At Aston, we take our obligations under data and privacy law seriously. The University has policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance.
We look to provide a wide range of services to both alumni and current students who have chosen to become part of the Aston University family.
We take our duty to process your personal data very seriously. This policy explains how we collect, manage, use and protect the personal data you provide us with.
View Aston's Data Protection Policy and Procedures, including contact details for the Aston University Data Protection Officer. You can also view our Alumni Privacy Notice.
- What information does Aston collect about me?
Personal information is collected directly from you when you become an alumnus/a. For example, when you return the information from a direct mail campaign, enquire about an event we are hosting, when you participate in an event, volunteer, or make a donation to the University. The information we collect may be in person, over the phone, online, or on paper.
The typical information we collect from you will include your name, postal and email address, phone number, date of birth, and bank details if you choose to support the University with a financial donation. We may occasionally need to collect information that the Data Protection Act considers to be 'sensitive.' In such instances, we would be very clear with you that we wish to collect this information, as well as our reason for collecting such information. We would only do so after receiving specific consent or permission from you.
As a University, we are required to provide information to external contractors working on behalf of the Higher Education sector. For example, the Educational Survey Agency (HESA) may want to contact you from time to time. Any of the information that we provide to them will be treated confidentially and with sensitivity as part of the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education report (DLHE) or the Graduate Outcomes Survey.
We may also receive information about you from other sources, as explained below.
- How is my information used?
We collect this information in order to process your requests and to also keep in touch with you about the work that Aston is doing.
Examples include:
- To notify you of any changes to our policies
- From time to time, we may choose to use external data sources to increase or enhance the information we hold about you. Further details can be found in the following section 'How do you work with third parties in processing my personal data?'
- To process donations other payments and verify financial transactions
- To process Gift Aid donations
- To send fundraising appeals, alumni publications, and surveys, event notifications, programs that are to be hosted by an academic or other university departments
- To provide you with information regarding alumni groups and chapters which may be of interest to you
- To record any contact we have with you and to help us ensure that we are providing you with the most appropriate communications based on your selected preferences
- To provide you with services, products, or information you have requested, like degree certificate information
- How do you work with third parties in processing my personal data?
We work with a number of third parties who collate data on our behalf and their own use. The third-party organisations that we currently receive data from are JustGiving, Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), Hubbub, Blackbaud. These organisations will each have their own data protection and privacy policies, which you should be aware of before signing up.
We may also use other companies to provide services and process your personal data on our behalf, including delivering postal mail, delivering telephone calls to our supporters, processing credit card payments, and analysing supporter trends to help us offer the most relevant communications to your interests. We will only provide these companies with the information they need to deliver the specific service. We ensure that your data is treated with the same level of care as if we were handling it directly ourselves.
Your information may also be used to ensure that we comply with the Fundraising Regulator's Code of fundraising practice, which stipulates that we must take steps to assess and manage the risks to our work and reputation with regard to certain levels of donation. More information can be found at fundraising regulator.
We may use profiling and screening methods to produce relevant communications and provide our supporters with a better experience. Profiling can help us target our resources more effectively by gaining insight into our alumni and supporters' background and helping us build relationships with our supporters in line with their interests and capacity to support.
We may use additional external sources of data to increase the information we hold about you to do this. This may include obtaining details of changes of address, date of birth, telephone numbers, and other contact details, and information related to your wealth. It may also include information from public registers and other publicly available sources such as Companies House, newspapers, and magazines.
- How secure is the information I give you?
At Aston, we take care of your data seriously. We make sure that we protect your personal information in a range of ways, including secure serves and firewalls. We follow payment card industry (PCI) security compliance guidelines when processing credit card payments. Any personal information transferred between locations will be both encrypted and password protected.
- How long will you keep my information?
We will retain your information for as long as you have an active relationship with Aston. If you choose to end this relationship or request to receive no further contact, we will retain some basic information in order to avoid sending you unwanted materials in the future. We also hold this information to ensure that we don't accidentally duplicate the information.
- How do I request a copy of my personal data?
To make a data subject access request that will detail the information we hold about you, please send your request in writing to the Aston University Data Protection Officer.
We aim to issue an initial response to all the queries we receive within five working days and will offer a full response to all data subject access requests within one calendar month.