Cookies

"A cookie is a piece of information in the form of a very small text file that is placed on an internet user's hard drive. It is generated by a web page server, which is basically the computer that operates a web site.

The information the cookie contains is set by the server and it can be used by that server whenever the user visits the site. A cookie can be thought of as an internet user's identification card, which tells a web site when the user has returned."

- www.aboutcookies.org

The University of Aberdeen does not use cookies extensively on its servers at present. Such cookies that are used (other than in specific projects as outlined in section 5 of our Privacy Statement) are transient, do not contain any personal information and cannot be used to identify you.

How to Manage Cookies

Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of some of the University of Aberdeen's websites.

Most standard web browsers may be configured to refuse cookies: consult your browser's help pages for instructions on how to do this. You may wish to visit http://www.aboutcookies.org/ which contains comprehensive information on how to manage cookies on a wide variety of browsers.

University of Aberdeen Cookies

Cookies which are set by the University of Aberdeen are strictly necessary for the operation of the web pages on which they are set, and are used solely to optimise the security of your browsing session. They contain no personally-identifiable information.

General Purpose Cookies

The following cookies may be set by certain pages within our websites as necessary, usually when dealing with our web forms. In these cases the use of cookies is necessary to ensure that the flow of data between your browser and our servers is private and secure.

Cookie Identifier Purpose Expires
S followed by 12 random characters PHP session ID
Used to maintain the security of your browsing session		 When you close your browser
abdn_forms SimpleForms
Used to check that cookies are enabled so that the PHP session ID can be used without displaying it in the browser's URL		 1 hour
abdn_session_cookie_check Intranet/standard SimpleCMS login
Used to check that cookies are enabled so that the PHP session ID can be used without displaying it in the browser's URL		 1 hour

Online Store

The following cookies are set set by the third-party company WPM Education for the operation of the University's Online Store.

Cookie Identifier Purpose Expires
ASPSESSIONIDCSBBRDCQ Session ID
Used to maintain the security of your browsing session		 When you close your browser
WPM%5FStore Used to maintain the security of your browsing session Immediately
WPM%5FStore%5FSession Used to maintain the security of your browsing session Immediately

AURA

The following cookie is set when using the University's DSpace installation, the Aberdeen University Research Archive (AURA).

Cookie Identifier Purpose Expires
JSESSIONID Session ID
Used to maintain the security of your browsing session		 When you close your browser

MyAberdeen

The following cookies are set when using MyAberdeen.

Cookie Identifier Purpose Expires
JSESSIONID Session ID
Used to maintain the security of your browsing session		 When you close your browser
cookies_enabled Used to store cookie setting When you close your browser
NSC_301884.qspe1_wjq1.hspvq Used to maintain the security of your browsing session When you close your browser
s_session_id Used to maintain the security of your browsing session When you close your browser
session_id Used to maintain the security of your browsing session When you close your browser

Additionally, MyAberdeen may occasionally display reminders related to your course in popup windows, and uses a cookie to determine whether you have already seen a given reminder. An example would be the scefpopup cookie. All such cookies expire when you close your browser.

Other Cookies

The University of Aberdeen relies on statistics generated by your visits to our webpages to plan further improvements to our websites. The cookies which are set in order to enable us to collate these statistics are not strictly necessary for the operation of our websites. Links are provided below which will enable you to opt out of receiving these cookies if you wish.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to generate reports on the number of visits to pages on our websites. The resulting statistics help us to plan improvements to our websites.

Cookie Identifier Description Expires
__utma
__utmb
__utmc
__utmz		 Random number
Random number
Random number
Random number		 2 years
Immediately
When you close your browser
6 months

AddThis

We use a small "widget" provided by AddThis to make it easier for our users to share content they find on our websites. AddThis also provides us with reports which help us identify the content which has generated the most interest, enabling us to further improve our websites.

Cookie Identifier Description Expires
__atuvc
uid
uvc		 Page URL and share count
User ID
Login time		 2 years
2 years
2 years