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Collecting student data helps us assess and evaluate the value and impact of our widening participation activities. This helps us to plan and deliver activities that are fit for purpose, to make sure that we are working with and targeting the right types of students, and to evaluate and report on the effectiveness and impact of our widening participation work.

As well as the privacy notice below, we also have this widening participation privacy notice for student ambassadors (PDF).

Privacy notice for widening participation activities

 At St George’s, University of London, we want to make sure we protect any information we collect about you. When you give us information about yourself (also known as data), we have rules we have to follow about what we can do with it. We must explain how we use that data and tell you if we want to pass it on to anyone else. This notice sets out how any personal data you provide us will be processed. For additional information regarding our services and on how we use cookies please refer to our Terms & Conditions.

Who we are

St George’s, University of London is a higher education institution located in Tooting, South London, and is a member of the University of London.We are the ‘Data Controller’ of the information you provide us with, and we are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for the purposes of UK data protection legislation, registration number Z5770328.

How to contact us

If you would like more information about how we collect, use and store your personal data, you can contact our university Data Protection Officer at:

Email: wp@sgul.ac.uk

Telephone: 0208 266 6483

Address: Widening Participation, St George’s University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE.

What information we collect from you and why

In order to carry out our public task as a university and work to improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups in higher education, we collect your personal data when you apply to or attend a St George's Widening Participation event. This personal information is collected through the application form for the event.

While the exact information we collect varies between events, typical data that we might collect include:

  • name
  • gender
  • date of birth
  • home address
  • telephone number
  • e-mail address
  • special requirements, such as allergies or faith requirements
  • previous educational experience and academic achievement
  • parent or guardian's name (depending on the age of the applicant)
  • parent or guardian's experience of higher education
  • eligibility for free school meals, pupil premium or additional financial support from your school/college
  • if you have ever been in care.

We also collect some more sensitive data, or special category data, on the basis of the substantial public interest of our agenda to widen participation from particular underrepresented groups in higher education. This includes information about:

  • ethnicity
  • if you have a disability.

What we do with your data

Some of this information, such as your telephone number or any special requirements that you may have on the day of the event, is collected for administrative purposes, and will be deleted or anonymized after the event.

Some of the data collected will be used to select participants at the event, to ensure that our outreach work is being targeted at the most appropriate underrepresented groups.

We also collect and retain some of your data for research and evaluation, to help us monitor who our outreach work is reaching and how effective it is at achieving its goals. This includes monitoring the characteristics of students applying to and attending our events, and tracking participants to see if they enter higher education.

We will indicate on the application form what data will be deleted after the event, what will be used for selection, and what will be used for monitoring and evaluation purposes.

Where we store your information and who we share your information with

Your personal data will be processed by St George’s University of London as the data controllers. We keep your information securely stored where access is restricted to authorised staff only. We may share your data with third parties when necessary for research or evaluation purposes. If we do share your data we will ensure that appropriate agreements are in place to govern how the third party uses and stores your data.

We may share your data with third parties when necessary for research or evaluation purposes. If we do share your data we will ensure that appropriate agreements are in place to govern how the third party uses and stores your data.

HEAT

One of the tools that we use to monitor and evaluate our outreach work is the Higher Education Access Tracker, or HEAT. HEAT is a non-profit service that helps universities across England monitor and evaluate their outreach programs. We may share your data with HEAT in order to track your progress into higher education and beyond.

Further information on HEAT can be found on their website here: heat.ac.uk

How long we keep your information for

We only keep your data when necessary to fulfill our agenda of improving equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups in higher education, so when appropriate we will delete or anonymize your personal data after an event (see What we do with your data).

When your data is necessary to evaluate and monitor our outreach work, we retain your data in line with HEAT's retention schedule. This usually means keeping your data until you are 30 years old, or for 15 years from your graduation if you enter higher education. For more details, please see HEAT's retention schedule.

What your rights are

You have a right to access your personal data, to object to the processing of your personal data, to change, erase, restrict and move your personal data.

To request a copy of the personal data we hold for you, to correct or update this data, or if you have queries about any of your other rights regarding our use of your personal data, please contact the University Data Protection Officer using the contact details below.

Email: dataprotection@sgul.ac.uk

Telephone: 020 8725 0668

Address: Data Protection Officer, Information Services, St George’s University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE.

How to make a complaint

If you are unhappy with the way in which your personal data is being processed you may, in the first instance, lodge a complaint with the University Data Protection Officer using the contact details above.

If you continue to have concerns thereafter you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted as below

Helpline: 0303 123 1113

Website: ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/raising-concerns/.

Changes to our privacy policy

Any changes to our privacy policy will be posted on the St George’s website, and where appropriate notified to you by email.

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