Middlesex University Alumni Association Privacy Notice

How we use your data

This Privacy Notice relates to personal data processed by the Alumni Association in its work to build a more vibrant and engaged community. The Alumni Association is the team within Middlesex University responsible for providing you with alumni benefits, invitations to networking opportunities and the latest news from Middlesex University.

We work in line with Middlesex University's Data Protection Policy. In addition, the following statement sets out how the Alumni Association uses your data.

Middlesex University is a data controller and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) as required under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2018. The Alumni Association will only process your personal data in accordance with current Data Protection legislation.

Data is processed by staff who have received data protection training and in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Requests or concerns about your data

If you have any requests concerning your personal information or any queries with regard to this policy, email our Data Protection Officer.

How does the Alumni Association collect personal data?

The Alumni Association collects personal information from you both directly and indirectly.

Occasions when information is collected directly include:

• Requesting our benefits and services by email, or filling out a sign-up form, either online or on paper
• Registering for a myAlumniHub account
• Registering for an event

We collect information indirectly:

• Transfer of student files – basic contact details and education information is transferred to your alumni record from your student record in the final year of your studies
• Occasionally, we might store information that has been published in articles and newspapers both on and offline, such as specific awards or career achievements
• We might also store information from social media relating to your career, depending on your settings; or publicly available information found in places such as Companies House

Your data

What personal data is collected?

Personal data held and processed by the Alumni Association may include the following:

• Biographical information such as name, gender, date of birth
• Contact details and communication preferences, professional information such as place of work and job title
• Academic history
• Any other connections with the University – for example voluntary positions such as mentoring, positions held as a student
• Extra-curricular activities, including attendance at events and use of services such as the library
• Connections with Middlesex University affiliated people such as peers, tutors, professional staff and friends
• A history of communication and interaction we have had with you, for example, events, emails or mailings
• We might store information available in the public domain, including information you have shared on social media such as job title and organisation worked for depending on your privacy settings

How and why is your personal data used?

We will keep safe any personal data that is shared with us; we will treat it with respect and only process it in line with the expectations set out in this privacy notice.

Developing a better understanding of our alumni through personal data allows us to make better decisions about how we engage with you most appropriately.

Data that we do store is used to underpin a full range of activities for our alumni; and to ensure that the way we communicate with you, for example sending event invitations or updates about alumni activities adhere to your communication preferences.

We also use digital tracking tools to monitor the impact of our communications – for example email tracking to record when an email we send to you has been opened, or you have clicked a particular link. This provides us with metrics that enable us to gain a better understanding of what interests our alumni and send communications that are relevant and beneficial to you.

Sharing your data

We will only ever share your data with third parties (external companies outside of the University) for the following reasons, or reasons specified to you elsewhere in this privacy notice

• If you sign up to myAlumniHub, your details will be registered with our third party provider Engage2Serve who host our online community
• Our alumni database is hosted on a Cloud environment by Engage2Serve
• If you request an Alumni Card your application will be shared with our Security Team and with our UniHelp team who process the cards
• If we undertake data cleansing activities to maintain the integrity of the data we hold
• If we use a mailing house to send communications about events or other alumni activities to you
• If we enlist the help of a market research company to undertake research on our behalf, in order to provide you with the best alumni service possible
• Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) who may contact you for information to produce statistical reports about higher education that are required to be published in the public interest, view their Student Collection Notice.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the following rights:

• to obtain access to, and copies of, the personal data that we hold about you
• to require that we cease processing your personal data if the processing is causing you damage or distress
• to require us not to send you marketing communications
• to require us to correct the personal data we hold about you if it is incorrect
• to require us to erase your personal data
• to require us to restrict our data processing activities (and, where our processing is based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent, without affecting the lawfulness of our processing based on consent before its withdrawal)
• to receive from us the personal data we hold about you which you have provided to us, in a reasonable format specified by you, including for the purpose of you transmitting that personal data to another data controller
• to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to any of our particular processing activities where you feel this has a disproportionate impact on your rights.

Please note that the above rights are not absolute, and we may be entitled to refuse requests where exceptions apply.

To exercise any of the above rights, send an email to the our Data Protection Officer.

You also have the right to complain to the UK Regulator the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe you request has not been dealt with properly or you have a complaint to raise against the University for any other data protection related issue.

You also have the right to withdraw consent from the processing of your personal data by the University at any time, if your consent was sought initially to use your personal data.

How long is your data held?

We will keep basic details, contact details, education information, records of your communication preferences, event attendance and a record of any interaction you have had with the alumni association indefinitely.

We will undertake data cleansing on a periodic basis, in an attempt to ensure that the data we do hold about you is up to date.

Right to rectify or to stop processing

If you believe the Alumni Association holds information about you that is factually incorrect, or you would like to request that we stop processing your data, email the Alumni Association and we will update your records accordingly. Please note that we will still have to retain a record of your unique alumni ID number (usually your student number) to ensure that you are excluded from future processing.