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Privacy Policy

This policy describes how Advance HE will collect and use personal information about you when you use our website.

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This policy describes how Advance HE (“Advance HE) will collect and use personal information about you when you use our website. For the purpose of data protection legislation (which includes the Data Protection Act 2018; and the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679)) (the “GDPR”)), or such replacement thereof in the UK, Advance HE is the "data controller". This means that we are responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you. We are required under data protection legislation to notify you of the information contained in this policy.

Who we are

Advance HE is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales under company number 4931031 and a company limited by guarantee registered in Ireland no. 703150. We are registered as a charity in England under charity number 1101607 and in Scotland under charity number SC043946, with its registered UK office at Innovation Way, York Science Park, York YO10 5BR and its registered Ireland office at First Floor, Penrose 1, Penrose Dock, Cork, T23 Kw81, Ireland. You can contact us using our customer support page.

Information we may collect from you

We may collect and process the following data about you:

  • Your contact details, where you provide them to us.
  • Information that you provide by filling in forms on our site at www.advance-he.ac.uk. This includes information you provide when requesting information on our products and services, subscribing to email communications on our services, news from the sector, research and reports, posting material or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our site.
  • If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
  • We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
  • Details of transactions you carry out through our site and of the fulfilment of your orders.
  • Details of your visits to our site including, but not limited to: traffic data, location data, weblogs and other communication data, whether this is required for our own billing purposes or otherwise and the resources that you access.

What we may use your data for

  • Customer care and for personalised communication of Advance HE services.
  • To contact you for market research purposes.
  • To create an individual customer profile (this may include data you have provided to Advance HE, or which is generated by your use of Advance HE services, for example contact details, preferences, purchase history, app usage and online behaviour).
  • Transmission of your data to suppliers of Advance HE services and we may share your personal data between suppliers of Advance HE services where relevant.
  • To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
  • To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you.
  • To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
  • To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so.
  • To notify you about changes to our service.
  • To use information for reporting purposes.
  • We may sometimes be obliged to disclose your personal information by law such as by a regulator with appropriate power, or court order.  In addition, information held by or for public bodies can be subject to freedom of information requests.

Automated processing of data

For information specifically on cookies and tracking on our website, please see our Cookie Policy. When you first visit our website, you will be presented with a cookie banner which allows you to make an informed choice about which types of cookies to accept on your device. You can also stop tracking at any time by using private browsing mode.

When you interact with us, for example by booking onto a programme or event, submitting an application for accreditation, completing a web form, downloading content from our website or opening an email we have sent you, we may keep a record of this information on our systems and use it to determine your interests. We automatically generate data from certain interactions which allows us to tailor our communications so that they are relevant to you and assist you in accessing the information and products that interest you. In addition, if you have consented to tracking cookies, some of your past browsing history on our site will also be available to help us more effectively engage with you. 

We also use these sources of information to improve our site, services and products and assess our marketing performance. For example, if you have consented to email marketing, information is collected about when and if the email was opened and which links were clicked. This information is used to assess the engagement and success of an email campaign. You can unsubscribe from our mailings at any time by updating your contact preferences here, from your preferences page in My Advance HE Portal, or by clicking on the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the end an email you have received. 

If you do not want us to use your data in this way, please let us know by emailing data.protection@advance-he.ac.uk.

Where we store your personal data

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”).  It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. Such staff maybe engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your order, the processing of your payment details and the provision of support services. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing.  We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

 How we will protect your personal information

We are committed to holding your personal information provided to us securely.

Where personal information is held electronically, it is held on a computer system that is owned and controlled by Advance HE or such other third party appointed by Advance HE.

To keep you updated on latest sector news and products/services offered by Advance HE, Advance HE stores your details, in both paper and electronic format. Paper copies are held locally by Advance HE at its offices or securely by our staff or contractors. Sometimes we will make electronic copies of paper documents or type up information from them. These documents or information are then stored on our computer system.

All the information that you provide to us will be transmitted to and stored on our secure servers or the servers of such other third party who we may appoint from time to time to store information.

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our online service, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

How long we will retain your data for

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for (see “What we may use your data for above). To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider:

·         the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data;

·         the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data; and

·         the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Advance HE will ensure that our suppliers and selected third parties with whom we share your personal information in accordance with this policy will delete your personal information when they no longer require it.

Links to other sites

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to other websites.  If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes during your relationship with us.

Your rights in connection with personal information

Under certain circumstances, by law you have the right to:

  • Request access to your personal information (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal information we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • Request correction of the personal information that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate information we hold about you corrected.
  • Request erasure of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal information where you have exercised your right to object to processing (see below).
  • Object to processing of your personal information where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes.
  • Request the restriction of processing of your personal information. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of personal information about you, for example if you want us to establish its accuracy or the reason for processing it.
  • Request the transfer of your personal information to another party.

If you want to review, verify, correct or request erasure of your personal information, object to the processing of your personal data, or request that we transfer a copy of your personal information to another party, please contact The Data Protection Team on Data.Protection@advance-he.ac.uk.

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.

What we may need from you: we may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.

You have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner (http://www.ico.gov.uk/) if you have any concerns in respect of the handling of your personal information by Advance HE. 

This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Please check back regularly to ensure you have the latest information.