Statement
UniCourse are committed to safeguarding and preserving the privacy of our visitors. We take your privacy very seriously, and therefore, we urge you to read our Privacy Policy to ensure that you understand who we are, the reasons as to why we collect/process your personal information and how we do this. This policy clearly outlines what your rights are regarding your personal information, and what you need to do in the event of requesting your personal information or raising a complaint.
This Privacy Policy is compliant with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and outlines what happens to personal data that you provide to us whilst you visit our site or purchase our products/services why we obtain it, how long for and our lawful basis for processing such data.
Please note that this policy is subject to continuous review and improvements, and therefore, please do review this policy regularly.
Scope
This document applies to you if you are a visitor of our website, have requested information regarding our products/services and/or you are a student of UniCourse.
Who we are
UniCourse Limited is the data controller in relation to the data processing activities outlined in this policy. This means that we have the responsibility of lawfully deciding why and how we process your data.
Collection of personal information
In running and maintaining our website we may collect and process the following data about you:
- Information about your use of our site including details of your visits, such as pages viewed and the resources that you access. Such information includes traffic data, location data and other communication data.
- Information provided voluntarily by you. For example, when you register for information, enrol/apply for one of our on line courses, or make a purchase. This may include your name, address, date of birth, telephone number, etc. By giving us such information, you consent to the processing of your data.
- Information that you provide when you communicate with us by any means.
As soon as you contact us, usually via an information request, you are consenting to us fulfilling your request by contacting you with relevant information regarding the product/service of which you have shown interest in. We create a record in your name and information is added throughout the application, enrolment and payment process.
Sensitive personal information
Sensitive personal information refers to the following:
• Genetic and biometric data
• Ethnicity
• Religion
• Criminal offences
• Political views/opinions
• Whether you are a member of a trade union
• Physical/mental health
If we ask you for such sensitive personal information, we will inform you of the reasons of which we are requesting it and the purpose for obtaining such data. However, we will not collect any of your sensitive personal information unless you provide us with clear consent.
Providing us with third parties’ information
By providing us with a third party’s information, you are confirming that you are acting on the third party’s behalf and that they have agreed/gave you permission to do so. Such permission also includes consent to process their data.
Use of personal data
We may use your personal information to process specific requests, such as information requests, application forms, enrolment forms and payments. You may provide us with information about disabilities or special requirements you have, and if so, this will be used to make reasonable adjustments for your studying time with UniCourse. If you provide us with ‘special category’ information, we will only use this additional information for the purpose for which it was provided. We may also use your personal information to continually review, develop and enhance our products/services.
Why can we collect and process your personal information?
Our data collection and processing activities operate within several lawful basis’, which are listed below. Relying on these lawful basis’ allows us to collect your personal information.
Legitimate Interests
- In some cases, it may be necessary and within our legitimate interests to process your personal information. Please see below a list of specific purposes:
- To maintain contact with you after you have received your qualification
- To enhance your experience
- To keep you up to date with what we have to offer, i.e. our modules, courses or other services. To opt-out of such communications, please refer to clause 5.
- To monitor visitor habits in order to constantly improve your experience whilst visiting our website
- To prevent fraudulent activities
- To ensure regulatory compliance
Our legal obligations to share your data
One of our obligations as an education provider is to provide information about our learners to awarding bodies, whom we have a contractual agreement with, such as Edexcel, ILM and City and Guilds. We process this information to register learners with such bodies and to process certifications.
Marketing
Occasionally, we may undertake market research and additionally, we may send you information regarding special offers/promotional deals which we feel are relevant to your interests based on your previous/current shown interests for a specific product/service. We send such marketing communications via email, text message and telephone. Your information is held securely and any transferring data activities that take place will only be made if absolutely necessary. If the qualification that you are studying leads to professional recognition, for example, ILM, Edexcel or City and Guilds, we may share some information with the relevant professional body. We may also disclose your information to our third-party service providers, or directly to you on our behalf. Information will only be provided if the disclosure is necessary for them to provide their service.
Upon initial contact, we will ask you whether you would like us to send you marketing communications. For example, if you submit an information request, you will have the option to tick one of two boxes, as to whether you explicitly consent to marketing communications or not.
Opting out of marketing communications
Marketing emails will always have an opt-out option to prevent us from marketing to you in the future if you wish to not receive them. Alternatively, you can email enquiries@unicourse.org to opt-out from receiving marketing information from us.
Retention periods
There are a number of factors which determine the length of time we hold your personal information for. These factors include our purpose and legal obligations for holding the data.
Any personal information that you provide to us will be kept for 3 years. Such personal information is voluntarily provided by you in the form of: information requests, enrolment forms and application forms. If you study with us, we will keep your data, including personal information and academic transcripts, for 3 years from the date that you completed your qualification. This is to ensure that we can provide references for you if you wish for an organization to request one.
We keep other data, such as courses of interest and analytics, which does not include any of your personal information. We use this data to monitor our performance and review/improve our processes.
Your Rights
You have the right to:
• Access and view the personal information that we hold about you (please refer to clause 7 for more information on how to do this)
• Correct/rectify the personal information that we hold about you
• Opt-out of direct marketing communications (please refer to clause 5 for more information on how to do this)
In certain circumstances, you have the right to:
• Request for your personal information to be removed from our databases/systems
• Restrict how we process your personal data
• Object to processing of your personal data
Accessing your personal information
You obtain the right to access information that we hold about you, in line with the General Data Protection Regulation. You can request this information by emailing enquiries@unicourse.org
Use of cookies
We do not accept responsibility or liability for the use of third parties’ cookies, as the creation and access of such cookies are subject to their own privacy policies. You are able to disable cookies on your PC. However, disabling the use of cookies could decrease the effectiveness of your use on our website. Cookies provide information regarding the computer used by a visitor. where appropriate to gather information about your computer in order to assist us in improving our website.
We may gather information about your general internet use by using the cookie. Where used, these cookies are downloaded to your computer and stored on the computer’s hard drive. Such information will not identify you personally. It is statistical data. This statistical data does not identify any personal details whatsoever.
You can adjust the settings on your computer to decline any cookies if you wish. This can easily be done by activating the reject cookies setting on your computer.
Our advertisers may also use cookies, over which we have no control. Such cookies (if used) would be downloaded once you click on advertisements on our website. We use cookies to deliver targeted advertising which in turn measures the performance of our advertising. Technologies which may set cookies on this site include (but are not limited to) AdWords and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, lnstagram and others).
Security
In operating our website, it may become necessary to transfer data that we collect from you to locations outside of the European Union for processing and storing. By providing your personal data to us, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We do our upmost to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to make sure that your data is treated stored securely.
Unfortunately, the sending of information via the internet is not totally secure and on occasion such information can be intercepted. We cannot guarantee the security of data that you choose to send us electronically. Sending such information is entirely at your own risk.
Disclosing your Information
We will not disclose your personal information to any other party other than in accordance with this Privacy Policy and in the circumstances detailed below:
• In the event that we sell any or all of our business to the buyer.
• Where we are legally required by law to disclose your personal information.
• To further fraud protection and reduce the risk of fraud.
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics, which allows us to collect information regarding how visitors use our site. This information is analysed to assist with continuous improvements to enhance our visitor’s experience during their site visit. Google Analytics use cookies which collect information anonymously. Some of the information that we collect via google analytics consists of where visitors have come to the site from, pages visited, and the amount of time spent on the site.
Third Parties
In order for us to fulfil our contract with you, we use third party companies/providers to process specific data. We only disclose personal information that is necessary for such providers to continue to provide their services to us. Such third parties include Moodie (A virtual learning environment), World Pay (Payment processer), Cognito Forms (Application for information requests, application forms, and enrolment forms), Knack Database (Maintenance of student records), and Dropbox (Where we electronically store communications and learners submit their academic assignments.
Third party links
On occasion we include links to third parties on this website. Where we provide a link, it does not mean that we endorse or approve that site’s policy towards visitor privacy. You should review their privacy policy before sending them any personal data.
What activities are necessary for us to fulfil the contract we have with you?
Please see below the following data processing activities of which are necessary for us to fulfil the contract we have with you.
- Creating, maintaining and updating your record
- Administering your application forms and/or enrolment forms in order to register you as a learner
- Providing you with access to our systems and assessments
- Providing our support services and academic support
- Managing and resolving/rectifying complaints and enquiries
- Administering payments and refunds
- Administering grades/marks, qualifications and awards
- Recording of study events
Contacting us
If you have any enquiries or concerns regarding this policy, you can contact our HR team at enquiries@unicourse.org.
