Cookie policy

This cookie policy explains how we, University of Staffordshire, use cookies when you visit a page on www.staffs.ac.uk.

Like many other websites, our site uses cookies to enhance your experience of University of Staffordshire and to better understand how people use the website, which helps us improve it. This may also include cookies from third party social media websites. You can change your cookie settings at any time by following the instructions below titled ‘How to manage cookies’. 

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer or mobile device. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.Some of our cookies on our sites are set by us – these are called ‘first party cookies’. Some cookies are set by third party partner organisations and are known as ‘third party cookies’. 

The types of cookies we use

We use four categories of cookies: strictly necessary cookies, performance cookies, functionality cookies and advertising/targeting cookies.

Strictly necessary cookies

Some cookies we place on your browser ensure that the University website delivers you information and services securely and optimally. You can set your browser to block these cookies, but some parts of our site will then not work. These include, for example, cookies which enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Performance cookies

These cookies 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 site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. The data collected by the cookies is aggregated across all visitors so is anonymous. 

Our performance cookies include:

  • Google Analytics. We use Google Analytics to understand how our website is performing, to deliver relevant content and to make improvements to the site.
  • Siteimprove. We use Siteimprove alongside Google Analytics to understand how our visitors use the site and to improve the user experience on the website.
  • Hotjar. We use Hotjar in order to better understand our users’ needs and to optimise this service and experience. Hotjar is a technology service that helps us better understand our users’ experience (e.g. how much time they spend on which pages, which links they choose to click, what users do and don’t like, etc.) and this enables us to build and maintain our service with user feedback.

Functional cookies

We use these to improve our site’s functionality and personalisation for our users. They may be set by us, or by third party providers whose services we use on our site.

Our functional cookies include:

  • YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. We use YouTube, Instagram and TikTok to show you videos on our site.
  • Live Assist. We use Microsoft Live Assist to provide a live chat facility on our website.
  • Issuu. We use Issuu to embed PDF documents on various parts of our website.
  • Unibuddy. We use Unibuddy to connect prospective students with current students so they can ask them questions about what the University is like.

Advertising/targeting cookies

We use these cookies to tailor online advertising to your interests – both on our site and other sites you visit. If you disable them, you’ll still see adverts, they just won’t be tailored to you. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed.

Our advertising cookies include:

  • Meta, LinkedIn and TikTok. These cookies track user behaviour on our website, such as the pages visited and where a user left the website. This technology enables us to serve you personalised adverts whilst you're on Facebook, Instagram, Threads LinkedIn and TikTok.
  • Google. We use Google Advertising Features to target advertising to users of our website.
  • Bing. These cookies are used to serve our online advertising. The Bing cookie enables us to measure and manage our media activity to optimise our website performance.

How to manage cookies

You can decide which category of cookies you are happy to be set when using www.staffs.ac.uk at any time by using our cookie privacy preference centre.

in the UK for Quality Education

Sustainable Development Goal 4, Times Higher Education Impact Rankings 2024

for Career Prospects

Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023

Top 5 for Social Inclusion

The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025

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of Research Impact is ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Considerable’

Research Excellence Framework 2021

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of Research is “Internationally Excellent” or “World Leading”

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Four Star Rating

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