Accessibility statement

The Academy of Finland seeks to ensure the accessibility of its services in accordance with the Finnish Act on the Provision of Digital Services.

This accessibility statement applies to the aka.fi website.

The website also includes the online services (SARA). The accessibility statement for the online services is available on the login page.

Accessibility status

The aka.fi website partly meets the AA-level requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Non-compliance with the requirements and exceptions to the requirements are listed below.

Non-accessible content

The current aka.fi website was launched in October 2020. The accessibility of the website will be assessed by an outside party in autumn 2023. The shortcomings and issues identified in the assessment will be resolved in late 2023.

The following content is not accessible under the Finnish Act on the Provision of Digital Services.

The following shortcomings were detected on the website in a previous assessment (requirement in parentheses):

  • There are shortcomings in the logical use of heading levels. (1.3.1)
  • When using a screen reader on a mobile device, some content in the menu cannot be opened. (2.1.1)
  • There are shortcomings in how links are presented (2.4.4, 3.2.4).
    • The titles of the links and the pages they open do not always match clearly.
    • Differently named links can take the user to the same page.
    • Some of the links that open files are missing the file type.
    • External links are not clearly marked.
  • It is not clear from the accordion menus what they are. (4.1.2, 4.1.3)
  • The page ‘Funding decisions’ contains an embed with multiple problems for people using a screen reader. (1.3.1, 2.4.3, 2.4.4)
    • Screen reader users are not informed that the links open the table further down on the page, and users are not taken to the beginning of the table.
    • The function of the table that is opened is unclear.
    • The table contains “subtables”, whose first row or column is not defined as a table header.
  • The Twitter embeds on the front page are missing text equivalents and language definitions. (1.1.1, 2.4.4, 3.1.2)
  • The funding decision search form has several accessibility problems for those who use screen readers. For example, some elements lack labels, the selection of organisation does not work in a comprehensible way, and in the event of an error, the user is not provided with clear instructions on what has happened and how the error situation should be corrected. (1.3.1, 1.3.5, 3.3.2)
  • Some English-language texts lack language definitions. (3.1.2)

The site contains a significant number of PDF files. Some of these files contain accessibility issues. The accessibility of the PDF files has already been improved, and work to convert them into an accessible format will continue. In particular, PDF files originally designed as printed brochures may have problems that interfere with screen readers, such as incomplete titles and wrong reading order. The site may also contain other file formats, such as Word and Excel files, which may have accessibility issues.

The site also contains PDF documents published before 23 September 2018 that are not fully accessible. By law, these documents, published before 23 September 2018, need not be made accessible retroactively.

If the material you need is not accessible, please email us at kirjaamo@aka.fi. We will deliver the material in an accessible format.

About this accessibility statement

This accessibility statement was prepared on 4 October 2020.

The statement is based on a third-party assessment on whether the website meets the requirements of the Finnish Act on the Provision of Digital Services.

The statement was last checked on 25 May 2023.

Feedback and contact information

Have you noticed any accessibility concerns on our website? You can email us at kirjaamo@aka.fi use our feedback form to let us know and give comments. Please note that it may take up to 14 days for a reply to be forwarded to you.

The Academy of Finland is responsible for the accessibility of the website and for the processing of feedback.

The supervisory authority is the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland, which oversees the fulfilment of accessibility requirements.

Notification process

If you notice any accessibility issues on the site, first send feedback to the site administrator. Please note that it may take up to 14 days for a reply to be forwarded to you. If you are not satisfied with the reply, or if you do not receive any response within two weeks, notify the Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland. Detailed information on how to proceed and how the matter will be handled is available on the Agency’s website.

Supervisory authority

Regional State Administrative Agency for Southern Finland
Supervisory unit for accessibility
saavutettavuusvaatimukset.fi (accessibility requirements web service, available in Finnish and Swedish)
saavutettavuus(at)avi.fi
Tel. (switchboard) +358 295 016 000

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