Development and Alumni Relations data protection privacy statement

Staffordshire University of College Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2DE is the data controller for personal data relating to you that it processes. Staffordshire University gathers and uses personal data about you if you ask for information or apply to join us, while you are a current student and after you leave the University and become one of our alumni.

This Privacy Statement tells you what personal data we collect about you, how we use the data, the legal justification for using it and who might see it. Please note that we may have to amend this Statement from time to time to reflect changes in how we use personal data or to keep up with best practice, but we will only do this in line with the underlying principles on which this Statement is based – fairness, transparency and respect for your personal data. The current version of this Statement can be found on the University website.

This Statement is primarily intended for alumni and supporters of the University. The University has a separate Privacy Statement which is primarily intended for applicants and current students.

Staffordshire University takes seriously its responsibilities under the law governing data protection in the United Kingdom. You can see our current Data Protection Policy on the University website. You can also see our entry on the Data Protection Register on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office. Our registration number is Z6548391. 

The purposes for which we hold and process your personal data and the legal basis for doing this

The Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) supports the University and its alumni by cultivating long-term relationships with its network of former students and stakeholders.

Collecting your information helps to inform our alumni relations and fundraising programmes, allows us to provide a better service to our alumni and enables us to support the University and its work in the advancement of education and research.

The legal basis for processing your personal data for the interdependent purposes set out above is that it is necessary for the pursuit of the legitimate interests of the University and of society in general in the advancement of education and research. We always handle your personal data securely and minimize its use, and we take precautions to ensure that there is no overriding prejudice to your own rights and freedoms when using your personal information for these purposes.

Whilst we rely on legitimate interest as the legal basis for processing where this is not overridden by the interests and rights or freedoms of the data subjects concerned, we recognise that it is not the only lawful ground for processing data. As such, where appropriate the Development and Alumni Office will sometimes process your data on an alternative legal basis, for example, because you have given us consent to do so.

Personal data that we hold

We may hold information relating to you from a number of sources. A significant proportion of the information we hold about you as one of our alumni is that which you provide to us (for example, you may give us information by filling in forms on the University's website, or by corresponding with us by telephone, email or otherwise). If you are a student or studied at Staffordshire University, your personal data is transferred from your student record to the University’s alumni database.

Most records contain:

• details of your education
• unique personal identifiers and biographical information (e.g. student number, date of birth)
• your contact details (and we update these whenever you let us know that they have changed)

• details of your interactions with the University, including:
  • your attendance at University events
  • other contact with us
  • details of benefits and services provided to you
  • your relationships with other alumni or supporters of the University
• details about your family (e.g. your marital status, the name of your partner or spouse)
• personal data provided by you for a specific purpose (e.g. disability and dietary preferences for event management purposes)
• your communication preferences, to help us provide tailored and relevant communications

We also record, where applicable, based on information which you provide to us and, in some cases, publicly available information:

• financial information, including:
  • your history of donations made to the University
  • your ability and willingness to make donations and whether particular donations or funding appeals may be of interest to you
  • your philanthropy and other giving, including donations to other organisations and other support that you provide (e.g. details of volunteering roles)
• your career highlights and other life achievements
• information about your areas of interest and extra-curricular activities

We may augment the data we hold from the University with publicly available data.

We use targeted internet searches and may search the following websites (either directly or using search engines), where relevant in order to obtain and maintain the accuracy of the data listed above:

• Public sources for companies (in order to find personal data of those companies' employees, etc.):
  • Companies House and other business-related resources (free and subscription) for UK companies
  • Company websites
• Public sources for charities (in order to find personal data of those charities' employees, trustees, etc., and to find information about donations and support):
  • Charity Commission and other internet sources for UK non-profits
• Public sources for individuals:
  • Who’s Who and Debrett’s People of Today (subscription)
  • Sunday Times Rich List
  • Other rich lists, including Forbes Magazine’s international rich lists
  • Property websites
  • The Queen’s Honours Lists
  • National change of address services
  • LinkedIn, to check business details
• Press sources:
  • Kantar (Yellow News) subscription

How we use your data

Your data is used by us for a number of interdependent purposes in support of alumni relations, supporter communications and fundraising.  These include:

• sending you publications (e.g. alumni magazines and updates about the University)
• conducting surveys, including research on when and whether particular donations or funding appeals may be of interest to you
• providing services, including access to University facilities
• sending you tailored proposals, appeals and requests for donations
• sending you details of volunteering opportunities
• inviting you to alumni and other University events
• the promotion of other opportunities and services available to you (e.g. offers and opportunities available through our alumni network)
• wealth analysis and research in order to improve our understanding of our alumni and supporters, inform our fundraising strategy and target our communications more effectively
• internal record keeping, including the management of any feedback or complaints
• administrative purposes (e.g. in order to process a donation you have made or to administer an event you have registered for or attended)

Before seeking or accepting major donations we are required to conduct due diligence, including reviewing publicly available personal data relating to the donor's criminal convictions and offences.

Communications to you may be sent by post, telephone or electronic means (principally by email), depending on the contact details we hold and any communication preferences you have expressed. We will always include within our communications details of how you can let us know that you do not wish to receive any or any particular type of communication from us in the future.

We will always respect a request from you to stop sending any or any particular type of communication.

We will keep your data securely and only for as long as it is needed for the purposes set out in this Statement. Please note that if you do wish to exercise your right to have your data erased (see below) the University will still retain some data about you so that we know not to communicate with you and in order to maintain your academic record for archive, statistical and statutory purposes.

If you have concerns or queries about any of these purposes, or how we communicate with you, please contact us using the details listed below.

Your Data Protection Rights

You have the following main rights:

1. To be informed about how and why we gather your personal information, how we keep it and what we do with it.
2. To access the personal data we hold about you.
3. To have the information rectified if it is inaccurate or where appropriate, given the purposes for which your personal data is processed, to have incomplete data completed.
4. To have your information removed from our records. This is a limited right which applies, among other circumstances if there is no longer any justification for us to keep it or where consent has been withdrawn. There are also exceptions to this right, such as when the processing is required by law or is done in the public interest.
5. To object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes without your consent.
6. To request that your data be copied or transferred to another organisation in certain circumstances.
7. To restrict the processing of your personal data. This is a limited right which will apply in specific circumstances and for a limited period.
8. To obtain a copy of your data in a commonly used electronic form if the data is processed by automated means and the processing is based on your consent or contractual necessity.
9. To complain to us and/or to the Information Commissioner’s Office if your information is being used unlawfully.
10. Where we are relying on your consent to use your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

Further information and contacts

If you:

• wish to access the personal data held by the University about you;
• wish to up-date your information, including your address and preferred contact details, or, where we are relying on your consent to process your personal data, if you wish to withdraw or change your preferences relating to any consents you have given 
• require more information about how the University manages personal data generally,

please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer at the following address: 

Data Protection Officer
University House
Staffordshire University
Stoke-on-Trent
ST4 2DE

Email: dataprotection@staffs.ac.uk

Concerns and complaints 

If you wish to raise a concern or make a complaint about the way in which the University processes your personal data, you should in the first instance contact the Data Protection Officer with full details using the contact details above. If you do not believe that your complaint has been satisfactorily resolved by the Data Protection Officer, you may contact the Information Commissioner at the following address: 

Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

caswork@ico.org.uk
https://ico.org.uk/