Student Applicant Privacy Notice

If you enquired about studying at the University, you were told how the University would use your personal data to process your enquiry and we referred you to the Student Enquiries Privacy Notice on our website. This referred to this Applicant Privacy Notice for details about how we would use your personal data if you apply to become a student at the University. After you have applied, we process your data as set out on our website in both the Student Enquiry Privacy Notice and this Student Applicant Privacy Notice.

If you have submitted or are intending to submit your application through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) or another clearing house, that organisation will inform you of the basis upon which they share your personal data with us. This page provides information about how we will use the personal data we received from that organisation.

If you have applied, or are intending to apply, directly to the University, this page explains how we will use the personal data you will provide, or have provided, to us directly.

Sometimes another organisation will also be a data controller of your personal data; for example, if you are applying to study a programme delivered collaboratively with, or on behalf of another organisation, or if you have applied to us for accommodation as we provide student details to accommodation providers. That organisation should explain this to you, as well as how and why it uses your data.

Falmouth University will process the personal information you provide to us when you submit your application to the University to create a core application record. This will be the case whether you submit your application directly to us or if you use a third party service such as UCAS, and this will include;

1. Your personal details, such as your name, home address and other contact details, age and date of birth, gender, nationality, country of birth, your dependents, whether you are a care leaver
2. Information about your area of study
3. Funding arrangements
4. If you are an international applicant, details about your visa and immigration status
5. Your expected or awarded qualifications
6. Information about your previous education and work experience
7. Information in any supporting documentation which is provided by you or a third party (such as information from referees, from qualification awarding bodies or results which UCAS provides to us) during the application process
8. If you are from a low income household
9. If anyone from your family has been to university
10. If you are from a military family

The School or department within the University in which you have applied to study may also keep records about your application, including:

1. Details of any selection procedures you've been a part of
2. Any interactions between you and academic staff on your chosen programme of study
3. Attendance at applicant events
4. Eligibility for any financial aid or awards
5. General correspondence and administration in relation to your application

We may also need to process some data about you that is classed as 'special category' or sensitive personal data. This data includes data about your ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or health/disability data. We only use this information to offer you support or reasonable adjustments and for statistical, research and monitoring purposes. Access to, and the sharing of, your special category personal data is controlled very carefully.

Information about you is created, stored and transmitted securely in a variety of paper and electronic formats, including databases. Only those staff who need access for the purpose of administering the admissions process and allocating accommodation will be able to access your personal data.

Criminal convictions: The University may hold and process data about criminal offences or convictions if you have disclosed this on your application or if it is appropriate given the nature of your programme. We will use information about criminal convictions and offences in the following ways:

1. To consider your suitability to become a member of the University or to continue to be a member of the University or to decide if any support or measures need to be put in place
2. To comply with regulatory requirements to decide your suitability to study on a regulated programme or to practise in a regulated profession
3. Consideration of safeguarding issues
4. We will only use information relating to criminal convictions where the law allows us to do so and in line with our Data Protection Policy. Personal data relating to criminal convictions will be retained confidentially and securely and access to that data will be strictly controlled.

The University needs to process this personal data for a number of reasons in order to deal with your application. Specifically, we will process your data:

1. To consider the suitability of your application for the programme to which you have applied or, if we cannot make an offer of admission for that programme, for any other programme for which your application is relevant
2. To enable you to take part in events for applicants (for example, applicant visit days, interviews or other selection events
3. To consider your application for accommodation
4. To communicate effectively with you by post, email, phone or other electronic media (such as social media)
5. To provide you with information about the programme and accommodation for which you have applied
6. To provide you with information relating to the local area and the University (including its facilities and services)
7. To notify you of our decision on your application
8. To allocate accommodation
9. To compile statistics and conduct research for statutory reporting purposes
10. To fulfil and monitor our legal responsibilities, for example, under equalities, immigration and public safety legislation
11. To enable us to contact others (for example, any next of kin or emergency contact details you have provided) in the event of an emergency (we will assume that you have obtained consent from those individuals before you supply their contact details to us)
12. To comply with any relevant statutory obligations
13. To identify students eligible for our Raising Aspirations programme as part of our commitment to Widening Participation
14. To fulfil and monitor our legal responsibilities, for example, under equalities, immigration and public safety legislation

If you tell us about a disability, we will pass this to our Accessibility Team who will contact you to offer support and let you know how you can access our services. You will be provided with further details about how your data will be used for this purpose through the Accessibility Team's data gathering forms.

We use software to help us improve your online experience, such as profiling and analytics software. We will never use profiling to make automated decisions about you, and we will only ever use data gathered by this software to improve our practices and approach to potential applicants.

We also use the information you provide to compile statistics and conduct research in relation to enquirers, applicants and students for the purpose of planning, reviewing, managing and developing the University's business, (but not to make any decisions about you).

We sometimes use 'profiling' software to help us make sure the information we send you is appropriate for you, but we do not use 'profiling' software to make any automated decisions about your application to the University.

We consider will process your personal data for the following reasons:

1. Taking all relevant and necessary steps to determine whether to make an offer to study at the University and, if so, to decide on the terms of that offer so you can decide whether to enter into a contract with the University, that is, to take steps at your request before entering into a contract
2. Compliance with a legal obligation or regulatory obligation
3. The performance of tasks we carry out in the public interest
4. For the purposes of the University's legitimate business interests
5. For the purposes of an external organisation's legitimate interests; or
6. Archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes

Special category personal data will only be processed with your explicit consent or where it is necessary for:

1. For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
2. Protecting your or another person's vital interests
3. Archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes

If we require your consent for any specific use of your personal data, it will be collected at the appropriate time by us or another relevant organisation (for example, UCAS), explaining why we are collecting the data and how we will use it, and you can withdraw your consent at any time.

Your information will be used throughout the University with only those staff who need to process your personal data for the purposes set out above.

Your personal data is also shared as necessary in an organised and confidential basis with several external organisations which assist the University with handling enquiries and student applications and with sending you information in the post. Where this is the case, we will have formal agreements in place with any third party organisation and they will be acting in accordance with our instructions and will not process your data for any other purposes other than what we have asked them to do. Sometimes your personal data is processed by these organisations outside the European Economic Area (usually because they use cloud systems provided by companies such as Microsoft or Google). If this is the case then we always ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal data.

Your personal data is shared with a range of external organisations as is necessary for the purposes set out above and as permitted or required by law, including the following:

1. The providers of any external or collaborative learning and training placements or fieldwork opportunities (and we will explain to you how and when this will be shared when we collect the data from you);
2. Relevant Government Departments;
3. Relevant executive agencies or non-departmental public bodies (for example, UK Visas and Immigration)
4. An overseas representative formally recognised by the University through whom you have submitted your application or who is supporting your application. This may include an agent or prospective sponsor who has submitted an application on your behalf
5. Relevant Higher Education bodies (for example, the Office for Students, UK Research and Innovation, Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the Office for Fair Access)
6. Occasionally and when necessary, the police and other law enforcement agencies, for the prevention or detection of crime
7. Occasionally and when necessary internal and external auditors or regulators
8. Individuals, companies or organisations providing specific services to, or on behalf of, the University
9. The Department for Education (DfE) - if we should add this under 'Relevant Government Departments'
10. Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) - if we should add this under 'Relevant Higher Education bodies'
11. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) - if we should add this under 'Relevant Higher Education bodies'
12. Their current school, academy or college - if we should add this under 'Relevant Higher Education bodies'

Your personal data may be shared as necessary by certain courses in an organised and confidential basis with current students to assist the University with handling the student applications interview process. Where this is the case, these current students will know your name and have access to your portfolio. This is a well controlled process and any current student will be acting in accordance with our instructions and will not process your data for any other purposes other than what we have asked them to do. Your details are not retained by any current student after the interview.

We ensure we have appropriate data sharing agreements in place before sharing your personal data with any other data controllers.

If your application to the University is successful, the information held in your core application record will form the basis of your core student record. Details of how we use student data can be found in the Student Privacy Notice on the University website.

We will never share your personal data with external organisations for marketing their products or services. We do not sell your personal data and never will, to anyone, under any circumstances.

If you are admitted as a student of the University, we will retain the personal data collected during the admissions process for 6 years after the start of the academic year in which you were admitted to the University. We do this so we can respond to any queries you or third parties may have about your application or studies, qualifications or student experience, to prepare references, to respond to any concerns or complaints and as part of our assessment of any future application you make for further studies at the University.

If you require a Tier 4 student visa to undertake your studies, we will retain your information in order to meet the audit requirements of the Home Office.

If your application is unsuccessful, or you decline an offer of a place at the University, we will retain your personal data for 5 years after the start of the academic year for which you applied. We do this so we can respond to any queries you or third parties may have about your application, to respond to any concerns or complaints and as part of our assessment of any future application you make for further studies at the University.

If you defer an application from one academic year to the next the above schedules will apply from the start of the academic year to which your application was deferred.

Your core application record (see 'What personal data will be processed?' above) is retained indefinitely to carry out statistical analysis in relation to applicant groups and student population or for historical or research purposes or to meet such reporting obligations as may be imposed on the University by relevant authorities, for example the Office for Students. Information held for these purposes will not be used to make decisions about you or to contact you with any marketing or other materials.

HEAT records are kept until the individual is 30, or if they go to university 15 years after graduation. This is because it's about impact of progression, so we may work with, and record details, of any student from Year 7 upwards to identify if/when they enrol in HE or their progression after graduation.