Current Students Privacy Notice

Introduction

This Privacy Notice explains how we process personal data of our current undergraduate, postgraduate, apprentice, short courses and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) students.

This Privacy Notice is intended for our current students including those enrolled on one of the courses we offer in partnership with other organisations. It should be read together with our General Privacy Notice.

How do we get your personal data?

We get your personal data from the following sources:

Directly from you e.g.

during the application and registration process
When you use our services or complete our forms

From third parties e.g.

Your referees,
Partner organisations we work with
Statutory agencies e.g. the police
Agencies UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), as explained in the Applicant Privacy Notice.

What Personal Data Do We Process?

Information we process includes:

Personal data we collect before you begin your studies e.g. during registration such as:

Personal details e.g. your name, gender, date of birth, right to study in the UK, photograph, nationality and country of birth
If you are an overseas student, we collect immigration status e.g. passport and visa information
Contact details such as your email, postal address and telephone number
Educational details such as the school or college you attended, which courses you completed, when you completed the courses and your examination results.
Social details e.g. your dependants and if you are a care leaver or have experienced care
Equal opportunities data e.g. racial information, religious beliefs, health, gender and sexual orientation
Where relevant information relating to assessment of eligibility for funding including correspondence with relevant professional bodies

Personal data we collect when you begin your studies such as:

Modules taken, year of study and placement information
Academic progression e.g. examination scripts and assessment results
Award data e.g. qualification awarded and transcripts
Leaving date and reason for leaving
Location data through your device if you access our wireless network on any of our campuses
Financial information e.g. information relating to your sponsor, grants or emergency funds and bank details
Health information e.g - when you are required to report symptoms of infectious illnesses, when we are informed by Public Health or the NHS about an infectious illness, when you tell us about your Covid vaccination status
CCTV (closed circuit television) footage if you are in areas or buildings on campus with CCTV coverage
Health and wellbeing details e.g. counselling records, records of reasonable adjustments, emergency contact details, next of kin data, and disability data
Information relating to your use of IT Services and applications such as Microsoft Teams e.g. Username, IP address, MAC address and device name, etc
Information relating to your use of other services we provided such as library services, sports facilities, accommodation, and career services e.g. your library borrowing history, sports activities, accommodation and career interests, etc.

Where relevant we collect:

Information about how you use or interact with academic resources
Information relating to any complaints or disciplinary matters
Information relating to academic or non-academic support
Academic references we receive or provide
Information you provide when you complete any student surveys
Your consent if we need to send you any marketing communication
Criminal offences data e.g. DBS (Disclosure Barring Service) checks, criminal disclosure statements if you disclose this during the registration process.
Information about your depandants

Why We Process Your Personal Data?

We process your personal data for purposes listed below:

To deliver and administer your education including short course or apprenticeships
To keep a record of your studies e.g. your academic progress, your application and enrolment, registration, academic support, assessment and graduation
To administer placements if this is a requirement of your course, e.g. by providing information about you to a placement provider, or planning your placement
To administer partnership arrangements, for example to provide information to a funding provider or other partner organisation where you are engaging with a funded project or a partnership arrangement
To administer bursary and scholarship schemes
To communicate effectively with you e.g. when notifying you of services or events related to your study
To handle complaints, disciplinary, student procedure or malpractice matters
To deliver services and facilities to you e.g. IT service, library, sports and accommodation
To provide you with advice and support e.g. on academic, wellbeing or careers matters
To provide you with support opportunities through our engagement monitoring
To offer you support if you have declared a disability e.g. in order to develop a disability action plan and support you to access funding
To administer, monitor and provide assurance of fee, bursary and scholarship payments
To enable us conduct internal or external research or audit, including monitoring of quality and performance
To fulfil legal our obligations e.g. Health and Safety, Visa and Immigration, Safeguarding and Prevent duties
To fulfil our statutory requirements such as reporting to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
To compile statistics and conduct research
To comply with professional, statutory and regulatory body requirements where this is relevant to your course of study
To confirm your qualifications to current or potential employers or education providers or provide you with a reference
To enable us respond to emergencies, for example by providing information to health care providers in emergency situations

When you finish your studies, we will use your personal details to enable you to become a member of the Alumni Association.

What is our legal basis for processing your personal data?

The lawful bases we rely on for processing your personal data are:

We have your consent e.g. to send you marketing communication, provide a reference to a prospective employer. When we rely on consent, we provide with details on why we need the information and how you can withdraw your consent
It is necessary for the performance of our contractual obligations with you e.g. to administer placements, handle complaints or disciplinary matters, administer fee payments, manage accommodation, and provide services or support to you.
It is necessary to fulfil our legal obligations e.g. Equal Opportunities monitoring, Health and Safety, Visa and Immigration, Safeguarding and Prevent duties. This can include sharing student information with government bodies and other third-party agencies
It is necessary to protect your or someone else’s vital interests e.g. if we need to respond to the emergency services
It is necessary for the performance of a ‘Public Task’ or a task carried out in the public interest e.g. when we use your personal data for teaching and research activities, maintaining a student record, statutory reporting, professional body and regulatory
It is necessary for our, or a third party’s legitimate interests e.g. to provide services we or third parties provide such as library, accommodation, sports, Students’ Union, or Alumni Association and to carry our other functions that are not related to teaching or research. This may include updating your employer on your progress and attendance. We will only do this if we know you expect us to do so, or tell you we will be using your information in this way.

We use your “special categories” of personal information about your racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, physical or mental health, or gender identity and sexual orientation because you have given us consent or it is necessary for:

Equal opportunities monitoring
Research and statistical purposes
Substantial public interests e.g. to identify if you need support, to offer you reasonable adjustments, to support your studies and to keep you safe
Public health reasons e.g. to protect you or others on campus from infections and report these to the relevant organisations.

Who will your personal data be shared with?

We share your personal data with our employees and agents on a need to know basis only. We also share your personal data with:

Your current employer for example to provide information about your attendance, health and wellbeing and academic progress
Potential employers for example to provide a reference but only after your instructions
External auditors, examiners and assessors
Placement providers, where it is a requirement of your studies
Funding providers and/or partner organisations where you are engaging with a funded project or a partnership arrangement.
Your financial sponsors or funding provider including, Department for Education, Education and Skills Funding Agency, the Student Loan Company, the NHS, employers, and funding councils.
Relevant professional, statutory and regulatory bodies depending on your course of study
Government agencies or public bodies where we have a statutory obligation to share personal data e.g., Higher Education Statistics Agency(HESA), UK Visas and Immigration, HM Revenue and Customs, the Health and Safety Executive, Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Department of Health
Where necessary, Higher Education bodies e.g. the Office for Students (OfS), Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), Office of the Independent Adjudicator, the organisation(s) that run the National Student Survey (NSS) and other student and surveys
Our partner accommodation providers if you apply for accommodation
The University of Cumbria Students’ Union to enable them to register you as a member so that you can access their services e.g.your identification details, nationality, residency information, contact details, programme details, year of study, your department and location of study, and your emergency contact details
Local authorities for the perform their public functions e.g. for Council Tax and Electoral Registration administration
Occasionally and when required by the police and other law enforcement agencies, for the prevention or detection of crime
Individuals, companies or organisations who act as ‘data processors’ for them to provide specific services to you, or on our behalf.

Sometimes we may need to send your personal data outside the UK, for instance, if you are on a collaborative programme with an international partner.

When we share your data with organisations outside of the EEA, we will ensure that there are 'appropriate safeguards' in place as required under the UK GDPR.

How long will we keep your data?

We aim to keep your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes listed above.

Your personal data will be destroyed in line with our records retention schedule, usually six years after graduation, completion of studies or after your last contact with us.

The Student Record is a summary of information relating to your studies.

We will keep your ‘Student Record’ after you leave the University as a record of your attendance and qualifications and for alumni registration purposes. The Alumni Privacy Notice explains how your personal data will be used by the University of Cumbria Alumni Association.

Your Rights

Details about your rights and how to exercise them are set out on our Data Protection webpage. There is also information about how we keep your personal data secure and how to ask questions or complain about the way your data is being handled.

This Privacy Notice was last updated on 22 September 2021.

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