Data Protection and Use of Student Data
Contents
- Data Protection Act
- Notification by the University to applicants
- Company; Research Councils and the UKBA
- Student Collection Notice
- Use of HESA Record
- Statutory Functions
- HESA Publications
- Research, equal opportunity, journalism, other legitimate interest/public function
- Your rights
- Students on Initial Teacher Training courses at institutions in England only:
- Destinations of Leavers from HE (DLHE) Collection Notice
- Use of HESA DLHE record
- HESA publications
- Research, equal opportunity, journalism, other legitimate interest/public function
- Your rights
Data Protection Act
1. The Data Protection Act 1998 regulates the processing of personal data whether it is held on a computer or on manual files. ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to a living individual, and 'processing' means almost anything done with it, including, for example, storing it. The Act also gives individuals certain rights of access to personal data held about them by others.
2. Student members of the University are permitted to process personal data only for use in connection with their academic studies or research. They may do this only with the express prior permission of their Head of Department, and only in accordance with any Guidance or Code of Practice issued by the University and in force from time to time (whether or not those activities are carried out on equipment owned by the University and whether or not they are carried out on University premises). This means that the personal data must be: fairly and lawfully obtained; be accurate; be kept up-to-date; be held securely; not be put onto an Internet site or taken outside of the European Economic Area without the consent of the individual concerned; and be deleted or destroyed when it is no longer relevant to retain it. The people about whom data are held are entitled to inspect the data unless it is held only for research purposes and will not be released in such a way as to identify the individuals concerned.
3. Students needing to process personal data for academic or research purposes must make themselves aware of the general requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and in particular must abide by the eight Data Protection Principles as set out in Schedule 1 of the Act and further explained in Schedules II and III. Students can do this by obtaining a copy of the University’s current guidance on data protection from their Head of Department or from the University’s Data Protection Officer.
4. Students who fail to comply with any Guidance or Code of Practice in force may be held personally liable for any resulting breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998.
5. The University’s procedures governing the collection and release of student data are publicised to students at the application stage. A copy of the notice provided to undergraduate applicants together with information about data usage supplied to the University by the Higher Education Statistical Agency is attached as Annex A to these Regulations.
Notification by the University to applicants
6. The University of Leicester holds information about students in order to manage student recruitment, admission, registration, study, examination, graduation and other student services such as accommodation and careers. Information is passed between various sections of the University for operational reasons (for example, the Registry notifies changes of address to departments, the Library, the Computer Centre and other units on a ‘need to know’ basis). Also, it may be disclosed to external agencies to which the University has obligations; for example: Council Tax Registration Officers; Higher Education Funding Council for England; Higher Education Statistical Agency; Student Loans
Company; Research Councils and the UKBA
If, at the end of your course, you have unpaid debts to the University, the University may, at its discretion, pass this information to debt collecting agencies.
7. The University also uses student information as follows:
- providing contact details to the Students’ Union to enable it to offer appropriate services to students
- providing progress reports to sponsors of students (except relatives)
- providing references to education institutions and potential employers
- publication of the names of graduating students in the degree ceremony graduation programme
- informing schools of the degree awards made to their former pupils
- disclosing information about students to their former schools for the purposes of schools liaison
- for the purposes of plagiarism detection, utilising the on-line Turnitin plagiarism detection service
- to produce Higher Education Achievement Reports for students (HEAR)
- subject to review on a case-by-case basis by the University’s Data Protection Officer, providing contact details to third party companies and organisations formally engaged by the University to provide enhanced levels of service to support core activities (an example would be the provision of contact details in order to allow careers information to be distributed by employers or their agents).
8. If you do not want the University to use your information for such purposes you must inform the Academic Office in writing. In most cases you can do this at any time. However, if you do not want your degree award details published in newspapers or in the graduation booklet, or if you do not want your former school to be informed of your award, you must give written notice to the Academic Office within seven days of completing your final examinations.
- On graduating, all students automatically become members of Alumni Association (the formal title for the University’s Graduates’ Association). They receive the alumni magazine and other information offering the opportunity to remain in touch with fellow graduates and the University. If you do not wish to receive these communications you must notify the Graduate Relations Office – this can be done at any time after you graduate.
- If you have any queries about data protection please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer.
Student Collection Notice
9. We will send some of the information we hold about you to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). This information forms your HESA record, which does not include your contact details.
10. Your contact details may be passed to survey contractors to carry out the National Student Survey and surveys of student finances, on behalf of the education organisations listed below. These organisations and their contractors will use your details only for that purpose, and will then delete them.
11. About six months after you graduate, we will contact you to ask you to fill in the HESA ‘Destinations of Leavers from HE' questionnaire. We will not give your contact details to HESA. You might be included in a sample of leavers who are surveyed again a few years after they graduate. If so, we will pass your contact details to the organisation that has been contracted to carry out that survey. That organisation will use your details only for that purpose, and will then delete them.
If you do not want to take part in these surveys, please let us know.
Use of HESA Record
12. The HESA record is used for three broad purposes:
Statutory Functions
13. The HESA record is used by the organisations listed below, or agents acting on their behalf, to carry out their public functions connected with education in the UK.
- Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
- Welsh Assembly Government
- Scottish Government
- Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
- Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
- Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council
- Training and Development Agency for Schools
- Department for Education
- General Social Care Council
- Research Councils
14. The HESA record may also be used by the Office for National Statistics and the National Audit Office to fulfil their statutory functions of measuring population levels and monitoring public expenditure.
15. Equivalent and Lower Qualifications - This applies only to students enrolling at institutions in England: We and the Higher Education Funding Council for England may compare your data to educational records from previous years to help determine the levels of your current qualifications.
Your HESA record will not otherwise be used in any way that affects you personally
HESA Publications
16. HESA use the HESA record to produce anonymised data in annual statistical publications. These include some National Statistics publications and online management information services.
Research, equal opportunity, journalism, other legitimate interest/public function
17. HESA will also supply anonymised data to third parties for the following purposes:
- Equal opportunities monitoring - Your HESA record may contain details of your ethnic group and any disabilities you have. For students domiciled from Northern Ireland and attending an institution in Northern Ireland it may also contain information about religion. This data is only used where it is needed to promote or maintain equality of opportunity or treatment between persons of different racial or ethnic origins, religious beliefs or different states of physical or mental conditions
- Research. This may be academic research, commercial research or other statistical research into education where this is of benefit to the public interest.
- Journalism, where the relevant publication would be in the public interest e.g. league tables
18. Anonymised data for the above purposes is supplied by HESA to the following types of user:
- Local, regional and national government bodies who have an interest in higher education
- Higher education sector bodies
- Higher education institutions
- Academic researchers and students
- Commercial organisations (e.g. recruitment firms, housing providers, graduate employers)
- Unions
- Non-governmental organisations and charities
- Journalists
19. HESA will take precautions to ensure that individuals are not identified from the anonymised data which they process.
Your rights
20. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have rights of access to the data HESA holds about you. You will have to pay a small fee for this. For further information about the HESA record please see www.hesa.ac.uk/dataprot or email data.protection@hesa.ac.uk.
Students on Initial Teacher Training courses at institutions in England only:
21. If you are on an ITT course at an institution in England, HESA will also pass some or all of your HESA record to the General Teaching Council for England (GTC).
GTC is a data controller under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998. GTC will process your personal data in order to fulfil its remit and its statutory obligations, including the administration of provisional registration. Except where there is a legal obligation, GTC will not share your data with any third party, except those fulfilling a service on their behalf and under their expressed instructions.
Destinations of Leavers from HE (DLHE) Collection Notice
22. We will send information from this form to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). This data will be linked to other information held about you as a student, including similar information you gave when you enrolled, and details of the qualification you gained.
Your HESA record will not be used in any way that affects you personally.
Use of HESA DLHE record
23. The HESA DLHE Record is used for three broad purposes:
Statuary Functions
24. The HESA record is used by the organisations listed below, or agents acting on their behalf, to carry out their public functions connected with education in the UK.
- Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
- Welsh Assembly Government
- Scottish Government
- Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland
- Higher Education Funding Council for England
- Higher Education Funding Council for Wales
- Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council
- Training and Development Agency for Schools
- Department for Education
- General Social Care Council
- Research Councils
25. The HESA record may also be used by the Office for National Statistics and the National Audit Office to fulfil their statutory functions of measuring population levels and monitoring public expenditure.
HESA publications
26. HESA use the HESA record to produce anonymised data in annual statistical publications. These include some National Statistics publications and online management information services.
Research, equal opportunity, journalism, other legitimate interest/public function
27. HESA will also supply anonymised data to third parties for the following purposes:
- Equal opportunities monitoring - Your HESA record may contain details of your ethnic group and any disabilities you have. This data is only used where it is needed to promote or maintain equality of opportunity or treatment between persons of different racial or ethnic origins, religious beliefs or different states of physical or mental conditions
- Research. This may be academic research, commercial research or other statistical research into higher education where this is of benefit to public interest.
- Journalism, where the relevant publication would be in the public interest e.g. league tables
- Anonymised data for the above purposes is supplied by HESA to the following types of user:
- Local, regional and national government bodies who have an interest in higher education
- Higher education sector bodies
- Higher education institutions
- Academic researchers and students
- Commercial organisations (e.g. recruitment firms, housing providers, graduate employers)
- Unions
- Non-governmental organisations and charities
- Journalists
29. HESA will take precautions to ensure that individuals are not identified from the anonymised data which they process.
Your rights
30. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have rights of access to the data HESA holds about you. You will have to pay a small fee for this. For further information about the HESA record please see www.hesa.ac.uk/dataprot or email data.protection@hesa.ac.uk
