Cookie Policy - Sheffield Students' Union

What are cookies, and how do we use them?

Cookies are small text files that are sent to and stored on your web browser, smartphone or other device to allow you to store specific information that can be used to improve the user experience on a website.

They can remember your preferences by gathering and storing information. Further information about cookies (including how to disable them) can be found on allaboutcookies.org

What cookies do we use?

You will encounter the following cookies:

First party cookies
First party cookies are set by the website you are visiting, and they can only be read by that site.
Third party cookies
Third party cookies are set by a different organisation to the owner of the website you are visiting. For example, the website might use a third-party analytics company who will set their own cookie to perform this service. The website you are visiting may also contain content embedded from, for example YouTube or Flickr, and these sites may set their own cookies.
Session cookies
Session Cookies are stored only temporarily during a browsing session and are deleted from the user’s device when the browser is closed. We use these to allow you to login to the website.
Persistent cookies
This type of cookie is saved on your computer for a fixed period (usually a year or longer) and is not deleted when the browser is closed. Persistent cookies are used where we need to know who you are for more than one browsing session. For example, we use this type of cookie to store your preferences, so that they are remembered for the next visit.

Name	Description	Type
__cfduid	This cookie is set by one of our external service providers, CloudFlare in order to identify suspicious network traffic.	Third Party Cookie
_last_visit	This cookie stores the last visit date to the website.	Session Cookie
_last_activity	This cookie stores the last time users are active on the website.	Session Cookie
_tracker	This cookie stores the previously accessed page link.	Session Cookie
PHPSESSID	This cookie stores a randomised identifier that allows you to sign into the website.	Session Cookie
_sessionid	This cookie stores a randomised identifier that allows you to sign into the website.	Session Cookie
SUAuthToken	This cookie is part of the mechanism used to sign into the University system.	Session Cookie

Sheffield Students' Union uses Google Analytics to collect information about how you use our websites. This information is used to make sure our services meet the needs of our users.

We do not collect or store any of your personal information, so this information can’t be used to identify who you are.

The following cookies are used:

Name	Description	Type
_ga	This cookie allows us to determine if you’ve visited the website before.	Third Party Cookie
_gid	This cookie allows us to determine if you’ve visited the website before.	Third Party Cookie
_gat	This cookie allows us to monitor site load times and performance.	Third Party Cookie