All Website Users Privacy Notice

If you choose to visit and use the Falmouth University website, this privacy notice provides information on how we use your personal data.

How does this privacy notice relate to other privacy notices?

This privacy policy outlines how Falmouth University collects, uses and protects information about you when you access the University's website. This includes content displayed on those pages, data collected via forms, cookies, web logs and analytic software.

Where data is being collected beyond the scope of this privacy notice, you will be alerted and the relevant pages will refer to their own privacy notice.

The website contains links to third-party websites that may be of interest to users. We are not responsible for the content of these websites and have no control over any personal data collected on them.

What personal data will be processed?

We collect information about you when you visit our website, and when you interact with our pages.

We also collect information when you voluntarily complete contact forms, provide feedback and submit queries. This may include:

  • Information that you provide to us: name, contact details, nationality, expected year of entry, academic qualifications, debit card payment details or other fields on our online forms
  • Information about the areas of the University you are interested in.

Any page requesting this personal information will provide details of how the information will be used and/or refer you to an appropriate privacy notice.

Cookies

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information, which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website if your browser preferences allow it.

We make use of cookies and analytics on our site. Cookie information includes:

  • Your IP address
  • Areas of the site visited and how long you spend on each page
  • Areas of the site you click on
  • Information about your computer (the make and model), the browser you are using, your network location, time zone, mobile information, the type of connection you are using

For more information, please see our cookie policy.

Web logs and analytics

Like almost all websites, we maintain log files and use analytics software on our web servers and sites, which include your IP address and data relating to the requests you make on our website (for example: request size, date, and referrer), along with details about your browser, geographical region, your internet connected device, the links you visit and the actions you take. These logs are held for diagnostic purposes and to improve and maintain the security and resilience of the site, as well as improve usability and analyse user trends. These files are only accessed by authorised members of staff, though they may be made available to the police on request.

The University is committed to ensuring the security of our website and any information you provide using the site. The University has procedures in place to help protect against loss, misuse and alteration of information.

Why are you processing this personal data?

The University will process your personal data for the following purposes:

  • Improve the site by monitoring how you use it and ensure that we understand who uses our website
  • Analyse the popularity, impact and security of our site
  • Respond to any feedback you send to us, if you've asked us to
  • Provide you with tailored information and access to services and events
  • Personalising your online experience with us
  • Examining trends, or assisting us in the development of courses, events and research
  • Provide digital advertising about our activities and programmes based on areas of the site you have visited
  • Help answer your questions and solve any issues you have

In addition to this, the University may need to process some data about you that is classed as 'special category' or sensitive personal data. We will usually ask you for consent to do this. This may include data about your ethnicity, or nationality which we use to identify appropriate webpages which may be of interest (e.g. international fees) and we also use it for reporting and monitoring purposes. The University will make sure that access to, and the sharing of, your special category personal data is controlled very carefully.

What is your legal basis for this processing?

We consider the processing of your personal data for these purposes to be necessary for:

  • the performance of our contractual obligations with you (e.g. to manage your studies, accommodation, your library access, your student experience and welfare while studying at Falmouth University), including the delivery of services you have requested
  • compliance with a legal obligation (e.g. equal opportunities monitoring) or regulatory obligation (e.g. reporting to Government or governmental bodies)
  • the performance of tasks we carry out in the public interest (e.g. teaching and research)
  • the pursuit of the legitimate interests of the University or external organisations (e.g. to enable your access to external services)

We will only process your special category data with your explicit consent or if it is necessary:

  • For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
  • Very occasionally, when it is needed to protect your or another person's vital interests and you are not capable of giving your consent (for example, in an emergency)
  • If it is in the substantial public interest
  • 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, we will collect it at the appropriate time, explaining why we are collecting the data and how we will use it, and you can withdraw this at any time.

Will any data be shared with a third party?

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 shared as is necessary, on a considered and confidential basis, with several external organisations which assist with processing your information. 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.

Sometimes we will embed content in our pages that we don't control or operate, such as social media: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. When you interact with these elements, which are clearly marked, you've not interacted with our website but the service embedded.

Except as we have explained above, we will not publish or disclose any personal data about you to other external enquirers or organisations unless you have asked us to do so or have consented to it, or unless it is in your vital interests to do so (e.g. in an emergency situation).

How long is my personal data kept by the University?

Details of the lifespan of each cookie are listed on our cookie policy and you can delete these at any time.

We use analytics cookies to hold information about your visit to our site for 3 years and it is destroyed after that period.

Data collected through contact forms, feedback and queries will be held for only the period for which that data is being processed, not exceeding 7 years, unless stated otherwise.

Your rights

To find out more about your rights, please visit our privacy page.

Does this page get updated?

This privacy notice is effective from the 25th of May 2018 and is reviewed annually. If we need to make changes, we'll let you know via email.