Data Protection (GDPR) and UK Education Guide.
New regulations are being introduced on 25th May 2018 covering how organisations handle EU data subjects personal data.
How we will protect your data?
There are 5 main ways we currently collect personal data on the site;
- Cookies-please see our cookie policy. Cookies are designed to improve your user experience but can be disabled at any time.
- IP details captured via google analytics-we run google analytics on our site to help us improve the visitor experience on our site. For example, we can see which pages were visited on the site and in which order they were visited to see how we might improve the site navigation so visitors can get to most popular pages more quickly. This information is aggregated so is not kept by individual IP address.We also use this information to see the geographic locations (country level) of our site visitors, so we can make sure we promote the site to these locations to help more people become aware of the site, which is free to use and offers, we hope, helpful information for international parents and prospective students.
- RFI information-site visitors are free to ask us to provide more information about educational institutions they are interested in finding more information about. You ask for this information via our Request for Information form that is embedded into all pages of our site that carry specific information about educational establishments featured on the site, notably the following sections:
https://ukeducationguide.com/boarding-schools/
https://ukeducationguide.com/universities/
https://ukeducationguide.com/pathways/
We do not have standard Requests for Information we ask you to share via our Request for Information forms (RFI’s) that are embedded into all the pages above, but the reasons for asking for the information requested are as follows:
Name-so we can reply personally to your request.
Email address-so we can respond directly to you with the information you request.
Country of origin-almost all Universities and some schools have different personnel who deal with enquiries from different countries, therefore to ensure we direct your enquiry to the right person to get a timely response, we need this information.
Level of study (Boarding schools)-This information is required so the school can supply the entry requirement information for each specific enquiry. There are often different levels of English language competency and academic qualifications needed for school entry at different ages.
Study subject (Universities)-This information allows us to direct the enquiry to the appropriate admissions personnel in the relevant academic faculty of each University.
If you request information from us via an RFI form this does not mean you will receive information from us about anything else.
We hold the data received from each RFI for 3 years, recognising that the application process for schools/universities is often an 18 month process and is sometimes longer. The 3 year period starts from the date of receipt of the RFI received.
- Newsletter sign up
All site visitors can sign up to receive the newsletter at any time, but they will not be sent it unless they actively ask to receive it. So, if they fill in an RFI (Request for information form) they will not be added to the distribution list to receive the newsletter.
On each newsletter there is a clearly presented unsubscribe button, so any site visitor can ask at any time to be removed from the database that triggers the sending of the monthly newsletter to them.
The newsletter sign up data is not shared with any 3rd party.
- Posting a message on the site or emailing us directly via hello@ or info@
If you add a comment/question to the site or email us directly, we will just respond to that specific query. You will not receive any other information from us and your details will not be added to our RFI or Newsletter database.
Site content is provided free of charge at all times to all visitors and therefore there is no ‘joining of the site’. Visitors will not receive any communications from us directly unless they fill in an RFI form or actively sign up to receive the monthly newsletter.
Passing your data to Universities and Boarding Schools (EU GDPR regulations)
We believe that the most accurate responses to your Requests for Information (RFI’s) on our site from Boarding Schools and Universities are from the institutions themselves.
However ( if you are an EU data citizen) you have only given permission for us to deal with your query by completing the RFI, it is beholden on each institution to first check with you to make sure you want to receive further information from them directly. Therefore, we instruct all institutions to ask permission from you first before sending information to you and to make you aware of their own specific data and privacy agreements.We will also always check with you before sharing any personal data with any 3rd party unless to have a specific datashare agreement with this organisation.
The current organisations/persons with whom we have a formal datashare agreement are:
Cambridge Guardian Angels
Jacqui and Simon Northcote-Green.
If (as an EU data citizen) you wish to receive further information from a Boarding School or University you will need to respond to each Boarding School and University email accordingly. If you do give your permission for an institution to provide you with the further information you have requested from UK Education Guide, it is each institution’s responsibility to then update you on how long they are keeping your personal data and to allow you to opt out of any future marketing communications from them at any point in the future.
Data breaches
In the highly unlikely event of a data breach on the site, we will immediately notify the data commissioner and make all efforts find the source of the data breach to ensure it doesn’t happen again by conducting a full review of our data protection policies and procedures.
For any further information, please do email hello@educationguide.com
