Accessibility Statement

This accessibility statement applies to the website https://baice.ac.uk, which is run by the British Association for International & Comparative Education (BAICE).

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means that you should be able to:

  • change colours, contrast levels and fonts
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
  • navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
  • navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
  • listen to most of the website using a screen reader (such as JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver).

How accessible this website is

We know that some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

  • Older PDF and Word documents may not be fully accessible to screen reader software.
  • The colour contrast for some text and interface components may not meet WCAG standards.
  • Line height or spacing of text cannot be modified
  • Some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • You cannot skip to the main content when using a screen reader
  • Some images do not have good alternative text
  • Some buttons are not correctly identified

The majority of the site is fully accessible including to screen readers and those using assistive technology. This includes the use of text alternatives for images, links and buttons.

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format, please contact us and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, please use our Contact form to get in touch.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you are not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

BAICE is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

Most of the content elements in our website are accessible and do not contain the problems below. This has been confirmed by internal testing.

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Issues with technology

BAICE provides links to external websites that may not meet accessibility standards.

Images

Some decorative images need to be marked as decorative within the code so screen reader technology can simply ignore these images. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text content).

Meaningful links

Some link text does not provide enough information about the destination of the link. This makes it difficult for people using a screen reader to know where the link will take them, particularly if they are reading links out of context (e.g. in a list of links). This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link purpose).

Some images which are also links do not have alternative text that describes the destination of the link. This means that screen reader software cannot use the alternative text to present a meaningful link title to users. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.4 (Link purpose).

Colour contrast

Some text does not provide enough contrast with the background, making it more difficult to read. For example, some breadcrumb navigation text and some text on coloured buttons. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.1 1.4.3 (Contrast).

The borders around some input fields, radio buttons, and check boxes do not provide enough contrast with the background colour, making them difficult to distinguish. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast).

Skip links

“Skip to content” links have been added to pages which have blocks of repeated content such as navigation menus. The aim of these links is to help people who use the keyboard instead of a mouse to quickly access the main content of the page. In some instances, these skip links are not working correctly, and do not take the user to the main content. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.1 (Bypass blocks).

Navigating with the keyboard

Some interactive elements on the page such as links and buttons do not have a clear outline to show when they are in focus. This means that someone who is using the keyboard tab key to access these elements cannot be clear when a link or other element is in focus and can be activated. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 2.4.7 (Focus Visible).

Forms

Some forms do not have clear labels linked to input areas that are used by screen readers to provide information about how to complete the form. This makes it difficult for people using a screen reader to complete the form. This fails WCAG 2.1 success criterion 1.3.1 (Info and Relationships).

Navigation and accessing information

There is no way to skip the repeated content in the page header.

It’s not always possible to change the device orientation from horizontal to vertical without making it more difficult to view the content.

Content that is not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our older PDFs and Word documents which are essential to providing our services may not provide the information required by assistive technology. We are striving to make older documents accessible and ensuring new PDFs and Word documents published after September 2018 meet the WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Documents created for print distribution may not be fully accessible due to font sizing and layout issues.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

What we are doing to improve accessibility

BAICE is working hard to fix all of the above issues by the end of 2021 and in the majority of cases these issues are not present on our web pages. We will perform regular audits to identify and fix accessibility problems and when we publish new content, we strive to ensure it meets the highest possible accessibility standards.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This website was last tested on the 10th of March 2021. The test was performed using a combination of manual and automated methods on a sample of page types, ensuring that all website functionality was subject to testing.

This testing will continue to be carried out to ensure that BAICE is constantly monitoring and improving accessibility.