Cookie Policy

1. Purpose and scope

This policy explains how LIBT uses cookies and similar technologies on www.libt.co.uk, and how a visitor can control them. It applies across the whole website, not only Academic programme pages, since a visitor may not yet be a student when a cookie is set.

LIBT's legal obligation is under the Isle of Man's Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data Protection (Application of UK GDPR) Order 2020. In addition, and consistent with the approach set out in the Data Protection Policy and the Quality Framework Statement, LIBT voluntarily benchmarks this policy against the UK's Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and EU GDPR as further good-practice standards, even where they are not the legal minimum. Where one of these standards sets a higher bar than another on a specific point, this policy applies the higher standard.

This policy sits alongside the Privacy Policy, which is the plain-language summary of how LIBT handles personal data collected through this website generally, and the Data Protection Policy, which governs personal data in full legal detail. Where a cookie collects personal data, all three apply; this policy does not repeat the Data Protection Policy's data subject rights, retention, or breach-reporting provisions, or the Privacy Policy's wider summary of what data is collected and why.

2. What a cookie is

A cookie is a small text file placed on a visitor's device when they visit a website. It lets the site remember information about the visit, such as login state, preferences, or how the visitor used the site. This policy also covers similar technologies that work the same way, including tracking pixels, tags, and local storage.

3. Categories of cookies LIBT uses

Every cookie on www.libt.co.uk falls into one of the following categories.

3.1 Strictly necessary

These cookies are required for the website and its core services to work, and are set regardless of consent, consistent with PECR's exemption for cookies strictly necessary to provide a service the visitor has requested. They include:

• session and login cookies for Canvas, LIBT's current Learning Management System, so an enrolled student stays signed in;
• payment processing cookies set by Stripe, LIBT's payment processor, during checkout, for security and fraud prevention;
• the cookie consent tool's own cookie, which remembers a visitor's cookie preferences so they are not asked again on every visit.

3.2 Functional

These cookies enable a feature a visitor chooses to use, and are set only with consent. They include:

• Hubspot chat, the website's chat widget, which remembers an open conversation and lets a visitor pick it up without starting again.

3.3 Analytics and performance

These cookies help LIBT understand how visitors use the website, so it can improve it, and are set only with consent. They include:

• Google Analytics, which reports on visitor numbers, pages viewed, and how visitors navigate the site;
• Hotjar, which records aggregated visitor behaviour (for example scrolling and clicks) to help identify usability issues.

3.4 Marketing and advertising

These cookies track a visitor across LIBT's website and other sites, to measure and target advertising, and are set only with consent. They include:

• the Meta (Facebook) Pixel;
• the LinkedIn Insight Tag;
• HubSpot's marketing and lead-tracking cookies.

3.5 Third-party content

An embedded YouTube video can set its own cookies once played, for its own analytics and advertising purposes, controlled by Google, not LIBT. A YouTube embed is not loaded, and no such cookie is set, until the visitor gives consent under section 4 or actively chooses to play the video.

4. Consent

On first visit, a visitor is shown a consent banner where they can accept all cookies, reject every cookie beyond the strictly necessary category, or manage their preference by category (sections 3.2 to 3.5). No cookie outside the strictly necessary category (section 3.1) is set before the visitor makes this choice. A visitor can change their preference at any time through the same preference centre, available from the website footer, or by clearing cookies in their browser and revisiting the site.

Declining a category does not affect access to the website. It may affect a specific feature: for example, declining functional cookies means the chat widget cannot remember a conversation between visits, and declining strictly necessary cookies (through a browser's own settings, since the consent banner does not offer this) will prevent a student logging into Canvas or completing a payment through Stripe.

5. How long a cookie lasts

A cookie is either a session cookie, deleted automatically when the browser is closed, or a persistent cookie, which remains until it expires or is deleted. Each third-party provider named in section 3 sets its own cookies' duration, typically ranging from a single browsing session to around two years, and may change this at any time. That provider's own cookie or privacy policy is the authoritative source for its current cookies and their duration, not this policy.

6. Managing cookies through a browser

Beyond the consent tool in section 4, a visitor can block or delete cookies at any time through their browser's own settings. Doing so applies to every website the visitor uses, not only LIBT's, and may stop a website feature working as intended. Browser settings do not withdraw consent already recorded with LIBT's consent tool; use the preference centre in section 4 for that.

7. Contact

A question about this policy, or about a specific cookie, is directed in writing to the Academic Registry, consistent with the Data Protection Policy and the Privacy Policy.

8. Review

This policy is reviewed annually by the Board of Directors, and immediately if LIBT adds, removes, or changes a cookie or tracking technology named in section 3. Any change must be checked against the Cross-Reference Map, in particular against the Data Protection Policy, the Privacy Policy, and the Quality Framework Statement.

Company information: London Institute of Business & Technology Limited (LIBT) Hillary House, Prospect Hill, Douglas, IM1 1EQ, Isle of Man, British Isles.