Privacy Notice for Digital Learning website
Purpose of the Privacy Notice
This privacy notice explains how the University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE Bristol) collects, manages, and uses your personal data for the purpose of operating and maintaining the Digital Learning website (https://digitallearning.uwe.ac.uk), including responding to enquiries, providing website functionality, analysing website usage, enabling comments, likes and notifications, and maintaining website security. ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (the data subject).
This privacy notice adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principle of transparency. This means it gives information about:
- How and why your data will be used;
- What your rights are under GDPR; and
- How to contact UWE Bristol in relation to questions, concerns or exercising your rights regarding the use of your personal data.
Why are we processing your personal data?
We process personal data to provide and maintain the Digital Learning website, respond to enquiries, improve the user experience and the effectiveness of the website, enable interactive features such as comments and content “likes”, deliver browser notifications where users have subscribed to them, and maintain site security including spam prevention.
As a data controller we are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (or any successor legislation) and any other legislation directly relating to privacy laws that apply (together “the Data Protection Legislation”). General information on Data Protection law is available from the Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/).
How do we use your personal data?
We will only process your personal data when the law allows us to. In addition, we will always comply with UWE Bristol’s policies and procedures in processing your personal data. Our lawful basis for using your personal data for operating and maintaining the Digital Learning website, responding to enquiries, analysing website usage, providing comments, likes and notification functionality, and maintaining website security is:
- Legitimate interests: operating, securing and improving the website and providing website functionality, including comments and likes.
- Consent: where you choose to receive browser notifications and where you consent to the use of analytics cookies or similar technologies.
- Legal obligations: where processing is required to comply with applicable laws and regulatory requirements.
You can find out more information about lawful bases at the following webpage: A guide to lawful basis | ICO
We will always tell you about the information we wish to collect from you and how we will use it. We will not use your personal data for automated decision making about you or for profiling purposes.
What data do we collect?
- Identity data, such as your name or username (for example when commenting).
- Contact data, such as your email address (for example when submitting an enquiry through a contact form).
- Technical data may include your IP address, browser type, operating system, device information, and approximate location derived from your IP address.
- Usage data, including pages visited, time spent on pages, navigation through the website, interactions with content and other information about how you use the website.
- Notification subscription data where you choose to receive browser notifications, including subscription identifiers, browser information, IP address and records of notification delivery and interaction.
Some of the information described above is collected through cookies and similar technologies. For further information about the cookies we use, including Google Analytics cookies and how to manage your preferences, please see our Cookie Policy.
Who do we share your data with?
We may share personal data, where necessary, with:
- UWE Bristol hosting and IT service providers.
- Google LLC, through Google Analytics, to help us understand how visitors use the website so that we can improve its content, usability and effectiveness.
- OneSignal, to deliver browser notifications to users who have chosen to subscribe.
Some personal data processed by Google Analytics and OneSignal may be transferred outside the UK and/or European Economic Area (EEA). Where this occurs, appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or other recognised international transfer mechanisms approved by the UK Government or recognised under UK data protection law, are used to protect personal data. We only share the minimum personal data necessary for these purposes.
How do we keep your data secure?
We take a robust approach to protecting your information with secure electronic and physical storage areas for data with controlled access. Access to your personal data is strictly controlled on a need-to-know basis and data is stored and transmitted securely using methods such as encryption and access controls for physical records where appropriate.
Alongside these technical measures there are comprehensive and effective policies and processes in place to ensure that those who process your personal information are aware of their obligations and responsibilities for the data they have access to.
By default, people are only granted access to the information they require to perform their duties. Mandatory data protection and information security training is provided to staff and expert advice is available if needed.
How long do we keep your data for?
We will only retain your personal data for as long as we need it to carry out the purposes in this notice.
Please see our University Records Management Policy and Records Retention Schedules for more detailed information. These are available by contacting our Data Protection Office at dataprotection@uwe.ac.uk
Your Rights and how to exercise them
Under the Data Protection legislation, you have the following qualified rights:
- The right to access your personal data held by or on behalf of the University;
- The right to rectification if the information is inaccurate or incomplete;
- The right to restrict processing and/or erasure of your personal data;
- The right to data portability;
- The right to object to processing;
- The right to object to automated decision making and profiling;
- The right to complain
To protect your privacy and the privacy of others, we will verify your identity before giving effect to your rights. To exercise any of your rights please contact the Data Protection Officer.
How to contact us
We will always respond to concerns or queries you may have. If you wish to exercise your rights or have any other general data protection queries, please contact UWE Bristol’s Data Protection Officer (dataprotection@uwe.ac.uk).
For further information relating to the Digital Learning website contact:
Digital Learning Team, University of the West of England, Bristol, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QY.
UWE Bristol main switchboard: +44 (0)117 965 6261