The University of Westminster is the data controller of the personal data held in relation to course enquiries, campus tours, prospectus orders, parent and supporter sign-ups and similar requests.
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Confidentiality
The University of Westminster takes its data protection obligations very seriously. Access to any personal information you give us when making an enquiry or register for an event or similar request is subject to a staff confidentiality agreement. Access to your personal information is limited by permissions to only those staff and administrators who need access to manage and respond to your enquiries.
Personal data
Personal data in our enquiry fulfilment and event registration processes have either been sourced directly from you or from our authorised third-party partners.
The categories of personal information held in relation to enquiries, fulfilment of marketing related services and event registration are for the most part personal data relating to your identity, including contact information.
Use of personal data
The University of Westminster uses your personal information in the fulfilment of marketing-related services for the purposes of:
- Answering your questions about our courses and teaching
- Facilitating information about and your participation in open days, campus tours, UCAS fairs, British Council, and Study Abroad exhibitions and similar events and communications with you on these matters
- Participation in online events or live chat
- Sending you a prospectus
- If you agree, email communication about the University and its services
- If you agree, advertising our courses and services to you. Where you have agreed, we will try to ensure that any online advertising you see from the University of Westminster is relevant to you. We use a Google tool that allows us to match your data with your online profile, and either enables or prevents certain adverts from appearing during your online sessions. In our use of this service, Google will not use your data files to build or enhance profiles of you, they will not share your data files with any third party and your data will be promptly deleted once our ad campaigns have finished
- We will also use your data for other administrative purposes, for example; to undertake statistical analysis, conduct market research and internal filtering in order to ensure the information we send is relevant to you
- Retargeting activity on Meta
How we track our emails
Emails sent from our CRM system may include tracking pixels that help us establish which of our emails are more interesting to prospective students to ensure emails are optimised and tailored. We do this by:
- Assessing the success of email campaigns (open rates, links clicked)
- Looking at the time and date of engagement
- Understanding which devices are used (mobile, desktop)
Legal basis for processing and data retention
Your personal details are necessary for the University for the fulfilment of marketing-related services as described above.
The University will only process and retain your personal information in our CRM and other systems as follows:
- Within one year after your stated preferred year of entry your data will be anonymised. For example if your stated year of entry is 2023/24 your data will be anonymised by November 2024.
or
- If you have not stated a year of entry then your data will be anonymised one year after the academic year that your data was collected. For example, data collected during academic year 2023/24 will be anonymised by November 2024.
After which time, your personal data will be archived, anonymised and then only used for aggregate statistical purposes.
Your anonymised data will then be hard deleted five years after your data was collected, or five years after your stated year of entry, if you gave one.
If you provided your details via an event platform your details will be deleted from platform within twelve months, but your data may be retained in our CRM as described above.
If you become a student with us then data will be kept according to student records retention schedule.
Special category personal data
In most circumstances the University will not gather or require you to give us any sensitive personal data to fulfil your enquiries. If a situation should arise where we feel it would be in your interest to have the opportunity to tell us some sensitive personal details, relating perhaps to your health or disability, this information will only be gathered and used with your explicit consent. Any sensitive personal information we hold will only be shared where it is essential for the delivery of any agreed service, such as a campus tour.
To withdraw consent for the University to hold and share your sensitive personal data relating to an enquiry you have made, please contact: [email protected].
To withdraw consent for the University to hold and share your sensitive personal data relating to an event registration you have made, please contact our Events Manager: [email protected]
Data transfers and sharing
None of your personal information is shared by the University with any other third party organisation, other than where this is necessary for the provision of a service you have agreed to, or where otherwise allowed by UK law.
Where services involve a third party processing your information, such services will be covered by a contract, and details of the services and the legal mechanism for any data transfers outside the EU and EEA can be initially requested from: [email protected].
For the Privacy Policy relating to our Event Platform and any related App, please see: SpotMe
Your rights
If you have any questions relating to your personal information and your information rights, including right of access, rectification and erasure, please see the University’s data protection web pages.
Or contact the University Information Compliance Team at [email protected].
You can also contact the Information Commissioners’ Office in relation to any concerns or issue you may have with the processing of your personal information.
Last reviewed and updated February 2024.