Personal information – Students

Students for the purpose of this section, includes prospective students, current students, past students, applicants, apprentices and individuals who have made enquiries about studying at the University.

How we collect your information

We may collect your personal data in a number of ways, for example:

  • from the information you provide to us when you interact with us before joining, for example when you express your interest in studying at the University;
  • when you apply to study at the University and complete enrolment forms via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), or when you apply directly to the University, and when you complete other admissions processes and procedures and interact with our admissions staff;
  • when you communicate with us by telephone, email or via our website, for example in order to make enquiries or raise concerns;
  • in various other ways as you interact with us during your time as a student of The University of Buckingham, for the various purposes set out below
  • from third parties, for example from your previous or current school, sixth form college, university or employers who may provide a reference about you or who may sponsor your studies.
  • we will also capture CCTV images of you from CCTV cameras installed across the University’s campuses;
  • we will also capture images of you from body cameras worn by members of the security staff during work hours across the University’s campuses;  and/or
  • we will collect geospatial data which relates to the location data provided by the GPS tracking devices that have been installed on the University’s vehicles. GPS tracking uses a vehicle tracking system, which is an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the University to track the vehicle’s location.

The types of information we collect

We may collect the following types of personal information about you:

  • your name, and contact information such as address, email address and telephone number, as well as your date of birth, national insurance number (or other tax identification number) and your passport number or national identity card details, country of domicile and your nationality, and your images;
  • information relating to your education and employment history, the school(s), sixth form college(s) and other colleges or universities you have attended and places where you have worked, the courses you have completed, dates of study and examination results. We will also keep records relating to assessments of your work, details of examinations taken, your predicted and actual examination grades and other information in your student record;
  • information about your family or personal circumstances, and both academic and extracurricular interests, for example where this is relevant to the assessment of your suitability to receive a bursary or in order to provide you with appropriate pastoral care;
  • special category personal data, as defined in the GDPR and information about criminal convictions and offences, including:
    • information concerning your health and medical conditions (e.g. disability and dietary needs);
    • certain criminal convictions (e.g. for students on nursing programs, following completion of an annual declaration of “good character”); and
    • information about your racial or ethnic origin; religion or similar beliefs; and sexual orientation.
      • you will also be allocated a unique student number by the University.

How we use information about you

The purposes for which we may use personal data (including special category data and data relating to criminal convictions or offences) that we collect during a student’s association with us include:

  • recruitment and admissions purposes;
  • academic matters, including:
    • the provision of our core teaching, learning and research services (e.g. registration, assessment, attendance, managing progress, academic misconduct investigations, certification, graduation);
    • maintaining student records;
    • assessing your eligibility for bursaries and scholarships, etc; and
    • providing library, IT and information services.
  • non-academic matters in support of our core services, including:
    • providing student support services;
    • monitoring equal opportunities;
    • safeguarding and promoting the welfare of students;
    • ensuring students’ safety and security;
    • managing student accommodation;
    • managing the use of social media; and
    • managing car parking on campus.
  • administering finance (e.g. fees, scholarships and bursaries);
  • other administrative purposes, including:
    • carrying out research and statistical analysis;
    • carrying out audits (e.g. to ensure compliance with our regulatory and legal obligations);
  • providing operational information (e.g. providing IT support, information about building closures or access restrictions on campus, or safety advice);
  • promoting our services (e.g. providing information about summer schools, student exchanges, or other events happening on and off campus);
  • preventing and detecting crime;
  • dealing with grievances and disciplinary actions; and
  • dealing with complaints and enquiries.

Internal Disclosure / Data Sharing 

Student personal information will only be disclosed to other members of UOB staff if the consent of the student has been obtained or if the disclosure is necessary for the legitimate interests of the University such as for example, when considering any prospective application from a  former student.

Graduation and degree information

Personal data (including award and classification) will be published in the award ceremony booklet. This information will also be passed to third parties involved in the ceremonies (including our local paper and commemorative clothing suppliers). All published details will be available on our archive and our website following the relevant graduation events.

You may withhold your consent to your name being published for these purposes when you register online to attend the award ceremony or graduate in absentia.

The basis for processing your information and how we use it

We may process your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of our contract with you or in order to take necessary pre contractual steps. In this respect, we use your personal data for the following:

  • to interact with you before you are enrolled as a student, as part of the admissions process (e.g. to send you a prospectus or answer enquiries about our courses);
  • once you have enrolled, to provide you with the services as set out in our Student Agreement;
  • to deal with any concerns or feedback you may have; and
  • for any other purpose for which you provide us with your personal data.

We may also process your personal data because it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests. In this respect, we may use your personal data for the following:

  • to provide you with educational services which may not be set out in our Student Agreement but which are nevertheless a part of our academic and educational mission;
  • to monitor and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of the university, including by training our staff or monitoring their performance;
  • to maintain and improve the academic, corporate, financial, estate and human resource management of the university;
  • to promote equality and diversity throughout the university;
  • to seek advice on our rights and obligations, such as where we require our own legal advice;
  • recovering money you owe to us; and
  • for fundraising purposes.

We may also process your personal data for our compliance with our legal obligations. In this respect, we may use your personal data for the following:

  • to meet our compliance and regulatory obligations, such as compliance with anti-money laundering laws and safeguarding requirements;
  • for the prevention and detection of crime;
  • in order to assist with investigations (including criminal investigations) carried out by the police and other competent authorities.

We may also process your personal data where:

  • it is necessary for medical purposes (e.g. medical diagnosis, provision of health or social care or treatment, or a contract with a health professional);
  • it is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests; or
  • we have your specific or, where necessary, explicit consent to do so.

Sharing information with others

For the purposes referred to in this privacy notice and relying on the bases for processing as set out above, we may share your personal data with certain third parties. You are given the opportunity to opt out of some of these data sharing arrangements, for example when you register with us, but you should carefully consider the possible impact of doing this. Unless an opt-out is in place, we may disclose limited personal data to a variety of recipients including:

  • our employees, agents and contractors where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information such as student welfare in order to deternmine the reasonable adjustments that need to be made to accommodate a disability:
  • third parties who work with us to provide student accommodation;
  • third parties who work with us to provide student support services (e.g. counselling);
  • third parties who are contracted to provide out-of-hours IT services for us;
  • organisations operating anti-plagiarism software on our behalf (such as Turnitin®);
  • internal and external auditors;
  • those with an interest in tracking student progress and attendance, including: student sponsors (e.g. the Student Loan Company, research sponsors, Research Councils, NHS);
  • current or potential education providers (for example, where you take part in an exchange programme as part of your course);
  • current or potential employers (to provide references and, where students are sponsored by their employer and/or where you take part in a placement, to provide details of progress/attendance);
  • professional and regulatory bodies (e.g. General Medical Council, Health Care and Professions Council, British Psychological Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) in relation to the confirmation of qualifications, professional registration and conduct and the accreditation of courses;
  • government departments and agencies where we have a statutory obligation to provide information (e.g. the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the Home Office (in connection with UK visas and immigration), Council Tax and Electoral Registration Officers at relevant local authorities (for the purpose of assessing liability for Council Tax and for electoral registration purposes));
  • NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and Local Authorities (for the purpose of assessing whether you are entitled to free NHS hospital treatment);
  • crime prevention or detection agencies;
  • parents, guardians, and next-of-kin (where there is a legitimate reason for disclosure);
  • third parties conducting surveys, for example the National Student Survey
  • third parties engaged by the University to collect overdue tuition fees (debt collection) on its behalf

International data transfers

Some of the personal data we process about you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”), for example where it is processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers, or where personal data is processed by one of our suppliers who is based outside the EEA or who uses storage facilities outside the EEA.

In these circumstances, your personal data will only be transferred on one of the following bases:

  • where the transfer is subject to one or more of the “appropriate safeguards” for international transfers prescribed by applicable law (e.g. standard data protection clauses adopted by the European Commission);
  • a European Commission decision provides that the country or territory to which the transfer is made ensures an adequate level of protection; or
  • there exists another situation where the transfer is permitted under applicable law (e.g. where we have your explicit consent).

The Students’ Union

We share some of the information we hold about you (including your name, date of birth, nationality, University email address and programme of study) with the Students’ Union at The University of Buckingham (“SUBU”) unless you notify us that you wish to opt out of SUBU membership.

SUBU use this information to administer membership of the Students’ Union. SUBU will also send some of the student data we provide to the National Union of Students (“NUS”).

SUBU and the NUS will give students the chance to opt out of various categories of processing when they register on the SUBU website, and to update their preferences by amending the privacy options on their profile page.

Fundraising and Alumni Relations

We pass certain of your personal data to our Alumni Department when you register and when you graduate. This information will be used for alumni activities, including sending University publications, promotion of alumni benefits, services, events and programmes. Your personal data may also be used in fundraising programmes. We may also disclose limited personal data to our contractors for analysis in connection with fundraising activities.

For more information about how your personal data is used by the Alumni Department, please see the section of this Notice relating to Alumni below.

If you do not want your personal data to be used for any of these purposes, please email: alumni@buckingham.ac.uk

National Student Survey and Leaver Surveys

We will send some of the student information we hold to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (“HESA”). HESA collects and is responsible for the database in which HESA student records are stored. Details of how HESA will process this information can be found at Collection Notices on the HESA website.

For more information on HESA’s most recent Student, Staff and Graduate Outcomes collection notices available to data subjects whose data is being returned to HESA please visit HESA’s collection notices.

We will  pass student contact details to survey contractors to carry out the National Student Survey and surveys of student finances for the organisations identified by HESA in their data protection notices referred to above. These organisations and their contractors will use student’s details only for this purpose, and will then delete them.

About 12-18 months after graduation, students will be contacted to participate in the HESA “Graduate Outcomes” questionnaire.

Students may also be included in surveys that track the progress of leavers in the years after they graduate. If so, we will pass your contact details to the organisation that has been contracted to carry out that survey. The organisation will use your details only for that purpose and will then delete them.

If you do not want to take part in any of these surveys, please let us know.

Changes to your personal data

Please tell us promptly about any changes to the information we hold about you. This is particularly important for your contact details. You can do this by emailing registry@buckingham.ac.uk.