Privacy policy

Privacy policy

About our privacy policy

As the data controller of your personal data, London Metropolitan University is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), effective from 25 May 2018.

This privacy notice outlines how London Metropolitan University (also referred to as "we", "us" or "our") collects, uses and shares your personal data. It also explains your rights regarding the personal data we hold. The privacy notice relates to our processing of personal data of prospective students (also referred to as "you" or "your") of London Metropolitan University for marketing purposes.

What personal data we collect

We will collect details such as:

• your name, email address, telephone number (and other contact details if known) as well as other details such as date of birth, postal address, residency status, nationality, ethnicity, level of study, your areas of interest, educational history, CV, personal references, passport details, visa information, criminal record declarations, and entry test and interview information if required
• personal information about disabilities and dietary requirements to help us accommodate you at events

How we collect your personal data

There are numerous ways in which London Metropolitan University will collect your personal data. These include:

• when you register your interest in London Metropolitan University via our website
• when you communicate with us through our website, via email or telephone, or in person, eg when making an enquiry or requesting a prospectus
• when you share your personal data with us at an external higher education fair or event, such as those organised by third parties such as UCAS or those taking place internationally
• when you respond to one of our marketing campaigns on a third party website (including social media channels) and provide your personal data
• when you make an application to study at London Metropolitan University or one of our partner institutions, either via UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) or when you make a direct application to study with us

We store any data you have provided to us as an enquirer, on your application, throughout your studies with us or at any point after graduation.

How we use your information

We will use your personal data for a number of reasons such as:

• marketing and recruitment – for example, we will use your personal data to send you information about London Metropolitan University, the subject area(s) you're interested in, details about upcoming events, reminders about important deadlines, eg application deadlines, and other relevant services
• events – for example, to ensure we accommodate your requirements (eg those relating to a disability or dietary needs)
• to assess your application and create your student record (during the application process)
• to provide you with career development support (once you have applied to us)

If your personal information has been provided by another person (eg via our refer a friend scheme) we will send you a one-off email to make you aware of our privacy policy.

How we share your information with others (our partners)

We will share some of your personal data with relevant third parties. This will be for the purposes referred to in this privacy notice. This may include disclosing limited personal data to employees, agents and contractors where there is a legitimate reason to do so, including: 

• external marketing agencies, print suppliers or fulfilment houses we work with to send you relevant marketing communications
• third parties who provide us with essential software that is used to store and process your personal data. The University will only transfer personal data to the receiving organisation who has provided they have adequate safeguards.
• internal and external auditors
• organisations with an interest in tracking applicant and student progress and attendance, including student sponsors (eg the Student Loans Company and other relevant parties)
• government departments or agencies where we have a statutory obligation to provide information (eg the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Office for Students (OfS), the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the Home Office (for visa and immigration purposes)
• third parties conducting surveys for the purposes of gaining feedback about our marketing or events 

Changes to your personal data

It is important that you tell us promptly about any changes to the information we hold about you, including your contact details. You can do this via the contact page on our website.

How long your information is kept for

We do not retain your personal data for longer than is required in order to provide you with relevant information or services unless you request us to do otherwise. We will retain some information indefinitely for archive purposes and to support your lifelong relationship with London Metropolitan University.

Should you choose to stop receiving marketing communications, London Metropolitan University is obliged to opt you out within 28 days.

Your rights

The General Data Protection Regulation gives you the rights outlined below: 

• to obtain access to, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you
• to require that we stop processing your personal data on your request
• to require that we do not send you marketing communications
• to require London Metropolitan University to make corrections to the personal data that we hold about you, if this is incorrect
• to require that we erase your personal data
• to require that we 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 from the University the personal data we hold about you, which you have provided to us, in a reasonable and intelligible format, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another data controller
• to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any of our particular processing activities where you feel this has a disproportionate impact on your rights

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

If you have given your consent and you wish to withdraw it, please contact the University Secretary’s Office using the contact details below. Please note that where our processing of your personal data relies on your consent and where you then withdraw that consent, we may not be able to provide all or some aspects of our services to you and/or it may affect the provision of those services.

This privacy statement was designed to be as clear and concise as possible – it does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of London Metropolitan University’s collection and use of personal data.

We will update this privacy policy to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes we will notify you through the channels that you’ve opted into or via a notice on this website. We encourage you to periodically review this page for the latest information on our privacy practices.

We are not responsible for the practices employed by third party websites. Links to and from our website, and therefore the information or the content contained on those websites, are provided solely as reference points to allow you access information on topics that may be useful to our website users. Please note, when you use a link to go from our website to a third party website, our privacy policy will no longer apply.

Contact us

If you'd like to opt out of our marketing communications, please email conversion@londonmet.ac.uk stating which channels (email, phone, text) you'd like to opt out of.

If you’d like to know more about how we process your personal information or have any questions, please contact the Data Protection Officer using the following details:

Email: dsar@londonmet.ac.uk
Data Protection Officer
University Secretary’s Office
London Metropolitan University
166-220 Holloway Road
London
N7 8DB

You can also use the above details to request access to the personal information we hold about you.

To find out more about your data protection rights, visit the Information Commissioner’s Office website. You can also contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if you’re not happy with the way we are processing your personal data.