Archived: Data protection privacy notice for Website users 2023/24

What this privacy notice is about

This is a summary of how we protect your personal data and respect your privacy. This notice relates to our processing of personal data of visitors to the main Kingston University website only.

Website users 2023/24

How we collect your information

The majority of the personal information we hold about you will be obtained via our website's online forms or if you contact us by email.

What types of information we collect

We may ask for some personal details if you wish to access some of our services, for example:

  • to express an interest in attending open days and events (for example, via our events mailing list form)
  • to subscribe to a service (for example, to sign up to a newsletter)
  • to create a profile (for example, to register on our jobs page)
  • biographical information (for example, your name, title, birth date, age and gender)
  • your contact details (for example, address, email address and phone number)
  • information about your time at the University
  • your professional activities
  • current interests and preferences
  • records of communications sent to you by the University or received from you
  • attendance at University events
  • bank or credit/debit card details via third parties if you make payments via the website.

Cookies

Information about your usage of our website is collected using cookies.

Please see information about cookies on this site.

How we use your information

Your data may be used for the purposes of dealing with your enquiries or application, as well as sending you relevant information about Kingston University.

Your information may be used to facilitate payment to the University and may be shared with payment service providers for the processing of payments. Where necessary, information may be shared with debt collection agencies, solicitors and tracing agents to assist with the recovery of debt.

What legal basis we have for processing your information

We have identified appropriate legal bases for processing information as follows:

For a contract

We process some of your personal data because it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or in order to take steps to enter into a contract. 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 enquiries and admissions process (for example, to send you a prospectus or answer enquiries about our courses)
  • to deal with any concerns or feedback you may have
  • for any other purpose for which you provide us with your personal data.

Consent

We may also process your personal data where we have your specific or, where necessary, explicit consent to do so (for example, when you agree to us contacting you about services).

For legitimate interests

We process your personal data because it is necessary for the purpose of a legitimate interest pursued by us or one of the third-party organisations that we work with. In this respect, we may use your personal data for:

  • marketing purposes.

You have the right to object to this processing. Where we process your personal data for direct marketing this right is absolute.

Who we share your information with

Third parties that help us store and process enquiries and help to compile applications from prospective students (for example, conversion services and/or our international recruiting representatives working on our behalf).

Third parties that provide platforms to help us deliver online surveys or third parties conducting surveys on our behalf. For example, we may pass student contact details to survey contractors to carry out surveys of enquirers and applicants' views. These organisations and their contractors will use the details of enquirers and applicants only for this purpose and will then delete them.

The police and other law enforcement agencies, for the prevention and detection of crime.

How long we keep your information

How long we keep your information will depend on the nature of the query. We will provide information at the time that you submit it or refer you to our other privacy notices for specific processing activity.

Your rights

Under the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, you have certain rights:

  • to access the personal data we hold about you
  • to require us to correct the personal data we hold about you
  • to require us to erase your personal data
  • to require us to restrict our data processing activities (and, where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before its withdrawal)
  • to receive your personal data, which you provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and the right to transmit that data to another controller
  • to object to any of our particular processing activities where you feel this has a disproportionate impact on your rights
  • to not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which has a legal effect on you.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.

Your responsibilities

When considering your personal data, enquirers and applicants should ensure that the information provided to the University remains accurate and up to date.

You should inform the University as soon as possible if details, such as your address, change.

Who to contact

Please contact dataprotection@kingston.ac.uk if you have any queries about this privacy notice or how we process your personal data.

If you then wish to exercise your rights as a data subject, please use the Data Subject Request form on our website under policies and regulations.

If you are not satisfied, you can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner. You can find out more about your rights under data protection legislation from the Information Commissioner's Office website.

Changes to this privacy notice

This privacy notice will be updated on an annual basis. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information we will make this clear on the Kingston University website or by contacting you directly.

Kingston University is the data controller of your personal data and is subject to data protection legislation, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018 and Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). We are listed on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) register of fee payers.

You can find privacy notices and other relevant policies on our website under policies and regulations.