Privacy Notice

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data).

We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender.
• Contact Data includes billing address, delivery address, email address and telephone numbers.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Profile Data includes your username and password, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
• A record of any correspondence you send to us through our website.
• Data that you provide in placing an order through the University Network, completing applications for entry into a Programme of Study at the University, application forms for accommodation, entry into Prize Draws and competitions and details of donations you make to the University;

Where you are required to enter your username and password to gain access to the University Network or a University Network Service, over and above the information referred to above, we may also collect information about external networks and resources you have visited, accessed or materials downloaded.

From time to time the University runs surveys about various aspects related to its Services, including but not limited to surveys about certain Users’ travelling habits to and from campus, the student experience, graduate employability and so forth. These surveys are anonymous but in certain circumstances because of the other information we hold about Users who are also members of the University community a User may be identifiable.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature.

However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice. 

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data) unless we specifically ask you for your consent for us to collect this data through our online forms. We do not collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

Direct interactions. You may give us your identity, contact and financial data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:

• request information about Programmes of Study which could be of interest to you in the future;
• apply for our products or services;
• create an account on our website;
• subscribe to our service or publications;
• request marketing to be sent to you;
• send you details of any fund-raising campaigns.
• request information about events, conferences, seminars, or other workshops and conferences which may be of interest to you;
• request information and updates about the University’s achievements in research, education and enterprise;
• enter a competition, promotion or survey; or
• give us some feedback.

Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy  for further details.

Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties as set out below:

• Technical Data from the following parties:

- analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU;

- advertising networks such as Google AdWords and Facebook based outside the EU and

- search information providers such as Google based outside the EU.

• Identity and Contact Data from data brokers or aggregators such as UCAS, WhatUni based inside the EU.
  
  
• Identity and Contact Data from publicly availably sources such as social media, electoral register, Companies House etc.

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests.

We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law).

Generally we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending direct marketing communications to you via email or text message or where you have consented to us collecting your personal information through one of our online forms.  Where you have provided your consent you have the right to withdraw it at any time by Contacting us.

We will only process your Data for the specific purpose or purposes that we tell you about, or if specifically permitted by the UK Data Protection Act 1998 or the Data Protection Act 2018 (depending on which is in force at the relevant time), and will only process your data to the extent necessary for that specific purpose or purposes.

We will keep the data we store about you accurate and up to date as relevant to the purpose or purposes for which we process it. Data that is inaccurate or out of date will be destroyed. Please notify us if your personal details change or if data we hold about you is inaccurate.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees of the University who have a business need-to-know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy. After this period, we will securely destroy your personal data in accordance with our Record Retention Schedule.

Your information will be shared internally within the University for the purposes of processing your enquiry, application, request or contract.

We may have to share your personal data externally with the following parties:

• Service providers acting as processors based outside the UK and the EEA who provide IT and system administration services such as Google Analytics and Data Studio, Google AdWords and DoubleClick and social media platforms.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based inside the UK and the EEA who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
• HM Revenue & Customs, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in the United Kingdom who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Exceptionally, we may disclose your Data with a third party if required to do so to protect or defend the University’s rights, interests, or property, or those of third parties; act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of University constituents, or the public; or protect against legal liability.

 We may transfer your data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is:

•  We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see European Commission: Adequacy of the protection of personal data in non-EU countries.
• Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe. For further details, see European Commission: Model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries.
• Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US. For further details, see European Commission: EU-US Privacy Shield.

Please Contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

You have a number of rights. You can:

• access and obtain a copy of your data on request;
• require us to change incorrect or incomplete data;
• require us to delete or stop processing your data, for example where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
• object to the processing of your data where we are relying on our legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
• ask us to stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data.

If you would like to exercise these rights please use our online form or write to:

The Data Protection Officer

Legal Services

University of Southampton, Highfield

Southampton, SO17 1BJ

Email: data.protection@soton.ac.uk

If at any stage you are concerned about the content of any communications from the University e.g. unwanted marketing information or you wish to change how we communicate with you please contact us at: gdpr@soton.ac.uk.

We also have additional policies and guidelines concerning particular activities. If you would like further information please see our Publication Scheme.

If you are unhappy with the way that we have handled your data you can contact us at: gdpr@soton.ac.uk or contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. See their website.