Cookies you may see if you browse our site
Cookies and technologies which are strictly necessary
Services across OU websites
| Purpose/ description | Cookies or technology | Set by (1st/ 3rd party) | Vendor | Data controller | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Load balancing (Netscaler) | NSC_[string] | OU | Citrix | OU | Session |
| Cross-Site Request Forgery | XSRF-TOKEN | OU | AWS | OU | Persistent |
| Maintaining user session, security: session identifiers; technical telemetry (page load timings, error events) | ai_session | OU | Microsoft | OU | 30 minutes |
| Maintaining user session, security: session identifiers; technical telemetry (page load timings, error events) | ai_user | OU | Microsoft | OU | Up to 1 year |
| Maintains user session | PHPSESSID | OU | OU | Persistent | |
| Authentication | Asp.net_SessionId | OU | microsoft | OU | |
| Authentication | Cookies include:
| SAP (gigya, CDC) | SAP | OU | Up to 12 months: see SAP Help Portal for details |
| Authentication/ maintaining user session (SAMS) |
| OU | OU | Session | |
| Displaying the name of a logged in user | HS7BDF | OU | OU | Session | |
| Resetting your OU password |
| OU | OU | Expire when reset is complete | |
| Remembers the pages prior to logging in so that a user can return to the appropriate page after log in | SAMS001c | OU | OU | Session | |
| Cookie consent management |
| Syrenis | Syrenis | OU | 1 year |
| Security, bot detection |
| OU | Cloudflare | OU | 1 day. |
| Preference selection |
| OU | OU | Session | |
| Remembers international visitors | GD | OU | OU | Persistent | |
| Formatting selection for computer or mobile |
| OU | OU | Persistent | |
| Stores the visitor's preferred language | CMSPreferredCulture | OU | Kentico | OU | 1 year |
| Indicates if the visitor has been redirected to the module version of the website | CMSMobileRedirected | OU | Kentico | OU | Expires when you close your browser |
| Stores the name of the current visual theme to provide proper design to the dialogue windows | CMSCurrentTheme | OU | Kentico | OU | 1 day |
| Questionpro survey cookies to enable the survey to function correctly, prevent duplicate responses, and allow users to complete or resume surveys | QuestionPro Privacy Policy | QuestionPro | QuestionPro | OU | 365 days |
| Session |
Strictly necessary cookies on specific websites/ services
| Site | Purpose/ description | Cookies or technology | Set by (1st/ 3rd party) | Vendor | Data Controller | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OU Search | Load balancing | AWSALBTGCORS, | Hawksearch | AWS | OU | 1 week |
| OpenLearn | Used for displaying content correctly |
| OU | OU | Session | |
| Module websites (Moodle) | Maintaining user session |
| OU | Moodle | OU | Expire when you close your browser |
| Module websites | these cookies are used to identify a logged in user |
| OU | Moodle | OU | Persistent |
| OU People Profiles | Authentication, maintaining user session, load balancing | oupps_open_university_people_profile_system_session, | OU | OU | Persistent | |
| Library resources | Stores user authentication details for login |
| EZProxy | EZProxy | OU | No expiry |
| Open Research Online | Authentication | secure_eprints_session:oro.open.ac.uk | OU | eprints | OU | 24 hours |
| Library resources | User session/ authentication | oaxsrftkn - XSRF seed token for a user | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Maintains user session | oa-session: | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | XSRF seed token | oa-xsrf-token: | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Cookie consent status for end-user pages | oa-cookieconsent_status | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Maintains admin account session | oaadsid - | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Maintains user account session | oatmpsid | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Multi-factor authentication state | oa2fastate_* | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Stores the selected organisation | oaselorg | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Last selected brokered connection | oacorg | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Stores the last used organisation | oalastorg | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Stores the SAML request ID | oasamlreqid | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Active saml request id | oasamlreqid | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Whether debug mode is enabled | ssodebug | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | The saml connector chosen if you map to multiple organisations | oaorgmap | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | OpenAthens | No expiry |
| Library resources | Maintains user session and state |
| Springshare Libanswers | OU | 7 days | |
| OU Digital Archive | Preference for viewing images as list or thumbnail | ouda_image_view | OU | OU | 1 hour | |
| OU Digital Archive | State of open and closed concertina facets | collapsible | OU | OU | 7 days | |
| Library search | cookie consent status | cookie_consented | OU | Exlibris/Alma | OU | 1 year |
| Library resources | Maintaining user sessions |
| OU | Exlibris/Alma | OU | No expiry |
| Library search | Maintaining user sessions |
| OU | Exlibris/Alma | OU | Session |
| Ceremonies | This cookie is used to remember the location of the selected graduation ceremony |
| OU | OU | Session | |
| StudentHome | used when editing your profile page in StudentHome | ASPSESSIONID* | OU | Microsoft | OU | Session |
| StudentHome | To display correct information for logged in users | IOEMENU | OU | OU | Session | |
| Podcast | To remember volume settings |
| OU | OU | Session |
Analytics cookies and technologies
| Service | Purpose | Cookies or technology | Vendor | Controller | Duration | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SiteImprove | Records visitors’ use of the website and sequence of pages viewed, for analytics | nmstat | Site improve | OU | up to 1000 days | Cookies and session storage |
| Google analytics | Distinguishes users by storing a unique, randomly generated client ID. Also used for ad performance measurement, personalisation of services and communications. | _ga:
| OU | 2 years | To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit their opt out page | |
| Google analytics | Used to persist session state and store information about your session. | _ga_<container-id>
| OU | 2 years | ||
| Google analytics | Used to distinguish users. | _gid
| OU | 1 day | ||
| Google analytics | Stores a value used for setting the Client ID in the request to Google's servers. | FPID
| OU | 731 days | ||
| Google analytics | Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data about how the visitor uses the website. | FPLC
| OU | 1200 minutes | ||
| Google analytics | Pixel, javascript | OU, Google | ||||
| Microsoft Clarity, session recording tool | Persists the Clarity User ID and preferences, unique to that site is attributed to the same user ID. | _clck | Microsoft | Microsoft and separately, OU | MS Clarity helps us understand how customers use our site, identify usability issues and improve the overall customer experience. Microsoft collects and receives information used for marketing purposes, as well as assisting us with tracking the performance of advertising we do via Microsoft’s services (Bing etc.). More information on how Microsoft use this information please see their privacy statement. | |
| Microsoft Clarity, session recording tool | Connects multiple page views by a user into a single Clarity session recording. | _clsk | Microsoft | Microsoft and separately, OU | ||
| Microsoft Clarity, session recording tool | Identifies the first-time Clarity saw this user on any site using Clarity. | CLID | Microsoft | Microsoft and separately, OU | ||
| Microsoft Clarity, session recording tool | Indicates whether MUID is transferred to ANID, a cookie used for advertising. Clarity doesn't use ANID and so this is always set to 0. | ANONCHK
| Microsoft | Microsoft and separately, OU | ||
| Microsoft Clarity, session recording tool | Indicates whether to refresh MUID. | MR
| Microsoft | Microsoft and separately, OU | ||
| Microsoft Clarity, session recording tool | Identifies unique web browsers visiting Microsoft sites. SM Used in synchronizing the MUID across Microsoft domains. | MUID | Microsoft | Microsoft and separately, OU | ||
| Fullstory | A session recording tool, which helps us understand how customers use our site, identify usability issues and improve the overall customer experience. | fs_uid: tracks the user across sessions and pages
| Fullstory | OU | 1 year | Fullstory, GDPR, and You |
| Fullstory | A session recording tool, which helps us understand how customers use our site, identify usability issues and improve the overall customer experience. | fs_cid: stores the user's consent state for specific elements of the website, if this is being used
| Fullstory | OU | 1 year | Fullstory, GDPR, and You |
| Fullstory | A session recording tool, which helps us understand how customers use our site, identify usability issues and improve the overall customer experience. | fs_lua: captures the timestamp of the user's last action | Fullstory | OU | 30 minutes | Fullstory, GDPR, and You |
Tracking and personalisation cookies and technologies
| Service | Purpose | Cookies or technology | Vendor | Controller | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google analytics | We use data captured with the google cookie to track website visitors, and we link your browsing data to your OU profile, so you receive a more personalised experience and communications. We also use this data to help us develop services, for example to train machine learning models that predict behaviour and outcomes | Cookies, e.g _ga | OU | 2 years | |
| Salesforce/ Pardot | Pardot tracks visitor and prospect activities, and matches web visitors with prospect records in Pardot. | Cookies such as visitor_id, visitor_id82412-pi_opt_in | Salesforce | OU | Persistent |
Marketing cookies and technologies
| Service | Purpose | Cookies or technology | Vendor | Controller | Duration | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Ad and doubleclick (Campaign Manager 360) Tags | Tracks users activity on The OU website to inform measurement and targeting of ads. This will include modeling of events on the OU website to improve accuracy of measurement and optimization. Targeting will include suppression, lookalike and retargeting | Pixel, JavaScript and cookies, including:
| The OU and Google LLC are independent controllers. The OU: Uses this data as a paid service from Google LLC on www.open.ac.uk which is collected upon consent, to show you personalized advertisements while using Alphabet Inc. affiliated sites (as an example Google and YouTube) and services and subsequently enter or re-enter www.open.ac.uk. Google Inc Collects and uses your personal data upon consent to track page visits on www.open.ac.uk, to be used for measurement, measurement modelling, targeting suppression, retargeting advertisements on Alphabet Inc. affiliated sites and services, and to serve marketing to someone who is similar to you. | 18 months | My Ad Center (Google) | |
| Google enhanced conversions | Measure the effectiveness of our ads, understand and define our audience for ad targeting and to analyse the effectiveness of our website’s conversion channels | API allowing us to track your activity on our website, sending hashed user provided contact details to Google, which is used to match to google accounts | The OU and Google are independent controllers. Google Enhanced Conversions allows the OU to track your activity on our website. Google acts as a data processor on behalf of The OU for the above services. However, Google will also use the data collected via this mechanism for its own purposes and may compile it with existing data they may have on you. | Data privacy settings, controls and tools – Google Safety Centre | ||
| Meta conversion API | Measure the effectiveness of our ads, understand and define our audience for ad targeting and to analyse the effectiveness of our website’s conversion channels | API allowing us to track your activity on our website, sending hashed user provided contact details to Meta, which is used to match to google accounts | Meta | The OU and Meta are independent controllers. The Meta CAPI allows the OU to track your activity on our website. Meta acts as a data processor on behalf of The OU for the above services. However, Meta will also use the data collected via the CAPI for its own purposes and may compile it with existing data they may have on you. | 90 days | Meta Privacy Policy – How Meta collects and uses user data | Privacy Centre | Manage your privacy on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger | Facebook Privacy |
| Meta pixel and cookies | Measuring impact of campaigns. We can see how many Meta/ Facebook users take action on our website after seeing our Ad. | Code on our website that allows us to share website events with Meta, also cookies _fbp and _fbc | Meta | Meta and the OU | 90 days | Meta Privacy Policy – How Meta collects and uses user data | Privacy Centre | Manage your privacy on Facebook, Instagram and Messenger | Facebook Privacy |
| Pinterest advertising | Measuring impact of campaigns. We can see how many Pinterest users take action on our website after seeing our Ad. | Cookies, including:
| The OU | 1 year | Manage your privacy and data settings | Pinterest help | |
| Snapchat advertising pixel and cookies | Measuring impact of campaigns. We can see how many Snapchatters take action on our website after seeing our Ad. | Code on our website that allows us to share website events with Snap Cookies:
| Snap | The OU and Snap Inc. | 90 days | Snap privacy policy |
| Snapchat conversion API | Interface that allows us to directly pass web, app and offline events to Snap. This helps optimize our ad campaigns, improve our targeting and measure the conversions that resulted from our Snapchat campaigns | API - allowing us to track your activity on our website, sending hashed user provided contact details to Snap, which is used to match to snap accounts | Snap | The OU and Snap are independent data controllers. The conversion API allows the OU to track your activity on our website. Snap acts as a data processor on behalf of the OU for the above services. However, Snap will also use the data collected via the API for its own purposes and may compile it with existing data they may have on you. | Snap privacy policy | |
| TikTok advertising pixel and cookies | Measuring impact of campaigns, and to ensure we are serving relevant advertising to users across the platform. We can see how many TikTokkers take action on our website after seeing our Ad. | A piece of code on our website that allows us to share website events with TikTok, also cookies including:
| TikTok | TikTok and the OU | TikTok Cookie Policy | |
| Tradedesk | To help ensure that the ads you see are relevant and to measure and report on their effectiveness. | Cookies, including:
| Tradedesk | Tradedesk and the OU | 18 months | To opt out directly, please visit their website. |
| Microsoft Advertising UET | Tracks site activity for retargeting purposes across the internet and activities. | Cookies, script | Microsoft (Bing Ads Network) | The OU and Microsoft are independent controllers. The OU collects and controls your consented user data in order to segment, target and recruit audiences via marketing communications in the MS Network including both Bing search and MS Ad Display Network. Microsoft uses your consented data for their own marketing purposes. | 180 days | |
| LinkedIn advertising | To track onsite conversions and build audiences of users who have been to The Open University website and to serve relevant advertisements via LinkedIn. | Cookie based tracking technology:
| LinkedIn and the OU | |||
| Microsoft clarity | Microsoft collects and receives information used for marketing purposes, as well as assisting us with tracking the performance of advertising we do via Microsoft’s services (Bing etc.). | Cookies including:
| Microsoft | Microsoft is the Data controller for advertising purposes | Privacy statement |
Third party cookies you may see on our website
| Service | Purpose | Cookies or technology | Vendor | Duration | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google maps | To remember user preferences, also used for marketing | Cookies
| See Cookie information for Google's ad products | My Ad Center (Google) Google Privacy Policy | |
| Webchat (Comm 100 livechat) | Cookies maintain the chat session, identify returning visitors and remember widget state. | You may see cookies such as:
| Comm100 | Duration varies: session cookies to ~1 year (visitor ID and preferences often up to ~1 year). | Cookie policy |
| YouTube | Video player cookies enable:
| Including:
| Up to 180 days | Google privacy partners | |
| Vimeo | Video player cookies, for analytics, authentication, security purposes | Cookies including:
| Vimeo | Up to 2 years | Vimeo Player Cookies |
| unibuddy | Recruitment and support webchat with students – cookies used for third party analytics and marketing purposes | Cookies include:
| unibuddy | Unibuddy Cookie Policy | |
| Silktide | Collects anonymous analytics information to help identify accessibility issues, usability problems, technical errors, and opportunities to improve website content and structure. | JavaScript script embedded in a website to collect aggregated interaction data about how visitors use the site | Silktide | What does the Silktide analytics script do? | |
| Conductrics | Split testing tool: Anonymous experiment assignment and aggregated interaction metrics (e.g., page views/clicks) used to evaluate test performance. | Uses local data storage rather than cookies | Conductrics | Conductrics privacy policy |
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