Cookies

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information. They are downloaded to your computer or device when you visit a website. They don’t tell us who you are, but they do enable us to recognise your device and remember the previous actions you have made, to enable us to better your experience when visiting our website.

What cookies do we use?

The cookies used on Ayrshire College’s website have been categorised based on the categories found in the ICC UK Cookie guide. Here are the main types of cookies we use and why we use them:

Google Analytics

Cookie	Description	Category	Type
_gid	This cookie is part of Google Analytics and is primarily used to distinguish users on the website. This is a third-party cookie with an expiration time of 24 hours.	Persistent	Performance
_ga	This cookie is part of Google Analytics and is used to report the traffic that comes to the website, information on the source of where users come from or what campaign to explain how a user reaches the website. This is a third-party cookie with an expiration time of 2 years.	Session	Performance
_gat	This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.	Session	Performance
_gat_UA-42731211-2	This is a pattern type cookie set by Google Analytics, where the pattern element on the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.	Session	Performance

ARRAffinity cookies

Cookie	Description	Category	Type
ARRAffinity	This cookie is present in our contact/client portal and is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. Cookie expires after the user's session has ended.	Session	Performance

Social Sharing Cookies

Cookie	Description	Category	Type
_atuvc	These cookies allow for sharing of a page on multiple social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and show content from those social media sites which we use to enhance the performance and experience of our website for our users. These social platforms all have their own cookies which are controlled by them and do not allow us access to your accounts or provide us with any confidential information relating to any of your accounts.	Persistent	Performance
_atuvs	These cookies allow for sharing of a page on multiple social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn), and show content from those social media sites which we use to enhance the performance and experience of our website for our users. These social platforms all have their own cookies which are controlled by them and do not allow us access to your accounts or provide us with any confidential information relating to any of your accounts.	Persistent	Performance

Chatroom Cookies

Cookie	Description	Category	Type
ayrshirecollege-_zldp	This cookie is used for our chat room functionality and for identifying when logged in customers are on the website.	2 years	HTTP
ayrshirecollege-_zldt	This cookie is used for our chat room functionality and for identifying when logged in customers are on the website.	1 day	HTTP

What are Performance Cookies?

These cookies collect information about how you use our websites. For instance, they tell us which pages you visit most often, and if you receive any error messages from our web pages. These cookies do not identify you. All information they collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. We use these cookies to measure and analyse how our customers use our websites and to improve their functionality and user experience.

Changes to our Cookie Policy

We may change this Cookie Policy from time to time. If we make changes, we will notify you by revising the date at the top of this policy and in some cases by adding notices on our homepage or sending you email updates (where data protection laws allow this).

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our Cookie Policy, you can contact us at: marketing@ayrshire.ac.uk