is a functional cookie that does not contain any personal information and is automatically removed when the visitor closes their web browser. |
Third party cookies
When you visit our websites there are some cookies that are set that are not related to us, these are referred to as third party cookies. When you visit a page that contains embedded content, for example from YouTube, you may be sent cookies from these websites. We have no control of the setting of these cookies, so we advise you check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.
A list of our third-party cookies is provided below:
| Cookie Name or Supplier | Purpose | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| AddThis | AddThis button is used on a number of our pages to make it easy for visitors to bookmark and share content with other people. Anonymous data is collected (browser type, page views, referring URL, time/date, IP address, device ID) that provides statistics about bookmarking and sharing activity of users, and helps visitors create buzz for sites to increase popularity and ranking. | View the AddThis privacy policy |
| AdJug | The purpose and usage of this cookie is currently under review. | View the AdJug privacy policy |
| ADNXS.COM | The purpose and usage of this cookie is currently under review. | |
| Crazy Egg | From time to time we use the Crazy Egg service to help us improve the visitor experience and performance of our websites. Crazy Egg provides graphical and text analysis of visitor behaviour on a website. It tracks where visitors click and allows us to fine-tune the layout and design of our web pages. | View the Crazy Egg privacy policy |
| Some of our web pages include a Facebook social plugin to enable visitors to share our website content with others via the Facebook website. Anonymous data is collated (browser type, location, page views). | View Facebook’s privacy policy | |
| Flickr | Some of our web pages include photos that are sourced from the Flickr website. | View Flickr’s privacy policy |
| Go.Affec.Tv | The purpose and usage of this cookie is currently under review. | |
| media6degrees.com | The purpose and usage of this cookie is currently under review. | View the Media6Degrees privacy policy |
| Quantcast | The purpose and usage of this cookie is currently under review. | View Quantcast’s privacy policy |
| Some of our web pages include a ‘tweet’ button, which enables visitors to share content via the twitter service. Anonymous data is collated (browser type, page views, referring URLs, time/date). | View Twitter’s privacy policy | |
| YouTube | We use YouTube to host some of our video content. When you view a web page on our site with an embedded YouTube video, YouTube creates at least three cookies: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, use_hitbox, and PREF. In some circumstances you may also find an additional GEO cookie. We use the YouTube service as a convenience for our visitors, so you can view video content on your computer and mobile devices. | View YouTube’s privacy policy |
| Vimeo | We use Vimeo to host some of our video content. We use the Vimeo service as a convenience for our visitors, so you can view video content on your computer and mobile devices. | View Vimeo’s privacy policy |
How can I control cookies?
Most web browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can change the settings of your browser to reject all cookies, to only allow ‘trusted’ websites to use them, or to only accept cookies from those websites which you are currently on. Please follow the instructions provided below on how to do this for the most popular web browsers.
Please note: we do not recommend rejecting cookies as this is likely to result in some features on our websites and some of our online services not functioning correctly or as intended. For example, if a website cannot tell if you are signed in without using cookies, you will not be able to access certain information or use a particular service.
Microsoft Internet Explorer:
- Choose the menu “tools” then “Internet Options”
- Click on the “privacy” tab
- Select the appropriate setting
Mozilla firefox:
- Choose the menu “tools” then “Options”
- Click on the icon “privacy”
- Select the relevant options under “history”
Opera 6.0 and above:
- Select the “menu” option at the top-left
- Click on “Settings”
- Click on “Preferences”
- Click on the “Advanced” tab
- Click on the “Cookies” option on the left-hand side
- Select the relevant options
Safari:
- Select the cog icon at the top-left
- Click on “Preferences”
- Click on the “Privacy” option
- Select the relevant options
There is further guidance available on the website www.aboutcookies.org which tells you how to control and remove cookies using the options available in your web browser.
More information
For more information about how we use cookies, please contact the Web Team.