UNIQ+ post-programme support privacy notice

In the course of completing the UNIQ+ 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 UNIQ+ 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 UNIQ+. 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 UNIQ+.

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

You have certain rights with respect to your personal data. These include being able to request access to it, correction of any mistakes in it, deletion of it, restriction of its use, as well as being able to object to any processing of it (ie any use of it), or request that it be transferred elsewhere. Information on your rights in relation to your personal data are explained on the Individual rights page of our Compliance website.

However, depending on the circumstances, we may have grounds for not complying with your request, for example, where we consider that deleting your information would seriously harm the research or where we need to process your data for the performance of a task in the public interest.
Contact

If you wish to raise any queries or concerns about our use of your data to assess your application, please contact us by email at [email protected]. If you would like to exercise any of your rights mentioned above or if, for any reason, you are not happy with the way that we have handled your data, please contact the University’s Information Compliance Team at [email protected]. The same address can be used to contact the University’s Data Protection Officer.

If you are still not happy, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.