Cookies and Internet Privacy Policy

Cookies and Internet Privacy Policy

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Last Updated: March 18th 2024

At Birmingham Newman University we recognise that your personal privacy is a serious and important issue and we support the principle of protecting privacy on the internet within the context of current UK legislation. This privacy policy page explains how we treat your personal information in relation to your use of the Birmingham Newman University website.

If instead you wish to read a Privacy Notice about how the University processes your personal data please choose the relevant one:

Privacy Notice for Applicants

Privacy Notice for Employees and Job Applicants

Privacy Notice for Professional Contacts

Privacy Notice for Students

Privacy Notice for Birmingham Newman University Online Store

 

Cookies and Internet Privacy Policy

By using the Birmingham Newman University website you consent to the collection and use of your personal information in accordance with this policy. Though the policy has been developed to take account of changes in Internet technology it is subject to change and any such changes will only be notified on this page.

When you use the Newman University site we automatically issue your computer with a small piece of code (a ‘cookie’) that enables the web pages to be displayed correctly, and the information the cookie allows us to manage and improve the services on the website – this cookie does not however contain any personally identifying information.

 

How we use cookies on the Newman University website

Session Cookies
We use cookies to allow the Birmingham Newman University website to uniquely identify a user’s browsing session on the Newman University website. No personally identifiable information is stored.

Analytics
We use Google Analytics cookies which, in conjunction with our web server’s log files, allow us to identify unique, but anonymous users. These cookies can also calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our Birmingham Newman University website, the date and time of a user’s visit to the Birmingham Newman University website, the pages a user has viewed and the time spent by users at the Birmingham Newman University website. This helps us gather feedback so that we can improve the Birmingham Newman University website and better serve our users.

Further information on each cookie is set out in the table below.

 

Cross platform advertising and user recognition

We also use cookies provided by Facebook and Instagram. These cookies operate in different ways but they are both used in connection with Birmingham Newman University advertising served to a user of the Birmingham Newman University website on Instagram and Facebook, the recognition of such users and the devices used by the user to access Instagram and Facebook website. Further information on each cookie is set out in the table below.

 

Third party websites and platforms

Your use of third party websites and platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, and the privacy practices of these platforms, are governed by separate terms, conditions and policies for which Birmingham Newman University is not responsible. You should review Facebook’s terms, conditions and policies where you will find more details on how information about you is used on their platforms and how you can set your privacy preferences.

Change your cookie settings for our site:


You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which they are used in the table below:

Cookie Type Purpose
Google Analytics

_ga
_gid
_gat_UA-3174190-1

This Cookie is placed by Google. It enables Birmingham Newman University to learn information about our users use of the Newman University website such as the time of visit, the pages viewed, whether the user has visited before and the website visited prior to visiting the Newman University website.

To opt-out please see https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

PHPSESSID A session cookie generated by the Birmingham Newman University website to uniquely identify the user’s session. No personally identifiable information is stored.
Facebook Pixel

_fbp

This Cookie is placed by Facebook. It enables Birmingham Newman University to measure, optimize and build audiences for advertising campaigns served on Facebook. In particular it enables Birmingham Newman University to see how our users move between devices when accessing the Newman University website and Facebook, to ensure that Newman University’s Facebook advertising is seen by our users most likely to be interested in such advertising by analysing which content a user has viewed and interacted with on the Newman University website.

See Facebook’s help page to learn more about opting out of this cookie

Content Management System cookies
Cookies with names prefixed by the following:
wordpress_
wfwaf-authcookie-
wp-
These cookies are set by our content management system upon arrival to website. They are not used for any other purpose other than for security or the functioning of the website.
Cookie Pop Up

euCookie

This Cookie is placed by Birmingham Newman University. It is used to record when a user of the Birmingham Newman University website has viewed the cookie notice to prevent it re-appearing on return visits.

 

We also use the following cookies from HotJar.com to monitor usability:

Cookies set by the Hotjar script

Name Description Duration Data type
_hjClosedSurveyInvites Hotjar cookie that is set once a visitor interacts with an External Link Survey invitation modal. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not reappear if it has already been shown. 365 days Boolean true/false
_hjDonePolls Hotjar cookie that is set once a visitor completes a survey using the On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the same survey does not reappear if it has already been filled in. 365 days Boolean true/false
_hjMinimizedPolls Hotjar cookie that is set once a visitor minimizes an On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimized when the visitor navigates through your site. 365 days Boolean true/false
_hjShownFeedbackMessage Hotjar cookie that is set when a visitor minimizes or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimized immediately if the visitor navigates to another page where it is set to show. 365 days Boolean true/false
_hjid Hotjar cookie that is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. 365 days UUID
_hjRecordingLastActivity This should be found in Session storage (as opposed to cookies). This gets updated when a visitor recording starts and when data is sent through the WebSocket (the visitor performs an action that Hotjar records). Session Numerical Value (Timestamp)
_hjTLDTest When the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed. Session Boolean true/false
_hjUserAttributesHash User Attributes sent through the Hotjar Identify API are cached for the duration of the session in order to know when an attribute has changed and needs to be updated. Session Hash
_hjCachedUserAttributes This cookie stores User Attributes which are sent through the Hotjar Identify API, whenever the user is not in the sample. These attributes will only be saved if the user interacts with a Hotjar Feedback tool. Session JSON
_hjLocalStorageTest This cookie is used to check if the Hotjar Tracking Script can use local storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set in this cookie. The data stored in_hjLocalStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created. Under 100ms Boolean true/false
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s pageview limit. 30 minutes Boolean true/false
_hjIncludedInSessionSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that visitor is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s daily session limit. 30 minutes Boolean true/false
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress This cookie is used to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. 30 Minutes Boolean true/false
_hjFirstSeen This is set to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions. Session Boolean true/false
hjViewportId This stores information about the user viewport such as size and dimensions. Session UUID
_hjRecordingEnabled This is added when a Recording starts and is read when the recording module is initialized to see if the user is already in a recording in a particular session. Session Boolean true/false

Visitors with Disabled Cookies and HotJar.com

Hotjar.com does not track or record visitors who have cookies disabled. In fact, the Hotjar script doesn’t properly load its different components if it detects that cookies are disabled. Learn more

Further information

We analyse demographic and other statistical information about user behaviour to analyse the popularity and effectiveness of our site. In performing such analysis and in the course of our business we will only ever disclose such information in an aggregated form that is not capable of identifying an individual user.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS, ADS CONVERSION TRACKING AND REMARKETING

Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland („Google“). In addition, our website uses Google Ads conversion tracking and Ads remarketing and Google Signals, which are also services by Google.

Google Analytics uses cookies and similar technologies to analyse and improve our website based on your usage behaviour. Google Ads conversion tracking and Ads remarketing also use cookies and similar technologies in order to measure the performance of advertisements placed (so-called Ads campaigns) and to show you individualised advertising messages on websites that collaborate with Google. Google Signals compiles for us multi-platform data reports on Google users that have enabled personalised advertising in their Google accounts. To change what information Google collects visit My Activity.

The data collected in this context may be transferred by Google to a server in the United States and stored there. For the event that personal data is transferred to the United States, Google has agreed to the conditions of the EU-US Privacy Shield.

Google will truncate your IP address before analysis of the usage statistics, which means that conclusions cannot be drawn as to your identity. For this purpose, the code “anonymizeIP” has been added to Google Analytics on our website to guarantee collection of anonymised IP addresses.

On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing the website operator with other services relating to website and Internet use.

The Google Ads conversion tracking cookies ordinarily remain enabled on your computer for around 30 days. If you visit our website during this period, both Google and we will be informed that you saw the displayed advertisement.

In case that you use a Google account, Google can, depending on the settings stored in your Google account, associate your Internet and browser cache with your Google account and use information from your Google account to personalise advertisements. You must sign out of your Google account before visiting our website if you do not want this association with your Google account.

If you have enabled personalised advertising in your Google account, Google will be able to prepare data models and reports on website habits, which show for instance on which device you first clicked on an advertisement and on which device any eventual purchase took place. These data models and reports are based on random samples and are pseudonymised to ensure anonymity, which means that we are unable to draw any conclusions as to the identities of the individual Google users.

For more information in this regard, refer to the Google Privacy Policy.

FACEBOOK PIXEL

In addition, our website uses remarketing tabs for marketing purposes (also the “Facebook Pixel”) by Facebook Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA (“Facebook”). This tag establishes a connection between your browser and a Facebook server when you visit our website. Facebook therefore receives information that you have accessed our website with your IP address.

For the event that personal data is transferred to the United States, Facebook has agreed to the conditions of the EU-US Privacy Shield Facebook uses this information to send a statistical and anonymous data about the general use of our website, as well as on the efficiency of our Facebook advertising (“Facebook Ads”).

If you are a member of Facebook and have made the appropriate privacy settings on your Facebook account, Facebook will also be able to associate the information stored with us about your visit with your personal account, which it can use for the targeted display of Facebook Ads.

You can access and change the Privacy Settings for your Facebook profile at any time.

For more information, visit the Facebook Privacy Policy.

Any questions?

If you have any queries or concerns about privacy on the Birmingham Newman University website please contact us via the website or via e-mail at dpo@newman.ac.uk.

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