Types of cookie
Three types of cookie may be used during your visit to our websites:
- Session or temporary cookies that are deleted after each visit. These cookies help us monitor visitors' movement from page to page, so we can ensure any choices you make and/or details you submit are 'remembered' as you navigate the site.
- Persistent cookies that are valid across visits. They help our websites remember you as a user each time you use the same computer to revisit us.
- Third-party cookies that are used by our partners, or are used by external content from other third-party websites within our website. These include sites such as Facebook and Twitter, whose cookie usage policy you can view on their own websites.
Cookie categories
We have listed cookies used on Open University websites based on the International Chamber of Commerce guide for cookie categories:
- Strictly necessary - these cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around our sites and use their features, such as accessing secure areas of the website.
- Performance - these cookies collect information about how visitors use our websites in order to improve them. For example, they tell us which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from any of our pages. All of the information that these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous – it does not identify individual visitors.
- Functionality - these cookies allow our websites to remember choices you make (such as your user name, and search and browser preferences) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. These cookies cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.
- Targeting - these cookies collect information about your browsing habits in order to make advertising relevant to you and your interests.
Cookies you may see if you browse our site without signing in
| Site | Cookie Name | Nature and Purpose | Category | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OU | OUFULLSIZE | This cookie remembers that you want to view the OU website formatted for a desktop or laptop computer. | Strictly Necessary | Persistent |
| OUMOBILE | This cookie remembers that you want to view the OU website formatted for a mobile device. | Strictly Necessary | Persistent | |
| ou_cookie_policy | This cookie is used to control the display of our cookie banner when you visit our site. | Strictly Necessary | Persistent | |
| has_js | This cookie checks whether your browser has javascript enabled. | Strictly Necessary | Session | |
|
SESS* ASPSESSIONID* NSC_* |
These cookies are a 'session cookie' which tells us that you are actively visiting our site and expires when you close your browser. | Strictly Necessary | Session | |
| contactX2FAQ | Session | |||
| X1REDIRECTOR | Session | |||
| OU Search | jsessionid:search-ui.public#11000 | This cookie tells us which version of search you are using and ensures the relevant results are displayed. The cookie expires when you close your browser. | Strictly Necessary | Session |
| userPreferences | This cookie enables us to remember your search preferences and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session | |
| Online Prospectus | Country | This cookie is used to remember when a country of residence is selected and show relevant content in the study section of our website. | Functionality | Session |
| OpenLearn | olePageState oleTabsCycle ouTabs | These cookies are used to control the content displayed in the column on the right hand side of the page. They expire when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session |
| oleTagCloudView | This cookie is used to remember whether to show the 'tag cloud' as an animation or as a list, and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session | |
| OpenLearn Search | jsessionid:search-ui.olespace#11000 | This cookie tells us which version of search you are using and ensures the relevant results are displayed. The cookie expires when you close your browser. | Strictly Necessary | Session |
| userPreferences | This cookie enables us to remember your search preferences and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session | |
|
OpenLearn LearningSpace LabSpace |
MOODLEID_ol MOODLEID_ | This cookie is used to identify a logged in user. | Strictly Necessary | Persistent |
| MoodleSessionol MoodleSession | This cookie is a 'session cookie' which tells us that you are signed in and actively visiting our site and expires when you close your browser. | Strictly Necessary | Session | |
| MoodleSessionTestol MoodleSessionTest | These cookies are used by the tools embedded in the site such as Compendium, FlashVlog and FlashMeeting | Functionality | Session | |
| Podcast | PHPSESSID | This cookie is a 'session cookie' which tells us that you are actively visiting our site and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session |
| jwplayer.volume | This cookie is a 'session cookie' which remebers your volume settings on our podcast site and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session | |
| jwplayer.mute | This cookie is a 'session cookie' which remembers whether volume is muted on our podcast site and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session | |
| Stadium | PHPSESSID | This cookie is a 'session cookie' which tells us that you are actively visiting our site and expires when you close your browser. | Functionality | Session |
Cookies generated by embedded third party content on our site
| Site | Cookie Name | Nature and Purpose | More information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addthis | Bt di dt loc psc uid uit uvc _atuvc |
Our website contains 'Share' buttons to enable visitors to easily share content via email and social websites. When content is shared, AddThis sets cookies to capture visitors sharing preferences for analytics purposes. website. | AddThis Privacy policy |
| YouTube | HSID PREF SID VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE |
Some of the pages on our website contain videos from our YouTube channel which are embedded on the page. When a page containing a YouTube video is accessed, cookies are set by YouTube. | Google Policies and Principles |
| datr lu |
Our website contains Facebook 'Like' buttons to enable visitors to the site to indicate content they 'Like'. When content is 'Liked', Facebooks sets cookies. Further information can be found on the Facebook website. | Facebook privacy policy | |
| _twitter_sess guest_id k pid |
Cookies are set by Twitter when you load any of our pages that include a list of ‘Latest Tweets’. Further information can be found on the Twitter website. | Twitter privacy policy | |
| Google Map | NNID PREF |
Some of the pages on our website contain maps from Google Maps which are embedded on the page. When a page containing a Google Maps is accessed, cookies are set by Google. | Google Privacy policy |
Cookies we use to track visits to our site
| Site | Cookie Name | Nature and Purpose | Category | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OU (Digital Analytix by comScore) | ns_cookietest | This cookie is used to confirm that your browser is able to accept cookies and expires when you close your browser. | Performance | Session |
| ns_session | This cookie is a 'session cookie' which tells us that you are actively visiting our site and expires when you close your browser. | Performance | Session | |
| c1 | This cookie tracks visits across multiple sites within the OU’s online remit. For example, users moving from the main the site to our OpenLearn site. | Performance | Persistent | |
| s1 | This cookie is used to identify returning visitors to our site without identifying individual visitors. | Performance | Persistent | |
| UID/UIDR | Set on the root of *.scorecardresearch.com. These cookies are used in combination with emmbedded code gather information regarding visitor activity on OU sites. The data gathered is sent to comScore for analysis and reporting. The OU uses this information to help improve the services it provides to its users. | Performance | Persistent | |
| OU (Scorecard Research by comScore) | UID/UIDR | Set on the root of *.scorecardresearch.com. These cookies are used to collect anonymous data on the traffic and engagement for the site to provide a competitive context of their performance versus the market.
Data collected by ScorecardResearch is only used in an aggregated form. For more information about how comScore use this data, please visit the ScorecardResearch Privacy Policy. |
Performance | Persistent |
| OU (Google Analytics) | __utmc | Some sections of our website use Google Analytics. These cookies allow us to understand how often users visit our site, how long they spend there, and the pages they interact with. Google Analytics collects information anonymously. It reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. | Performance | Session |
| __utma __utmb __utmz | Some sections of our website use Google Analytics. These cookies allow us to understand how often users visit our site, how long they spend there, and the pages they interact with. Google Analytics collects information anonymously. It reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. | Performance | Persistent |
Cookies you may see if you browse our site signed in
Please note that if you set your browser to disable cookies, you will not be able to sign in to secure areas of our website. Without these cookies, services you've asked for can't be provided.
| Site | Cookie Name | Nature and Purpose | Category | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OU Log in | SAMS2session SAMSsession |
This cookie is used to identify a logged in user. | Strictly Necessary | Session |
| SAMS001C | This cookie is used to remember the pages prior to logging in so that a user can return to the appropriate page after log in. | Functionality | Temporary | |
| HS7BDF | This cookie is used by the OU header to display the name of a logged in user. | Functionality | Session | |
| SAMSReset SAMSReset3 |
These cookies are used whilst resetting your OU password. They expire after the reset is complete. | Strictly Necessary | Temporary | |
| OUPERSIST | OU Log in persistant cookie | Not used | Persistent | |
| Student Home | IOEMENU | This cookie is used to ensure you are presented with the correct course information in StudentHome | Strictly Necessary | Session |
| ASPSESSIONID* | This cookie is used when editing your profile page in StudentHome | Strictly Necessary | Session | |
| Ceremonies | HTTP_O1GK _CEREMONY_CODE |
This cookie is used to remember the location of a graduation ceremony selected by a user on the ceremonies section of our website. | Functionality | Session |
| OU Virtual Learning Environment | MoodleSessionlearn2 MoodleSessionlearn1 | Strictly Necessary | Session |
Cookies we use for marketing purposes
We use advertising related cookies on our marketing site at www.open.ac.uk/choose/change.
Flashtalking cookies are used to show adverts relevant to a visitors interests and browsing behaviour. They are also used to limit the number of times someone sees an advert, as well as helping to measure the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. They remember that a browser visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Flashtalking does not collect any personally identifiable information about the internet user.
If you would like to learn more about how advertisers use these types of cookies or to choose not to receive them, please visit the your online choices website.