Cookies Policy

1. How We Use Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

2. What are Cookies?

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.

3. How do We Use Cookies?

We use the following type of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies:

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. These essential cookies are always enabled because our website won’t work properly without them. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services. You can switch off these cookies in your browser settings but you may then not be able to access all or parts of our website. More information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them can be found below.

Domain	Cookie	Purpose of Cookie	Max Age/Expiry
TopUniversity	STYXKEY-loggedout	TopUniversity uses this cookie to log out the user	24 hours
	STYXKEY_first_visit	TopUniversity uses this cookie to see if it is the first visit from the user on the site. If the User appears to originate from China then Topuniversity redirects them to it’s website hosted in China: qschina.cn.	1 Year
	STYXKEY-social_login_go	Topuniversity uses this cookie to identify the user logged in via Google	1 Year
	STYXKEY-slogin_go_updated	Topuniversity uses this cookie to update the email ID for users logged in via Google	1 Year
	STYXKEY-user_survey_submitted	TopUniversity uses this cookie to understand if the user has completed our 'Help us to know you better' survey prompted when they visit the site.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-user_survey	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the user's choice in the 'Help us to know you better' survey, once they have submitted it.	6 Months
	STYXKEY-user_survey_other	TopUniversity uses this cookie to further understand the user's choice in the 'Help us to know you better' survey,if their role selection is 'Other'	6 Months
	STYXKEY-flexregStep2Content	TopUniversity uses this cookie to prompt the user towards the post-signup content, if they've successfully registered on our site.	Session
	STYXKEY-flexregStep2	TopUniversity uses this cookie to redirect the user to the step2 of our Signup process.	N/A
	STYXKEY-qs_new_user	TopUniversity uses this cookie to understand if the user has newly registered, inorder to track usage analytics via datalayers.	1 Hour
	STYXKEY-formtrigger	TopUniversity uses this cookie to direct the user towards the login/signup popup forms, as per the appropriate call-to-action.	N/A
	STYXKEY-user-global-reg	TopUniversity uses this cookie to direct the user towards the login/signup popup forms, as per the appropriate call-to-action.	N/A
	STYXKEY-step2universityorprogram	TopUniversity uses this cookie to direct the user towards the Step-2 popup of our registration process, as per the appropriate call-to-action on University Profiles/Program pages.	N/A
	STYXKEY-step2nid	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University content (NodeID) as per the appropriate call-to-action which prompts the user to the Step-2 popup of our registration process.	N/A
	STYXKEY-show-guides-pop	TopUniversity uses this cookie to decide whether or not to display the study guide popup page. If the user has successfully registered, the popup page is displayed as per the appropriate call-to-action	1 Hour
	STYXKEY_comparidsPrograms	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University program IDs selected by a user for comparison.	Session
	STYXKEY_comparidsUniversity	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University Profile IDs selected by a user for comparison.	30 days
	STYXKEY-valuenid	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University content (NodeID) which prompts the user to the Step 2 of our registration process.	Session
	STYXKEY-valuekey	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University content (NodeID) which prompts the user to the Step 2 of our registration process.	Session
	STYXKEY-valuestudy	Topuniversity uses this cookie to retain the study destinations selected by the user. The same is pre-selected on our step-2 signup forms.	Session
	STYXKEY-download_id	Topuniversity uses this cookie to retain the study guide ID downloaded by the user.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-can_download_file	TopUniveristy uses this cookie to retain the nodeid of the downloaded study guide	24 hours
	STYXKEY-save_article_nid	Topuniversity uses this cookie to retain the article node ID, when an unauthenticated, or anonymous user saves an article on the site- to continue showing their own saved content.	24 hours
	STYXKEY_shortlistedschools	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University Profiles shortlisted by the user, inorder to display a shortlist summary on the Matching tool.	Session
	STYXKEY_shortlisteprograms	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University Programs shortlisted by the user, inorder to display a shortlist summary on the Matching tool.	Session
	STYXKEY-short_univ	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University Profile ID shortlisted by a user in the database.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-short_prog	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University Program ID shortlisted by a user in the database.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-openContentModals	TopUniversity uses this cookie to decide whether or not to display the Shortlist/Compare Summary in the bottom tray (GSACK tray) of the Matching tool	24 hours
	STYXKEY-openContentModals-window	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the Shortlist/Compare page URL on the Matching tool. The users selection or deselection of Profiles/Programs	24 hours
	STYXKEY_universitynamein	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University name which is searched by the user on our Global search, or Directory pages.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-prog_url	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University program URL based on the 'Apply' Call to Action.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-gotourl	TopUniversity uses this cookie to store the user's opt-ins or password settings. The option to change password or their existing opt-in, is recommended based on this cookie. We save no personal information as part of this.	Session
	STYXKEY-fragment_hash	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the category names which a user edits on their site dashboard (MyAccount page).	Session
	STYXKEY_pmtv2_data_	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the academic and study preferences set by the user on the Matching Tool.	Session
	STYXKEY__last_search_data_	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the most recent study and academic preferences set by the user on the Matching Tool.	Session
	STYXKEY_edit_cmt_result	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the changes made by the user to the study and academic preferences in the Matching tool.	Session
	STYXKEY-atsPopF1	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the University Profile/Programs shortlisted by the user	24 hours
	STYXKEY-CMTFBSign_InAttemptTag	TopUniversity uses this cookie to tag the sign-in attempt on the Matching tool page via Facebook socials.	N/A
	STYXKEY-MainFBSign_InAttemptTag	TopUniversity uses this cookie to tag the general sign-in attempt via Facebook socials.	N/A
	STYXKEY-CMTGoogleSign_InAttemptTag	TopUniversity uses this cookie to tag the sign-in attempt on the Matching tool page via Google socials.	N/A
	STYXKEY-MainGoogleSign_InAttemptTag	TopUniversity uses this cookie to tag the general sign-in attempt via Google socials.	N/A
	STYXKEY-v2drupalsignin	TopUniversity uses this cookie to confirm the completion of authentication before the same is included in the datalayers employed in analytics.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-v2googlesign	TopUniversity uses this cookie to confirm the completion of authentication before the same is included in the datalayers employed in analytics.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-v2facebooksign	TopUniversity uses this cookie to confirm the completion of authentication before the same is included in the datalayers employed in analytics.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-lgdata_match	TopUniversity uses this cookie to retain the study level set by the user on the Matching Tool.	Session
	STYXKEY-step-two-submitted	TopUniversity uses this cookie to indicate a fully registered user, who has also completed Step 2 of the registration process	24 hours
	STYXKEY_comparedschools	TopUniversity uses this cookie to remember the Universities currently being compared by the active visitor.	Session
	STYXKEY-KnowmoreDirectLoggedin	TopUniversity uses this cookie to understand if the user is an existing user or a new registration, after appropriate call-to-action 'Know More' on University Profile/Programs	24 hours
	STYXKEY-v2facebooksignup	Topuniversity uses this cookie to recognize if a user attempts to signup via Facebook socials	24 hours
	STYXKEY-v2googlesignup	Topuniversity uses this cookie to recognize if a user attempts to signup via Google socials	24 hours
	QS_REACT_FILTER_SAVE	Topuniversity uses this cookie to capture the academic and study preferences set by a visitor on the Matching tool.	Session
	STYXKEY-getInTouchDirectLoggedin	Topuniversity uses this cookie to understand if a user signs-in directly after encountering the Get In Touch Call to action on a University Profile.	24 hours
	STYXKEY-show-step2	TopUniversity uses this cookie to direct the user onto the Step2 of our registration process, via the appropriate Call-to-Actions in the Matching Tool.	24 hours
Cloudflare Cloudflare uses various cookies to maximize network resources, manage traffic, and protect our customers’ sites from malicious traffic. To know more, visit: https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/reference/policies-compl…	cf_clearance	Cloudflare uses this Clearance Cookie to store the proof of challenge passed. It is used to no longer issue a challenge if present. It is required to reach an origin server	30 Minutes
EU Cookie Compliance	cookie-agreed-version	Drupal uses this cookie to maintain the current version of the EU GDPR cookie compliance module active on it's configuration.	6 months
	cookie-agreed	Drupal uses this cookie to capture the cookie consent agreed, or disagreed by the user in the EU GDPR cookie compliance module.	6 months
	cookie-agreed-categories	Drupal uses this cookie to manage the category of cookies that the user has consented to. The categories and additional details regarding the same can be seen on the cookie settings.	6 months

Functionality cookies:

These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors, see how you move around the site and when you return to our website. This enables us improve the way our website works and to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). More information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them can be found below.

Domain	Cookie	Purpose of Cookie	Max Age/Expiry
Google: When users visits Topuniversity using any of the Google products including AdSense, Google Ads, Google Analytics, and a range of products within the Google Marketing Platform, cookies may be sent to their browser. To know more, visit: https://business.safety.google/adscookies/ https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=en-US	_ga OR _ga_{client_id}	Google Analytics uses this cookie to distinguish unique visitors on the site	2 Years
	__Secure-1PSID	Google uses this cookie for targeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests in order to show relevant and personalised Google advertising.	2 Years
	SID	Google uses this cookie to store digitally signed and encrypted the records of a user’s Google Account ID and most recent sign-in time.	1 Year
	__Secure-3PAPISID	Google uses this cookie for targeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests in order to show relevant and personalised Google advertising.	2 Years
	SSID	Google uses this cookie to store digitally signed and encrypted the records of a user’s Google Account ID and most recent sign-in time.	1 Year
	__Secure-3PSIDCC	Google uses this cookie for targeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests in order to show relevant and personalised Google advertising.	2 Years
	APISID	Google uses this cookie to display personalised advertisements on Google sites, based on recent searches and previous interactions.	1 Year
	__Secure-1PSIDCC	Google uses this cookie for argeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests in order to show relevant & personalised Google advertising.	2 Years
	SIDCC	Google uses this cookie to provide the identification of trusted web traffic.	1 Year
	__Secure-1PAPISID	Google uses this cookie for targeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests in order to show relevant & personalised Google advertising.	2 Years
	SAPISID	Google uses this cookie to display personalised advertisements on Google sites, based on recent searches and previous interactions.	1 Year
	APISID	Google uses this cookie to display personalised advertisements on Google sites, based on recent searches and previous interactions.	1 Year
	HSID	Google uses this cookie to store digitally signed and encrypted the records of a user’s Google Account ID and most recent sign-in time.	1 Year
	__Secure-3PSID	Google uses this cookie for targeting purposes to build a profile of the website visitor's interests in order to show relevant & personalised Google advertising.	2 Years
	ar_debug	Google uses this cookie to store and track conversions. It is used for both source and trigger registrations to receive verbose debug reports on trigger registrations.	2 minutes, extended every 30 seconds.
	AEC	Google uses this cookie to ensure that the requests within a browsing session are made by the user, and not by other sites.	6 Months
HotJar: HotJar sets cookies to track usage analytics. To know more, visit: https://help.hotjar.com/hc/en-us/articles/6952777582999-Cookies-Set-by-…	_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress	Hotjar uses this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user	30 Minutes
	_hjFirstSeen	Hotjar uses this cookie to Identify a new user’s first session	30 Minutes
	_hjIncludedInSessionSample_{site_id}	Hotjar uses this cookie to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.	2 minutes, extended every 30 seconds.
	_hjSession_{site_id}	Hotjar uses this cookie to hold the visitor's session data.	30 Minutes
	_hjSessionUser_{site_id}	Hotjar uses this cookie to ensure that the userID is persisted to the unique site ID. Data from subsequent visits to the same site are attributed to the same (unique) user ID	1 Year
Omniconvert Omniconvert enables cookies on a user's browser to track usage analysis, or to run custom experiments which enhances the user's experience To know more, visit: https://www.omniconvert.com/help/kba/omniconvert-cookies/	mktz_ab	Omniconvert uses this cookie to bucket the visitor who fits our predefined conditions into an A/B Experiment, to enhance the user experience.	1 Year
	mktz_sess	Omniconvert uses this cookie to tag the visitor who goes to a page on TopUniversity with the Omniconvert tracking code	1 Year
	_mktz_enabled	Omniconvert uses this cookie to indicate the site pages that a visitor frequents on TopUniversity, carrying the Omniconvert tracking code	1 Year
	mktz_interaction	Omniconvert uses this cookie to indicate the completion of a visitor's interaction with a lead overlay on Topuniversity, created to enhance user experience.	1 Year
Parse.ly Websites that have parse.ly plugins allow first party cookies to enable tracking sessions, and unique visitors. To know more, visit: https://docs.parse.ly/cookies/	_parsely_session
	_parsely_visitor	Sites that bear the Parse.ly plugin uses this cookie to uniquely identify a browser and count its sessions in JSON. Whenever a user visits another site that also uses Parse.ly, it is possible to recognize them and attribute their behavior as a single visitor.	13 Months
Intercom Intercom messenger allows first party cookies to track unique devices and browser sessions To Know more, visit: https://www.intercom.com/help/en/articles/2361922-intercom-messenger-co…	intercom-device-id	Intercom sets this cookie as an identifier for each unique device that interacts with the Messenger	9 Months
HubSpot: HubSpot sets a number of tracking cookies when a visitor lands on your website to understand their behavior better. To know more, visit: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/privacy-and-consent/what-cookies-does-hub…	__hs_initial_opt_in	Hubspot uses this cookie to store 'do not track' signals
Cloudflare Cloudflare uses various cookies to maximize network resources, manage traffic, and protect our customers’ sites from malicious traffic. To know more, visit: https://developers.cloudflare.com/fundamentals/reference/policies-compl…	__cf_bm	Cloudflare uses this cookie to read and filter requests from bots.	30 Minutes
	_cfuvid	Cloudflare uses this cookie to distinguish individual visitors who share the same IP address.	session
TopUniversity	STYXKEY-globaluserUUID	TopUniversity uses this cookie to generate a globalUserID for our datalayers which are purposed in analytical tools. If the user is not logged-in, a random User ID is attributed to that user. Else, their actual user ID is attributed to them.	24 hours
TopUniversity	SSESS{id}	Drupal places this cookie to provide a responsive website	1 Month
AWS	qssoperm	This is a fixed supercookie, related to single-sign on. It provides an additional authentication method, and can remain impermanently on the user's browser.	1 Year
AWS	AWSALBCORS	Amazon Web services uses this cookie to provide load balancing functionality.	1 Week

Advertising cookies:

These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. More information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them can be found below.

Domain	Cookie	Purpose of Cookie	Max Age/Expiry
Meta Meta uses cookies to track device and browser sessions of users who visit the site via Meta/Facebook socials To Know More, visit: https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policies/cookies/?subpage=subpage-4.5	_fbp	Meta uses this cookie on Topuniversity for visitors who have registered via Meta socials, to better target and optimise advertising	3 Months
	datr	Meta uses this cookie on Topuniversity to provide fraud prevention	2 Years
	wd	Meta uses this cookie on Topuniversity to read the dimensions of the visitor's screen resolution	1 Week
	fr	Meta uses this cookie on Topuniversity to deliver, measure and improve the relevancy of ads	90 days
	sb	Meta uses this cookie to help identify a user's browser securely	6 Months
	lastExternalReferrer	Detects how the user reached the website by registering their last URL-address.	Persisent
	lastExternalReferrerTime	Detects how the user reached the website by registering their last URL-address.	Persisent
	x	Meta uses this cookie to record the device pixel ratio of a visitor's screen and whether or not the high-contrast mode is enabled.	Session
Google When users visits Topuniversity using any of the Google products including AdSense, Google Ads, Google Analytics, and a range of products within the Google Marketing Platform, cookies may be sent to their browser. To know more, visit: https://business.safety.google/adscookies/ https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads?hl=en-US	NID	Google Adsense uses this cookie to display Ads to signed-out users	6 Months
Youtube Youtube collects cookies when a user visits TopUniversity page with youtube plugins installed. To know more, visit: https://cookiedatabase.org/service/youtube/	VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE	Youtube uses this cookie to set a unique identifier that tracks video viewing	6 Months
	LAST_RESULT_ENTRY_KEY	Used to track user’s interaction with embedded content.	Session
	LogsDatabaseV2:V#\|\|LogsRequestsStore		Persisent
	YSC	Youtube uses this cookie to store and track information	Session
Tiktok Tiktok collects cookies when a user visits a Topuniversity page with TikTok installed To know more, visit: https://ads.tiktok.com/help/article/using-cookies-with-tiktok-pixel?lan… https://cookiedatabase.org/service/tiktok/	_tt_enable_cookie	TikTok uses this cookie to track cookie consent and website activity	13 Months
	_ttp	Tiktok uses this cookie to measure and improve the performance of the site's advertising campaigns and to personalize the user's experience	13 Months
Intercom To know more, visit: https://www.intercom.com/help/en/articles/2361922-intercom-messenger-co…	intercom-session-id	Intercom sets this cookie as an identifier for each unique browser session that interacts with the Messenger	1 Week
DemandBase To Know More, visit: https://www.demandbase.com/cookie-policy/	tuuid	Demandbase products uses this cookie for analytics and advertising services.	10 Months
	tuuid_lu	This tracks the date when the TUUID was last updated.	10 Months
Snap To Know more, visit: https://snap.com/en-US/privacy/cookie-information	_sctr	Snap.inc uses this cookie to determine whether a third party tag will be called in Snap Ads Pixel	1 Year
	_scid	Snap.inc uses this cookie to help identify a visitor.	1 Year
Microsoft Clarity Analytics To Know More, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/clarity/setup-and-installation/cookie…	_clck	Microsoft analytics service uses this cookie to synchronize the MUID across Microsoft domains	1 Year
StackAdapt To know more, visit: https://www.stackadapt.com/cookie-policy	sa-user-id or sa-user-id-{id}	StackAdapt uses this cookie to identify users and display relevant advertisements. It tracks user interactions with embedded ocntent and optimizes advertisements	1 Year
Beeswax (bidr.io) To Know more, visit: https://www.beeswax.com/cookies/	bitoIsSecure	The bitoIsSecure cookie is a browser ID cookie set by Bidr, a provider of Linked share Buttons and ad tags. It is used for advertising purposes and to identify unique visitors	13 Months
	bito	Sets a unique ID for the visitor, that allows third party advertisers to target the visitor with relevant advertisement.	13 Months
capig.stape.org	cee	Registers a unique ID that identifies the user's device during return visits. Used for conversion tracking and to measure the efficacy of online ads.	3 Months
Giphy	giphyPingbackId	Used to track the visitor's usage of GIFs - This serves for analytical and marketing purposes.	Session
	_gid	Google uses this cookie to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor's device and behavior. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels.	1 day
	_gat	Google uses this cookie to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor's device and behavior. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels.	1 day
Admedo.com	adm.sesh		Session
Admedo.com	adm.usrmeta		Persisent
Doubleclick.net	APC	Tracks the conversion rate between the user and the advertisement banners on the website - This serves to optimise the relevance of the advertisements on the website.	6 Months
bannerflow.com	cc	Registers data on visitors from multiple visits and on multiple websites. This information is used to measure the efficiency of advertisement on websites.	1 Month
goodreads.com	ccsid	Tracks the individual sessions on the website, allowing the website to compile statistical data from multiple visits. This data can also be used to create leads for marketing purposes.

4. Social Media Third Party Cookies?

To enrich our website content, sometimes we may embed video content from other social media websites such as YouTube or Facebook. As a result, when you visit a page with content embedded, you may be presented with cookies from these websites. QWS has no control or liability over these cookies set, so you should check the relevant third party's cookie policy for more information.

We also offer a “share page” widget on some of our web pages, where content can be shared easily on the following sites Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. These sites may set a cookie when you are logged into their service. QS has no control or liability over these cookies set, so you should check the relevant third party's cookie policy for more information.

5. How to Control and Delete Cookies?

QS will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you. However, should you choose to disable, reject or block our cookies, some parts of our websites will not function fully, or in some cases, our website will not be accessible at all.

For more information on how to control your cookie settings and browser settings, or how to delete cookies on your hard drive, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

6. Contact Us

More information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them can be found below.

If you have any questions or concerns about our use of cookies, please send us an email at [email protected]