Data Protection Policy

BWBS Education Consultants (BWBS) Student Privacy Notice / GDPR Policy For Students

BWBS is authorised agent of University. BWBS will be what’s known as the ‘Data Controller’ of your personal data processed in order to facilitate, administer and manage your time as a student with the University. This Privacy Notice will explain how the University will process your personal data.

Changes to this Notice

The University may change this Privacy Notice at any time and may also provide additional notices on specific occasions when they collect and process your personal information. These additional privacy notices are supplemental to this main Privacy Notice. We recommend checking this Notice periodically to stay informed of any changes. However, if any changes affect your rights and interests, we will notify you and provide a clear explanation of how it affects you.

Your Personal Data: Why BWBS and University Need it?

We understand that you might be worried about what personal data we collect as a student of the University. Here’s what you need to know:

Student record: As a student, you will have a “student record” that includes information you provided during your application and registration process. This record will also have information added throughout your time as a student.

Types of personal data: We collect personal information such as

Personal and family details
Financial information
Education records
Attendance and disciplinary records
Relevant employment details
Images for identification
Goods or services provided

Special category data: We only process special category data in limited circumstances, such as when we have a legal obligation to do so or with your explicit consent. Special category data includes things like

Race or ethnic origin,
Political opinions,
Health data
Religious or philosophical beliefs
Trade union membership
Genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying an individual
Sexual orientation

We take your privacy seriously, and we only use your personal data for specific reasons. If you have any questions about what data we collect or how we use it, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Why We Process Your Personal Data

We want to make sure you are fully aware of how we utilize your personal information since we recognize the fact that you might be concerned.

Here is an explanation of why we handle your data:

Processing your application: We use your personal data to process your application and make sure everything runs smoothly while you’re a student with us.

Administrative purposes: We use your information to manage fees, facilities, timetabling, and provide services like the library or careers service.

Providing pastoral care: We have a responsibility to ensure your safety and well-being while you’re with us, and we use your personal data to support this duty of care.

Academic purposes: We provide you with learning and teaching support services, academic advisory and supervision, and optional services to help you progress and achieve your goals.

Security and safety: We use your data to keep you and our campus safe and to prevent and detect crime.

Legal and statutory reporting: We may be required by law to report certain information, and we use your data to comply with these obligations.

Archiving and research purposes: We use your data for research and statistical analysis to improve our services and understand learning analytics.

Promoting the University: We may ask for your consent to use your personal data to promote the University.

Who BWBS and University share it with and why?

When you apply to universities through BWBS, they represent you in the admission process. Sometimes, the university may need to share your personal information with other parties, such as

Partner institutions: In some cases, we may need to share your personal data with partner institutions for things like student exchanges or joint/collaborative agreements.

Student sponsors and funding organizations: We may need to share your data with student sponsors (like the Student Loan Company) or funding organizations (like the Scottish Funding Council) if they are helping to fund your education.

Students’ Representative Council (SRC): We may need to share your data with elected members of the Students’ Representative Council for verification or to help them perform their duties as representatives of the student community.

Professional and accreditation bodies: If you’re studying in a field that requires accreditation (like medicine or dentistry), we may need to share your data with the relevant accrediting body.

External examiners: We may need to share your data with external examiners to help with academic administration and progression.

Government departments: In some cases, we may need to share your data with relevant government departments (like UK Visas and Immigration) if we have a legal obligation to do so.

Local authorities: We may need to share your data with local authorities for council tax purposes.

IT providers: We may use third-party IT providers to provide certain services, and we may need to share your data with them for that purpose.

Law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies: We may need to share your data with law enforcement agencies or other regulatory bodies if we have a legal obligation to do so.

Work placement sites: If you’re studying in a field that requires work placement (like medicine or education), we may need to share your data with work placement sites or educational partners.

Emergency situations: In case of emergency situations, we may need to share your emergency contact details and other appropriate information with relevant authorities.

Home institutions: If you’re studying on the Go Abroad Programme, your home institution will receive an academic transcript. If you’re on the Erasmus programme, your home institution may also receive an academic transcript.

Electoral registration officers: We may need to share your data with electoral registration officers.

Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA): We may need to share your data with HESA for research surveys like the National Student Survey or the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey.

We take your privacy seriously, and we only share your personal data with third parties when it’s necessary for specific reasons.

Information sources

The University collects personal information from multiple sources, including directly from you when you apply and register for classes. Also, throughout your tenure at the University, and from third-party sources such as UCAS, funding bodies like the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, sponsors, partner institutions, and government departments.

Transferring Personal Data outwith the European Economic Area (EEA)

In some situations, to achieve the objectives of processing your personal data, it may be necessary to share it with organizations based outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This may occur, for example, if you participate in the Go Abroad Programme, study at the University in collaboration with an international partner, or apply through an international agent. To safeguard your personal data, we will implement appropriate measures when sharing it with organizations outside of the EEA.

Keeping Your Personal Data Safe

BWBS and The University has a series of technical and organisational measures in place to ensure that your personal data is protected and safeguarded.

Graduation Ceremonies Organised by University

The University regards Graduation ceremonies as public occasions, and therefore, audio and visual recordings of the events will be accessible online (live streaming is only available during the ceremonies). The names of all graduands, including those graduating in absentia, will be published in the graduation program. Graduation lists will also be printed in newspapers, and during enrollment for graduation, you will have the option to choose whether or not you want to be included in these publications.

General Council

All graduates of the University are members of the General Council, the graduate and academic body of the University. The University has a statutory obligation to retain a list of General Council members, to conduct General Council elections, and to inform members about General Council activities.

Alumni

The University’s Development and Alumni Office processes and stores personal information relating to alumni and students. Alumni include graduates, former students receiving non-graduating qualifications, and former exchange students.

CCTV

The University operates CCTV systems throughout its campuses for the purposes of public safety and the prevention and detection of crime. The University’s CCTV Policy will be published online.

Retention

The University will keep your personal data only for as long as it is necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Notice. After you finish or discontinue your studies, the University will be obligated to retain certain data in compliance with applicable regulations that require maintaining records for specific periods. Additionally, a limited amount of data will be held indefinitely to ensure a record of your educational accomplishments and credentials is maintained.

Your rights

Under data protection legislation and as a student of the University, you have a number of rights including the right to —

Withdraw consent, at any time, where that is the legal basis of our processing
Access your personal data and obtain a copy, free of charge
Rectify inaccuracies in personal data that we hold about you
Erasure, that is, have your details removed from systems that we use to process your personal data
Restrict the processing in certain ways
Obtain a portable copy of data you have given to us in a commonly used electronic form
Object to certain processing of your personal data by us.

Complaints

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact Mr. Bashir Ahmed (the Data Protection Officer) who will investigate the matter.

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at bashir.ahmed@bwbsolutions.co.uk

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) https://ico.org.uk/