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Market Research Privacy Policy - Current Students

The University of Southampton is providing you with this information in order for us to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (‘GDPR’), which requires us at the time when we collect or re-use your personal data to provide you with certain information about the University and what we do with your data.

Who is collecting the information?

The University of Southampton as the “Data Controller”.

Who are we sharing your survey data with (externally)?

Your individual survey data will not be shared with anyone internally or externally. Any personal data collected are aggregated and used for analysis and reporting purposes only in a format from which you are not directly identifiable.  

Why are we collecting it/what we are doing with it (purposes)?

We are collecting your feedback with the aim of improving the experience by responding to the feedback received from students. The feedback is reported back on an aggregated level at both subject and University level.

What is the legal basis for processing?

As per your consent in line with Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing insres@soton.ac.uk

How are we collecting this information?

We are collecting the information directly from the participants using an online survey tool.

Minimum personally-identifiable data

Your survey response may be linked with personal demographic information from your student record which is held in Banner. This data is linked with your survey response so that you do not have to provide it again. This demographic information, such as age and course details, will subsequently be aggregated and used for analysis purposes and you will not be directly identifiable from it. All data will be held in accordance with the Market Research Society’s Code of Conduct and the GDPR.

Who can see your information within the University?

Access to your personal data provided in your survey response is restricted to the Institutional Research team at the University of Southampton who will review it for analysis purposes. Staff within the institution otherwise only have access to aggregated quantitative results through written reports. Open text comments will be circulated with the relevant staff members to assist the university to make improvements to your experience. You will not be personally identified.

How long is your information kept?

Raw data is held only for as long as it necessary for undertaking analysis and will not exceed 3 years.

How secure is your information?

Everyone working at the University has a legal duty to keep information about you confidential. There are strict codes of conduct in place to keep your information safe. Staff abide by the EU General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018, and the University Data Protection Policy.

We ensure that suitable measures are in place to prevent the unlawful or unauthorised processing and against the accidental loss of, or damage to, your personal information. This includes: 

i) Storing data on a secure, database.

ii) Training all our staff in Data Protection and their responsibilities.

iii) Collaborating only with reputable companies for data processing services, who comply with Data Protection Regulations and put in place appropriate non-disclosure agreements.

iv) Ensuring that alternative protection is in place if we work with trusted organisations based outside the European Economic Area (EEA) in countries that do not have comparable data protection laws to the UK.

v) We will work to internal best practice guidelines to ensure encryption, pseudonymisation and other data security measures are used at the appropriate time.

Who keeps your information updated?

There is no requirement to keep the information up-to-date – once the feedback is provided it is retained in that form on the file unless you request that it be changed.

Will your information be used for any automated decision making or profiling purposes?

Some survey answers are used to segment respondents into groups for analysis purposes. This segmentation is used for research and evaluation purposes only and will not result in any automated decisions being made that could affect you individually.

Is information transferred to a third party?

No, your information will not be transferred to a third party.

Amending/withdrawing your data

You have the right to withdraw your consent, access your data, rectify inaccurate or incomplete information, request erase, request restriction, and object to particular processing activities. If you would like to exercise any of these rights in respect of your data, or have any other queries about how your data is being used, please contact insres@soton.ac.uk.

Further contacts

More information regarding the University’s data protection policy can be found here, please see our Data protection and Freedom of Information page.

The data protection officer at the University of Southampton can be contacted by emailing data.protection@soton.ac.uk.

If you have a complaint about how your data is being used, you can contact the supervisory authority which is the Information Commissioner’s Office. The University of Southampton’s registration number with the Information Commissioner’s Office is Z6801020.

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