What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files placed on your device when you visit a website. They help websites remember your preferences, keep you logged in, and understand how you use the site.
Similar technologies include local storage, session storage, and pixels. This policy covers all these technologies.
Your Choices
At skillSYMS, we believe in giving you control over your data. When you first visit our platform, you'll see a cookie banner with the following options:
- Accept all — Enable all cookie categories
- Reject non-essential — Only allow strictly necessary cookies
- Manage preferences — Choose exactly which categories to allow
You can change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our website footer, or by using the button below:
Cookie Categories
We organise cookies into four categories. Our default settings are conservative — only strictly necessary cookies are enabled by default. This approach is designed to protect your privacy while meeting the requirements of POPIA (South Africa) and GDPR (EU).
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are essential for skillSYMS to function. They cannot be disabled as they are required for security, authentication, and basic platform operations.
| Cookie | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
__session | Maintains your login session | Session / 7 days |
__csrf | Protects against cross-site request forgery attacks | Session |
skillsyms_cookie_consent | Stores your cookie preferences | 1 year |
cf_clearance | Cloudflare security verification | 30 minutes |
__cf_bm | Cloudflare bot management | 30 minutes |
Functional Cookies
Optional — Default OFF
These cookies improve your experience by remembering your preferences. They are not essential but make the platform more convenient to use.
- Remembering your preferred language
- Remembering your theme preference (light/dark)
- Remembering your last selected campus or provider
- Storing form data temporarily for convenience
Currently, skillSYMS does not actively use functional cookies. This category is available for future features.
Analytics Cookies
Optional — Default OFF
These cookies help us understand how the platform is used so we can improve it. We use privacy-focused analytics that:
- Do not track individuals across websites
- Do not collect personal information
- Provide only aggregate, anonymised data
- Are GDPR and POPIA compliant
When enabled, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics which is designed to be privacy-preserving and does not require cookies.
Marketing Cookies
Optional — Default OFF
Marketing cookies are used for advertising and retargeting purposes.
skillSYMS does not currently use marketing cookies. We do not use advertising pixels, retargeting, or sell your data to advertisers. This category is included for transparency and in case we add such features in the future (with your explicit consent).
Third-Party Services
Some third-party services we use may set their own cookies. We minimise third-party cookies and only use services that respect privacy:
| Service | Purpose | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare Turnstile | Bot protection on forms (privacy-preserving CAPTCHA alternative) | Cloudflare Privacy |
| Google Fonts | Font delivery | Google Privacy |
Managing Cookies
Using Our Preferences Panel
The easiest way to manage cookies on skillSYMS is through our panel. Your choices are saved and respected across all skillSYMS pages.
Browser Settings
You can also manage cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:
- View cookies stored on your device
- Delete all or specific cookies
- Block cookies from certain websites
- Block all third-party cookies
Note that blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent skillSYMS from functioning properly.
Browser-Specific Instructions
Do Not Track
skillSYMS respects the Do Not Track (DNT) browser setting. When DNT is enabled, we do not engage in any tracking beyond essential functionality.
Since we use conservative defaults (analytics and marketing OFF), your experience is privacy-focused whether DNT is enabled or not.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. If we make significant changes to how we use cookies, we may ask for your consent again.
Contact Us
If you have questions about our use of cookies or this policy, contact us:
eduSYMS (Pty) Ltd
1 Amarand Avenue, Waterkloof Glen
Pretoria 0081, South Africa
[email protected]
+27 12 881 7331