Cookies | British Council Poland

Last updated 20 June 2019

Our website uses cookies to differentiate between distinct users who access it. A cookie is a small alpha-numeric archive which is stored on the hard drive or in the browser of a computer, tablet, smartphone or similar device when it browses the internet. Cookies allow us to offer relevant information on our products and services and to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website.

The majority of the cookies we use are of the analytic type, which count number of users, help us to understand how they navigate our site and improve the way it works, for instance by making search results more accurate. We also use certain cookies for publicity purposes, so that we can more efficiently manage the presentation of our products on other platforms where users may request services, such as Facebook.

None of our cookies store any personal information such as your name or address. Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of the British Council website(s).

WHAT KIND OF COOKIES DO WE USE?

According to the type of organisation which administers them:

First party cookies: reside on British Council domains.
Third party cookies: installed by websites which don’t belong to us and do not reside on British Council domains. For instance, where we include content from Youtube or Flickr on our own website or buttons which users can use to share content on social networks, a user accessing such content from our own website may have cookies added from these third parties. The British Council doesn’t control these third party cookies and so the user must review the cookie policies of these other websites for further information.

According to the length of time they remain active in the user’s system:

Session cookies: collect and store data only whilst the user is visiting the website.
Persistent cookies: remain stored in a computer and may be accessed and managed by the organisation responsible for the cookie for a specific length of time, or until the user deletes it.

According to the purpose for which data are collected through the cookies:

Technical cookies: allow the user to make use of the different options they facilitate: for example controlling data traffic and communication, identifying a session, accessing restricted areas, carrying out a purchase, requesting a subscription or participating in an event etc.
Personalisation cookies: allow the user to access services with certain personalised characteristics such as language, browser type, configuration for the region from which the user accesses services etc.
Analytical cookies: allow website managers to follow and analyse the behaviour of users on a website so that they can make improvements informed by data analysis on the use of the website by users of its services.
Advertising cookies: help with the management of advertising spaces which a web editor has included on a website where services are offered, based on criteria such as the type of content or the frequency with which the content is shown.

In the table below we detail the type of cookies that we use on our website along with their purpose:

First party cookies
Cookies placed on a British Council domain.

Source of Cookie [name of cookie]	Purpose
Akamai [akamai_geo]	A first party cookie used to determine the country in which the site is being accessed in order to serve content specific to the country. The cookie expires after the session ends.
Akamai AKA_A2	A first party cookie used to manage the Advanced Acceleration feature, which enables DNS Prefetch and HTTP2 Push to improve performance. The cookie expires after an hour.
British Council www-britishcouncil-....-eu-cookie	A first party British Council cookie set by this site to record that a notice has been shown to site users stating the British Council's cookie policy. The cookie expires after 3 months.
British Council Level Test [QUIZ_LES_RESULT]	A first party British Council cookie used by a British Council level test to store the score of an English test as part of a course selection process. The cookie expires after 3 weeks.
British Council [SESS#####]	A first party British Council cookie used by the British Council's ecommerce platform to enable the sales journey for the user when undertaken. It expires after the visit session ends.
British COuncil Libraies [CGISESSID, cookie_from , LTAnonSessionID ]	First party cookies. Used to manage teh deliver our Library services. The cookies expiration date varies, some expire after the session ends, others after two years.
British Council [has_js]	A first party cookie used by the site to detect whether javascript is enabled in order to provide a richer user experience using AJAX. The cookie expires after the session ends.
Facebook _fbp	First party cookie set by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products. The cookie expires after three months.
Google Adsense _gcl_au	First party Cookie used by Google AdSense for advertisement across websites using their services.
Google Analytics [ _ga, _gid, _dc_gtm_UA.... _gat_ua...]	First party cookies. We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. that we use on some of our websites to count visitors to our websites and analyse their usage of the site to help us determine the value of our content to our users. The cookies expiration date varies, some expire after the session ends, others after two years.
KissInsights [ki_r, ki_t]	First party cookies set by KissInsights on some of our websites to enable our users to optionally partake in surveys on the site. The cookies expire after five years.
LiveAgent [ Liveliveagent_oref, liveagent_ptid, liveagent_sid, liveagent_vc ]	First party Cookie used by LiveAgent, which provides online chat and customer support functionality.
Optimizely [OptimizelyBuckets, OptimizelyEndUserId, OptimizelySegments, optimizelyPendingLogEvents]	First party cookies set by Optimizely on some of our websites to enable the British Council to display alternate content or presentations to users based on device type, previous interactions or randomly. This is used to test new designs and approaches to improve the experience for our users. The cookies expire after ten years.

Third party cookies
Cookies placed on a 3rd party domain.

Source of Cookie [name of cookie]	Purpose
Atlas Solutions [ AA0.., ATN ]	Third party cookies set by Atlas Solutions and used on some of our websites to manage offsite advertising. The cookies expire after two years.
Bing [ MUIDB, MUID ]	Third party cookies set by Bing to identify and measure how the end user uses the website and any advertising that the end user may have seen before visiting this site. The cookie expires after one year.
Bookeo [ AXIOMID, AXIOMID2, _ga, _gat, _gid ]	Third party cookies set by Bookeo to enable and measure bookings on some of our websites. The cookies expiration date varies, some expire after the session ends, others after one or two years.
Disqus [_utmt, _insp_wid, _utmb, _utma, _utmc, _insp_norec_howoften, _utmz, _insp_norec_sess, _insp_nv, _sm_au_c, _insp_ref, csrftoken, disqus_unique, _insp_slim, _insp_targlpt, _insp_targlpu, mp_ ... _mixpanel]	Third party cookies set by Disqus on some of our websites to enable our users to publically comment on articles and content on British Council sites. The cookies expiration date varies, some expire after the session ends, others after one or two years.
Double Click [DSID, id, IDE, _sm_au_c test_cookie ]	Third party cookies set by Double Click and used on some of our websites to ensure that browsers are not served the same advert multiple times. They do not capture any personal information. The cookies expire after two years.
Facebook [datr, fr, None ]	Third party cookies set by Facebook. The cookies expire after 3 months.
Facebook Pixels	Third party pixels help us to reach our existing audience on Facebook and supply them with relevant content. These are maintained for between 30 and 180 days.
LinkedIn [ lang, lidc, bcookie, bscookie, BizoID, UserMatchHistory ]	Third party cookies for sharing the content of the website via LinkedIn. The cookies expire after 2 years.
Mixcloud [ __cfduid, csrftoken, mx_t ]	Third party cookies to enable the embedding of Mixcould audio player. Expires after year.
Scorecard Research [UID, UIDR, sc_anonymous_id ]	Third party cookies to measure the number and behavior of website visitors. The cookies expire after 2 years.
Soundcloud sc_anonymous_id	Third party cookie to enable the embedding of Soundcloud video player. Expires after up to 10 years.
You Tube [Visitor_Info_1_live, APISID, CONSENT, HSID, LOGIN_INFO, PREF, SAPISID, SID, SSID, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, YSC, GPS]	Third party cookies. Cookies are used by a third party, YouTube, to enable our users view Video on the website. The cookies expiration date varies, some expire after the session ends, others after twenty years.
Verse [ verse_player_viewer_id verse_player_viewer_session_id ]	Third party cookie to enable the embedding of Verse video player. Expires after 1 year.
Vidler JSESSIONID	Third party cookie to enable the embedding of Vidler video player. Expires after the session.
Vimeo vuid	Third party cookie to enable the embedding of Vimeo video player. Expires after 2 years.
Wufoo [ endpage, ep201, ep202 ]	Third party cookie to enable the embedding Wufoo online forms. Cookies expire after up to one year.
X-Salesforce-CHAT	Third party cookie to manage our customer service live chat feature.

Turning off Cookies

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. Below are links to the 'Help' pages of major browsers which explain how you can do this. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site or any other websites that you visit.

You can opt out of Facebook Pixel cookies by visiting the Adverts tab in your Facebook profile settings. You can also sign out of Optimizely variant testing by following these instructions.

Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after a period of time.