Read the privacy notices covering the work of the services you may interact with while you are a student at Sussex.
Contents
Read the:
Privacy notice – Directorate for Student Experience
In the Directorate for Student Experience, we collect and process personal information for two main purposes:
- the provision of educational services, and
- the provision of student support and welfare services.
This privacy notice relates to why and how we use your personal data in the provision of student services relating to support and welfare – in other words, the administration and provision of pastoral care, wellbeing and support services provided by the Directorate for Student Experience.
The University processes students’ personal data largely on the basis that it is necessary to carry out our public task which is “to advance learning and knowledge by teaching and research”. As part of that, and our contract with students, we provide associated support to students through the various services in the Directorate of Student Experience. This may include, for example, support with your academic studies, disabilities, personal development or careers advice.
We may also process your personal data where it is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests, or in circumstances where we have your specific consent to do so.
Disclosure of your personal data
To enable us to provide support and welfare services to our students, we will share personal data across the different teams in the Directorate for Student Experience and may sometimes share relevant information with others at the University, for example, your School. This helps us to provide the best support possible to students, in a coordinated way.
In some cases, we may need to ask for your consent before disclosing personal data to other colleagues or teams, although this will not always be necessary. Where your consent is needed, you will be asked to sign a consent form to confirm who we can share relevant information with.
Where we do not have your consent, we will usually only disclose your personal data to third parties where it is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests.
If you have any concerns about your personal data being shared with others at the University, please discuss this with the relevant Student Experience team. You can also seek advice from the University’s Data Protection Officer: email dpo@sussex.ac.uk.
More information
You can find further information about how we process personal data in our University privacy notice and in the guidance on our data protection pages.
You can also contact the University’s Data Protection Officer for further advice: email dpo@sussex.ac.uk.
My Sussex privacy notice
This notice outlines the University’s data processing activities relating to My Sussex and covers the following:
- Overview
- The basis for processing your personal data
- Personal data we collect about you and how we use it
- Disclosure of personal data
- Retention of personal data
- Your data rights
- How to contact us
Overview
The University of Sussex is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Our registration reference is Z6428144.
You can refer to the University’s Data Protection Policy [PDF 213KB] for more information about our commitment to processing personal data in a way that is compliant with data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
The Data Protection Officer for the University of Sussex is Alexandra Elliott, Head of Information Management and Compliance. If you have any queries concerning your personal data and how it is processed, you can contact the Data Protection Officer – email dpo@sussex.ac.uk.
The basis for processing your personal data
My Sussex provides a single platform for students to access support information, advice and guidance at any time. We process personal data through My Sussex in order to provide student services, including the administration and provision of educational services, pastoral care, wellbeing and support services.
We process personal data largely on the basis that it is necessary to carry out our public task which is “to advance learning and knowledge by teaching and research”. As part of our public task, and our contract with students, we provide a range of services to support students and their academic studies.
We sometimes need to process personal data to comply with our legal obligations, for example, compliance and regulatory obligations, immigration obligations and safeguarding requirements. We may also process your personal data where it is necessary to protect your or another person’s vital interests, or in circumstances where we have your consent to do so.
We will sometimes process special categories of data, such as information relating to health and ethnicity. This will usually be with your consent or where other conditions are met and further information can be found in our data protection guidance on special category data.
Personal data we collect about you and how we use it
We will collect the following personal data about you:
- Basic identifying information;
- Contact information;
- Detail of studies;
- Financial data;
- Health and wellbeing information;
- Trusted contact details; and
- Other personal data relating to enquiries, cases and other interactions through My Sussex.
We use the personal data to provide advice, guidance and case management, in relation to all aspects of student support. This includes dealing with enquiries, managing cases, booking appointments and arranging events.
For more general information about how we use personal data at the University, see the University privacy notice.
Disclosure of personal data
Staff within the Directorate for the Student Experience will have access to personal data for the purpose of supporting students. This is so that we can provide a joined up service and offer the right support and information at the right time. Any sharing of data outside of the Directorate will be where it is necessary to support students at various stages of their University journey and will usually be with consent.
Information may be shared with your Trusted Contact where appropriate as detailed in our policy on sharing information with Trusted Contacts.
We will only disclose your personal data to external parties, such as health professionals or the police, when we are required to by law, where we have your consent, or where appropriate arrangements are in place with regard to data sharing.
Retention of personal data
The University will only keep your personal data for as long as is necessary for the purpose for which it is processed.
Personal data is retained in line with the University’s Records Management Policy [PDF 184KB] and our Master Records Retention Schedule, which detail how long different records are kept. Thereafter, records will be deleted or archived as appropriate.
Your data rights
You have a number of rights under the Data Protection legislation, including the right to:
- rectify inaccuracies in personal data that we hold about you;
- have your data erased in some circumstances;
- restrict the processing of your personal data in certain ways;
- obtain a copy of your personal data;
- object to certain processing of your personal data by us.
Find out more information about your data protection rights or email the Data Protection Officer – dpo@sussex.ac.uk.
You have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office about the way in which we process your personal data. Find out how to report concerns to the Information Commissioner.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the information we hold about you in MySussex, you can contact the University’s Data Protection Officer by email at dpo@sussex.ac.uk or you can write to Alexandra Elliott, Data Protection Officer, University of Sussex, Sussex House, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9RH.