Durham University has a responsibility under data protection legislation to provide individuals with information about how we process their personal data. We do this in a number of ways, one of which is the publication of privacy notices. Organisations variously call them a privacy statement, a fair processing notice or a privacy policy.
To ensure that we process your personal data fairly and lawfully we are required to inform you:
We will also explain what rights you have to control how we use your information and how to inform us about your wishes. Durham University will make the Privacy Notice available via the website and at the point we request personal data.
Our privacy notices comprise two parts – a generic part (i.e. common to all of our privacy notices) and a part tailored to the specific processing activity being undertaken.
The Data Controller is Durham University. If you would like more information about how the University uses your personal data, please see the University’s Information Governance webpages or contact Information Governance Unit:
Telephone: (0191 33) 46246 or 46103 E-mail: information.governance@durham.ac.uk
Information Governance Unit also coordinates responses to individuals asserting their rights under the legislation. Please contact the Unit in the first instance.
The Data Protection Officer is responsible for advising the University on compliance with Data Protection legislation and monitoring its performance against it. If you have any concerns regarding the way in which the University is processing your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer:
Kristina Holt, email: info.access@durham.ac.uk
You have the right to be provided with information about how and why we process your personal data. Where you have the choice to determine how your personal data will be used, we will ask you for consent. Where you do not have a choice (for example, where we have a legal obligation to process the personal data), we will provide you with a privacy notice. A privacy notice is a verbal or written statement that explains how we use personal data.
Whenever you give your consent for the processing of your personal data, you receive the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Where withdrawal of consent will have an impact on the services we are able to provide, this will be explained to you, so that you can determine whether it is the right decision for you.
You have the right to be told whether we are processing your personal data and, if so, to be given a copy of it. This is known as the right of subject access. You can find out more about this right on the University’s Subject Access Requests webpage.
If you believe that personal data we hold about you is inaccurate, please contact us and we will investigate. You can also request that we complete any incomplete data.
Once we have determined what we are going to do, we will contact you to let you know.
Once we have determined whether we will erase the personal data, we will contact you to let you know.
You can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in the following circumstances:
Once we have determined how we propose to restrict processing of the data, we will contact you to discuss and, where possible, agree this with you.
The University keeps personal data for as long as it is needed for the purpose for which it was originally collected. Most of these time periods are set out in the University Records Retention Schedule.
If you are unsatisfied with the way in which we process your personal data, we ask that you let us know so that we can try and put things right. If we are not able to resolve issues to your satisfaction, you can refer the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: Information Commissioner’s Office
We will collect personal details such as: name, address, qualifications and support needs. For equality monitoring purposes, we will also ask for Special Category Data such as gender, religion, race and disability.
Personal data is collected from the application, open day booking form and/or any enquiry forms you submit to us as well as face-to-face, email or telephone contact you make with the University and its representatives.
We also receive information sent to us by UCAS. For further information regarding this, please visit the UCAS website at www.ucas.com.
In addition, we will collect and process your personal data for the purposes applications soon to be hosted on Durham University's eCommerce & Events Management portal (from Quarter 2 2021).
Under the Event Management domain:
This personal data may contain ‘special category’ data as described in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Such special categories may include information about your physical health (including allergies and intolerances), disability, and religion-related requirements (e.g. Halal, Kosher etc.).
Personal data will only be processed when the law permits this to happen. Most commonly personal data will be processed in the following circumstances:
The information will be stored in a customer relationship management (CRM) system and Banner student records system. Access to these systems is restricted to authorised personnel only and all admissions staff receive regular training to ensure that your data is handled appropriately and legally.
Information provided to us will be used to support you in considering and making an application to Durham University and to enable the University to consider your application for entry to our programmes. Once admitted, your admissions record will be used to create your student record. We collect statistical admissions data for the purposes of identifying trends, forecasting and monitor progress.
Information is shared with relevant parties within the University for the purposes outlined above. In addition, specific data may be shared with the following for the purposes specified:
The University has a Records Retention Schedule that specifies how long data will be held for.
When someone visits www.durham.ac.uk we use a third party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make, and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be transparent about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.
A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website's server and only that server will be able to retrieve or read the contents of that cookie. Cookies allow websites to remember user preferences, choices and selections, such as what's in your shopping basket. Durham University also make use of the Google Analytics service to understand how you navigate around our site.
Durham University do not use cookies to collect personal information about you.
For more information about the use of cookies on Durham University's website, or to set your cookie usage preference, please see our Cookies Policy.
This privacy notice does not cover the links within this site linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.
We regularly review our privacy notice and will review it at least annually. This privacy notice was last updated in October 2021.
If you have any questions which you feel have not been covered by this Privacy Notice, please email us or write to:
Recruitment and Admissions, Durham University, Mountjoy Centre, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LE United Kingdom
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