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External Affairs Unit privacy notice – Bath Spa University

Privacy Notice for alumni, students, applicants, donors and other individuals and organisations with links to the University.

Bath Spa University’s External Affairs Unit (EAU) is committed to making sure that our communications with you are secure, considered and welcome. We take the privacy and data security of all individuals and organisations with links to the University seriously. We promise to respect any personal data you share with us, keep it safe and not do anything you would not reasonably expect.

The purpose of this notice is to give you a clear explanation about how EAU collects and uses the personal information we hold. This notice was last updated in August 2021 to ensure transparency is at the core of what we do; regular reviews will take place.

All personal data is held and processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulations, as amended.

This Privacy Notice is in addition to the University's Data Protection Policy. This notice describes how the EAU collects, manages and uses personal information collected about individuals and organisations on our university databases.

Who we are and what we do

EAU keeps all our stakeholders connected to Bath Spa University and sometimes to each other. Our aim is to ensure all of our activities contribute towards the advancement of the University and enhance Bath Spa’s reputation by cultivating long term relationships.

For students and applicants

We record information about any interactions you have with the External Affairs Unit, which may include marketing, philanthropic awards, work experience, and recruitment and admissions information in accordance with this privacy notice and the following university privacy notices:

Collecting your information helps us to inform marketing, communications and recruitment programmes, allows us to provide a better service to our prospective and current students, and enables us to support the University.

For our alumni and former students

We send updates with the latest news about the University and in addition provide:

  • A range of academic, social and networking events
  • Ongoing academic and professional services (for example, Library and Careers Services)
  • Opportunities to enable you to:
    • Keep in touch with your classmates and the University
    • Support current students - financially or through providing career mentoring, giving guest lectures or by providing placement opportunities.

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.

EAU also holds education details of former students. Graduation information is published each year in the degree congregation programmes and is therefore considered to be in the public domain.

For donors and other individuals

We record any interactions between the individual and the University including donations made, event information (invite, response, attendance) and communications (sent and received).

Collecting your information helps to inform our engagement and fundraising programmes, allows us to provide a better service to our donors and friends of the university, and enables us to support the University.

For organisations

We record any interactions between our organisations to ensure a full understanding of the relationship is understood. This information allows us to better support the collaborative relationships of all stakeholders, and enables us to support the University.

What information we collect

Personal information may include:

  • Biographical information consisting of your student number, name, date of birth, title, and gender
  • Contact details including postal addresses, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, web addresses and social media links, family, spouse and partner details
  • Education history from your time at Bath Spa University and from other institutions you have attended
  • Information about your time at the University (for example, clubs and societies, prizes, scholarships, halls of residence)
  • Employment details, employment history, professional activities, biographies and income (this is no longer collected or processed, it is currently only retained in backups)
  • Relationships to other stakeholders (family, alumni, academic contacts)
  • Current interests, activities and affiliations
  • Donation history and wealth assessment information (as above, this information is no longer collected or processed but some is still contained within backups)
  • Responses to fundraising appeals and proposals
  • Gift Aid status, where applicable (as required by HMRC)
  • The information you have publicly shared on social media, including services such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
  • Media articles about you
  • Records of communications sent to you by EAU or received from you
  • Your communication preferences
  • Records of your volunteering with or on behalf of the University
  • Records of your attendance at University and EAU events
  • Notes of meetings that you have had with University staff
  • Bank details (bank name, account number, account name and sort code) for regular donors
  • Details of professionals acting for individuals (for example, solicitors)
  • Quotes held on a spreadsheet on a secured network drive

What Information we do not collect or store:

  • Credit/debit card details
  • “Sensitive” information, such as racial/ethnic origin, political beliefs, religious/similar beliefs, Trade Union membership; physical/mental health condition, sexual orientation/activities; commission or alleged commission of an offence and any proceedings such as a court sentence - sensitive personal data (e.g. relating to physical disabilities) will only be held if it has been provided by you for a specific purpose (e.g. event planning).

Any personal data stored in our database is held on a secure pci-/dss compliant database, with access restricted to authorised personnel only.

How we collect information
  • Student name and ID is copied from BSU’s student database when a student starts a course and used to create a record on the EAU database
  • On course completion or leaving part way through a course the alumni\former student contact details and education information are copied from BSU’s student database and updated on the EAU database.
  • Non-alumni\student constituent records (individuals and organisations) are created when the relationship is first developed and
  • kept up-to-date with information given by the individual throughout the duration of the relationship.
  • We may update our records when you enquire about our services, register for events or volunteering opportunities, make a donation, complete an “update form” or provide us with other information. As such, most of the information that we hold will have been obtained directly from you.
  • Information given to us voluntarily by individuals and organisations, such as a new business contact or organisation.
  • We may also receive information about you from external service providers, from a resident of an address you previously resided at or from a friend who wants us to tell you about our activities; we will contact you for your consent. We use service providers to gather information from publicly available sources, such as the Post Office’s National Change of Address database, to keep contact details up to date and accurate.
  • Internally, we will also gather other information that is published publicly, such as employment and links to organisations, and append it to your record. Depending on your privacy settings and interaction with us on social media sites like LinkedIn,
  • Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, we may also cross-check your data to ensure that it is robust and up to date. This is not done routinely or for all subjects.
  • Some information may also have been obtained from publicly available sources (such as those listed below). We use targeted internet searches and sources of public data, where relevant, in order to maintain the accuracy of the information listed above, to undertake due diligence, and for fundraising purposes:
    • Companies House and other business-related resources (free and subscription) for UK and overseas companies
    • Company websites
    • Charity Commission and other internet sources for UK non-profits
    • National Change of Address Service
    • The electoral roll
    • LinkedIn
    • Property websites
    • Queen’s Honours Lists
    • Lists of wealthy individuals and influencers such as the Sunday Times Rich List, Forbes Magazine international rich lists, Woman’s
    • Hour Power List

We will be happy to supply a list of our subscription resources on request.

Legal basis for processing the information
  • We use your data to keep you informed about the University and to provide opportunities for you to continue to be involved in the life and activities of the University. This includes providing you with services you have requested, for administration purposes and to further our charitable and educational aims, including fundraising, volunteering, event invitations and newsletters.
  • We use your data for the purpose of fundraising and to help us better understand your interests, preferences and the type and level of donation you may be interested in giving, we may use additional information, such as measures of affluence and interest in charitable causes, where available from external sources. This allows us to make appropriate requests to our supporters and prospective supporters, helping us raise more money, more cost effectively, and more respectfully.
  • We use your data to maintain collaborative relationships between organisations we work with, and to ensure all activity is recorded. This allows us to be effective in our communications and to ensure opportunities for both organisations are undertaken in a timely and efficient manner.
  • We use your data to record opportunities undertaken whilst in a relationship with the University, to enable the university to develop and provide further opportunities to the benefit of the university community.
  • We use your data to record marketing and recruitment activities, ensuring that your privacy and personal data is protected in accordance with GDPR.
  • It’s in the University’s legitimate interest to process your information in this way.
  • Read or download our Legitimate Interest Assessment online.
How we process the information
  • We will communicate with you only in the ways that adhere to your chosen communication preferences, whether by email, post, telephone, SMS or face to face. To ensure that our communications are relevant to you and your interests, we may segment our communications based on demographic, geographical and education information.
  • If you opt out of all methods of communication your record is made “Inactive”. After a further year if you have not opted back in a data minimisation process will be run and all information against your record will be removed apart from student ID, name, date of birth, subject of study and reason for data minimisation - this will be retained indefinitely for verification purposes.
  • All data subjects with an invalid postal address and invalid email, no email, or an email which hasn’t been opened for two years will have the data minimisation process run as above.
  • Digital tools may be used to monitor and improve our communications, such as tracking when an email we send is opened and how many links are clicked within the message. We may use this information to personalise the way our websites and emails are presented to you and improve the content of our communications. We track website visits and use analytical tools, such as
  • Google Analytics, to use this information to improve our website and to tail. We also use tracking pixels to evaluate our audience behaviours and serve more relevant content.
  • Quotes will be used as part of a web presence for your course and its related web pages, and in our printed prospectus. We may also use your data for other purposes, for example: testimonials on the website, in social media posts; in University magazines, in external publications; in internal and external communications e.g. news stories on the Bath Spa University website and email newsletters to staff, students, and alumni; in other marketing materials e.g. leaflets, and on online directories such as UCAS and Findamasters.com. Quotes will only be used for the purposes consented to on the form completed by the data subject.
    We'll publish your content within two academic years from the date you submit it. If it's not used within this time, we'll delete the information you've provided.
    More usually, your content will be published soon after submission, and we'll retain both the published and original information for no longer than six years after the content is published, during which time you'll have the right of access and rectification as stated above. This means that we'll retain the data you provide here for up to eight years, or until you withdraw your consent - whichever is sooner.
  • Marketing material including but not limited to prospectus, social media, direct mail, third party sharing.
  • Where necessary, we will undertake due diligence for potential donors in line with the Ethical Fundraising Policy and Donors' Charter.
Disclosing information to service providers
  • Bath Spa University does not disclose data to external organisations other than those acting as agents for the University and with whom the University has data sharing agreements. We always make sure the data is exchanged in a secure manner and that it is not used for the purposes other than those agreed by the University. We never sell any of your personal information to a third party.
  • Examples of external providers whose services we use:
    • Email services to send emails and newsletters
    • Mailing house to send out postal letters and magazines
    • Bottomline PTX Payment Servicesand Blackbaud Merchant Services to process donations
    • Companies to screen names and addresses to help keep addresses up to date, provide demographic and publicly available updates of addresses and to check data against preference services, such as TPS and MPS
    • Companies to conduct wealth screening.
  • We may also need to disclose your information if required by law (for example, to government bodies and law enforcement agencies).
  • We will not share your details with any individuals looking to contact you, in personal or professional capacity. All correspondence will be conducted through us unless you give us explicit permission to share your contact details.
Your rights
  • You may opt out of receiving our communications, change the way we communicate with you or change the type of communications you receive at any time.
  • You can ask us to stop processing your personal data in any of the ways described in this notice.
  • You can withdraw your consent for the use of some of your data, and you have the right to change the details you have provided at any time, however please note that in the case of printed materials, we will not be able to amend your published details after these have been printed.
  • You can request a copy of all the information we hold about you.
  • You can request to be removed from our database; however, we will keep your constituent (student) ID on our database with a name of “Removal Request” for identification purposes.

To request any of the above, simply contact us at external@bathspa.ac.uk or write to us at: 

External Affairs Unit
Bath Spa University
Newton St Loe
Bath BA2 9BN

Changes to data protection
  • We may amend this Privacy Notice from time to time. Any significant changes to this notice or to the way we treat your data will be communicated via the University website or by contacting you directly.
  • If you are concerned about how your information is used, please continue to check this page periodically.
  • If your personal details change, please help us to keep your information up to date by updating your details online or notifying us via email.

Date of last review: August 2021

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