Privacy Notice for student applicants

This Privacy Notice is for applicants and offer-holders up to the point of matriculation. There is a separate privacy notice for currently enrolled students.

This privacy notice sets out how the University of Dundee collects, uses, shares and protects any information that you give us during the course of submitting an application for study at the University of Dundee, the subsequent processing and assessment of your application and, if successful in being offered a place, managing the process of your admission. It also sets out how long we keep your data and what rights you have regarding your data under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

"Processing" means us doing anything with your personal data, such as collecting, storing or holding the personal data as well as disclosing, destroying or using the data in any way.

How we use your information

Your personal data is used for the following purposes:

• to consider and evaluate your application for study;
• to contact you with any questions we may have, to offer you an interview or correspond with you concerning your application;
• to engage with you and send you information on the University, the city and the experience of studying here to help you when making your decision on your future studies and place of study;
• to book your attendance at any relevant online or in-person applicant events;
• to contact you to request feedback regarding your experience with us as an applicant;
• to conduct marketing activities, which may include the sharing of your data with the University’s student recruitment partners to determine the outcome of marketing initiatives and the creation of lookalike audiences for the purposes of advertising to users with similar characteristics on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat or TikTok. You can update your preferences by accessing your privacy settings on these sites.
• for conversion activity for offer-holders, using social media platforms e.g., Instagram or Facebook;

Contact methods include sending you messages by email or SMS or through your social media channels (where you initiate contact with us using them). We will also telephone you where appropriate.

If you are successful in securing a place with the University, your personal data forms the basis of your student record (see the University’s separate privacy notice for students). We will use your information to invite you to apply for a place in University accommodation and send you pre-enrolment information from the University. We will also pass your contact information to Dundee University Students’ Association (DUSA) so that they can send you information on the support, facilities and social events available to you from them during your time as a student in Dundee.

If you are unsuccessful in your application, we will retain your data for one full admissions cycle so that we can help with the process if you choose to reapply. We may also retain your data beyond that period, but it is only used for planning and reporting purposes and will not be published or used in a way that identifies or makes decisions about you.
 
The University makes certain statutory disclosures of information, for example to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and the funding councils. Your data will be used for those purposes.

The University may also share your information with its educational recruitment agents for marketing purposes. Any such sharing will only be undertaken within the scope of strictly defined data sharing agreements with these partners.

Your data may be provided by you directly, for example during direct application for study or during clearing; by an agent or referee on your behalf; or through an application agency such as UCAS.

Personal data

The personal data normally required during application is:

• your identification details such as your full name, date of birth, address, telephone numbers and email address. If you choose to contact us using your social media channels, we will also use them to communicate with you;
• information concerning your qualifications, previous educational institutions, employment or other life experiences relevant to your application;
• information from your referees;
• anything you include in your personal statement or provide to the University in support of your application.

Sensitive (special categories) of personal data

We may have information concerning any disability you disclose during your application so that we can make appropriate adjustments. This information is not used when assessing your application.

In limited circumstances, for example, when applying to professional programmes, information concerning PVG checks or criminal convictions may be required. We will engage with you concerning this data on a case-by-case basis.

Data controller

The University of Dundee is the data controller, which means that we are responsible for deciding which of your personal data we collect, and how we will use and store it. Your data will be processed by the University’s nominated agents such as software or service providers.

The University's student management system is SITS:Vision. Our University accommodation booking software is Room Service®. These are hosted on the University’s servers. SITS:Vision is used throughout the management of applications.

For some email communications we may use services called Campaign Monitor or Marketo. The emails we send will include information related to studying at the University of Dundee, to assist you in making a final decision about where to study. 

These services offer you an unsubscribe option with every email. We also use Eventbrite or Gecko Engage to manage event bookings for some applicant events which we may invite you to attend. Janet txt is used along with SITS:Vision to send you SMS messages to alert you to important email communications related to your application. You may also choose to chat to our student ambassadors via Unibuddy or The Ambassador Platform.

We have Data Processing Agreements with each of these providers. You can view their Privacy Policies on their websites:

• Gecko Engage
• Marketo
• Eventbrite
• Unibuddy 
• The Ambassador Platform
• Janet txt (PageOne)
• Campaign Monitor
• Studyportals

The University uses Microsoft Office 365 as its main productivity and communications software. This system is provided in the cloud and the provider has adopted binding corporate rules to safeguard your data. SITS:Vision is hosted on the University’s servers.

As an applicant, you are given a University email address and access to our Microsoft 365 environment. We will use this account to communicate with you. We will also give you access to relevant areas within our Virtual Learning Environment – Blackboard through your University login.

Additionally, according to our Cookie Policy, if you accept our recommended cookie settings, we will store anonymous data about your visits to our website. If you have previously given us your personal data through a marketing or recruitment activity, we will match this data to your website visit history (using Marketo). This information helps us to understand what information you are interested in, and we will use this to ensure we send you relevant information by email or deliver website content that you are more likely to be interested in (using Aquia Lift). You can update your cookie settings at any time by clicking the cog in the bottom left corner of your screen when you access our website.

All processing of personal data, including special categories of personal data, at the University requires the use of software or services provided by third parties in partnership with or procured by the University. This may involve disclosure of your information to countries outwith the European Economic Area (EEA), for example when the University works in collaboration with other institutions in the provision of your programme or when using software from providers based or with data centres located overseas. Processing of information outwith the European Economic Area is normally based upon UK ‘adequacy regulations’ for the country in which our supplier is based, the adoption of ‘binding corporate rules’ by our supplier or the use of ‘appropriate safeguards’ through putting an appropriate agreement or legal instrument in place. For more information, please see the University’s Guidance for transfers of personal data outwith the European Economic Area.

Lawful processing

The lawful grounds for processing personal data for these purposes are normally:

• the data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of those personal data for one or more specified purposes;
• processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
• processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;
• processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
• because it is necessary for the pursuit of our or a third party’s legitimate interests (unless those interests are overridden by your interests, rights or freedoms).

The lawful grounds for processing special categories of personal data for these purposes are normally:

• the data subject has given explicit consent to the processing of those personal data for one or more specified purposes;
• processing is necessary for the purposes of carrying out the obligations and exercising specific rights of the controller or of the data subject in the field of employment and social security and social protection law;

processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims or whenever courts are acting in their judicial capacity.

Future changes

If it becomes necessary in the future for the University to use your data for new purposes which have not been described in this privacy notice, we will always indicate any changes to our use of data in this privacy notice.

Your rights

The University respects your rights and preferences in relation to your data. If you wish to update, access, erase, or limit the use of your information, please let us know by emailing futurestudents@dundee.ac.uk. Please note that the University will respect your right to prevent your information being used for marketing.

Where you wish to restrict the use of your personal data for the purposes outlined above, please note that we may need to retain some limited data to facilitate this request.

If you wish to complain about the use of your information, please email dataprotection@dundee.ac.uk. You may also wish to contact the Information Commissioner's Office.