Skip to main content

UNIQplus post-programme support privacy notice

The information below is intended for those who have completed the UNIQplus programme and would like to receive event invitations and regular emails with information about applying for graduate study at the University of Oxford.

Sneezeweed (Helenium 'Sahin's early flowerer') in the Botanic Garden.

Linacre College in light snow. Credit: Joanna Cross / Graduate Photography Competition

Data protection

In the course of completing the UNIQplus application form and accepting your place on the programme, you have provided information about yourself (‘personal data’). We (the University of Oxford) are the ‘data controller’ for this information, which means we decide how to use it and are responsible for looking after it in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and associated data protection legislation.

How the University uses your data

We will use your data to stay in touch with you by sending regular emails with information relevant to applying to graduate study at Oxford, the admissions process, to invite you to attend webinars on relevant topics, and other marketing content.

We gather statistics around email opening, user location and clicks using industry standard technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our email communications. We use third-party providers to deliver emails.

We are processing your data for this purpose because you have given us your consent to do so, by selecting ‘yes’ in the UNIQplus post-programme survey, when you were invited to opt in to receiving further contact from the Graduate Admissions & Recruitment team with event invitations and regular emails with information about applying to the University of Oxford for graduate study.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at by email ([email protected]). In this event, we will stop the processing as soon as we can. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before your withdrawal of consent.

We will add some of your data to the Higher Education Access Tracker database (HEAT), which we use to record information about our outreach activities and those who take part in them. HEAT is a shared database used by a variety of organisations to identify which activities are most helpful in preparing students for higher education and progressing to employment. Users include the University, its colleges, student organisations, educational charities and relevant public bodies (eg UCAS). The data added to HEAT comprises your personal details (name, gender, date of birth, postcode and school) and the events or activities in which you have participated. You can read further details about how your data on HEAT is used in the HEAT privacy notice.

We will use your personal data to monitor the uptake and/or effectiveness of UNIQplus. We may also compare any data you have provided with user account data from our Graduate Application Form and the HEAT database to understand how many applicants/participants subsequently go on to make an application for, or enrol in postgraduate study. This processing occurs because it is necessary to meet our legitimate interests in monitoring the outcomes of UNIQplus.

We will only use your data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another related reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will seek your consent to use it for that new purpose.

Who has access to your data?

Access to your data within the University will be provided to those who need to view it as part of their work in carrying out the purposes described above.

We may share your data with companies who provide services to us, such as providers of online event services, video conferencing services, email services, and enquiry management systems. These companies are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your data in line with our policies. We do not allow them to use your data for their own purposes. We permit them to process your data only for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Where we share your data with a third party, we will seek to share the minimum amount necessary.

Retaining your data

We will only retain your data for as long as we need it to meet our purposes, including any relating to legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Details of the retention periods for different types of student and applicant data can be found in the University’s student records data retention policy.

Security

Your data will be held securely in accordance with the University’s policies and procedures. Further information about information security is available on the University’s Information Security website.

Where we store and use your data

We store and use your data on University premises, in both a manual and electronic form. Data will also be processed and stored electronically, both at the premises and in the online systems of companies that provide services to us, such as providers of online event services, video conferencing services and email services.

Electronic data may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the United Kingdom (UK), for example, when we communicate with you using a cloud-based service provider that operates outside the UK such as Zoom.

Such transfers will only take place if one of the following applies:

  • the country receiving the data is considered by the UK to provide an adequate level of data protection;
  • the organisation receiving the data is covered by an arrangement recognised by the UK as providing an adequate standard of data protection;
  • the transfer is governed by approved contractual clauses;
  • the transfer has your consent;
  • the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps requested by you prior to entering into that contract; or
  • the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract with another person, which is in your interests.

Your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and associated data protection legislation

Under the legislation, you have the following rights in relation to the information that we hold about you (your ‘personal data’):

  • The right to be informed. As part of our commitment to handling personal data in a fair and transparent way we publish information about how we use your data in privacy policies.
  • The right to request access to your data (commonly known as a "subject access request"). This enables you to receive a copy of your data and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • The right to request correction of your data. This enables you to ask us to correct any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you.
  • The right to request erasure of your data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove your data in certain circumstances for example, if you consider that there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your data where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
  • The right to object to the processing of your data, where we are processing it to meet our public tasks or legitimate interests (or the legitimate interests of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your data for direct marketing purposes.
  • The right to request that the processing of your data is restricted. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your data, for example, if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your data to another party.
  • Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.

Further information on these rights is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office. If you want to exercise any of the rights described above you should contact the University’s Information Compliance Team ([email protected]).

Depending on the circumstances and the nature of your request it may not be possible for us to do what you have asked, for example, where there is a statutory or contractual requirement for us to process your data and it would not be possible to fulfil our legal obligations if we were to stop. However, where you have consented to the processing (for example, where you have asked us to contact you for marketing purposes) you can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing the department that is processing your data.

If you are dissatisfied with the way the University has used your personal data, you also have the right to submit a complaint to the Information Compliance Team. They will seek to deal with your request without undue delay, and in any event in accordance with the requirements of the legislation. Please note that we may keep a record of your communications to help us resolve any issues which you raise.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Contact

If you wish to raise any queries or concerns about our use of your data, please contact us by sending an email to [email protected], or by writing to Graduate Admissions, University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2JD. If you would like to contact the University’s Data Protection Officer please email [email protected].

Graduate access policies

Looking down Broad street, Oxford, at sunrise.

Graduate access: mailing list privacy notice

The information here is intended for those who have registered to receive email notifications about future UNIQplus Research Internships, our graduate access programmes and/or future graduate access events.

Colourful buildings on Holywell Street, Oxford

Online event privacy notice

The information here is intended for those who have registered to attend online events connected with Graduate Access Programmes at the University of Oxford.

The Blavatnik School of Government

UNIQplus applicant privacy notice

The information here is intended for those applying in 2026 for a place on the UNIQplus programme at the University of Oxford. This includes the UNIQplus Research Internships programme and UNIQplus PASS (Postgraduate Applicant Support Scheme).