The University of Huddersfield Students’ Regulations

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September 2006 edition

Section 2

Data Protection Act 1998

  1. The University needs to process data about you that relates to your being a student of the University subject to its regulations, policies and procedures. For example, the University will create and maintain your student record which includes data concerning your basic biographical details, admission to the University, your course of study and your academic results. Such processing will be in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The Act concerns the processing of personal data and sensitive personal data relating to individuals, including the holding, use and disclosure of such information. The University complies with those provisions to ensure that data about you is processed fairly. [Full text of the Act].
  2. The processing of some data is required so that the University can fulfil its obligations to third parties such as the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and student loan companies, together with other relevant bodies or individuals.
  3. The University protects the information it has about students and the standard response to enquiries about individuals is that information cannot be disclosed without the student’s consent, except to:
    1. University staff who need the information for administrative, teaching assessment, recruitment, marketing or quality assurance purposes;
    2. DfES/HEFCE/HESA/FEFC/TTA and other related organisations for statistical and reporting purposes;
    3. validating and professional bodies in connection with registration and awards;
    4. the University’s insurers and legal advisers;
    5. Local Education Authorities and the Student Loan Company in connection with grants, fees and student loans;
    6. callers in emergencies only and subject to certain conditions;
    7. the Police, subject to certain conditions;
    8. the Benefits Agency as required by the Social Security Administration Act 1992
    and additionally, in the case of specific information on a student’s progress, attendance or achievement, only in the following cases:
    1. for teaching, examination or assessment purposes;
    2. in confidential references in connection with applications for employment or further education;
    3. in confidential references in connection with current employers;
    4. to LEAs and the Student Loan Company in connection with grants and fees;
  4. Also, from time to time, limited information is given to the following bodies for educational or other beneficial services:
    1. the University’s Students’ Union (basic contact information to enable the Union to provide students with information about its services);
    2. Eduserve (Athens) (basic information to enable students to receive access to Eduserve’s educational services).
  5. Our policy regarding confidentiality applies equally to enquiries from parents.
  6. In order to help us maintain our records, students must:
    1. provide accurate information at enrolment
    2. inform the University promptly of any changes affecting its records (eg. name/address)
    3. inform the University promptly in writing if they intend to withdraw from study, whether temporarily or permanently.
  7. Students have the right to access the information the University holds on them. Any person who wishes to exercise this right should complete a subject access request form which is available from the University’s Data Protection Officer (details below), the University will make an administration charge of £10 on each occasion that access is requested.
  8. Any queries should be addressed to the University’s Data Protection Officer: Mr Tony Mears, University Secretary, University of Huddersfield, HD1 3DH, Tel: 01484 473000
  9. We will send some of the information we hold about you to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). This forms your HESA record, which contains details of your ethnic group and any disabilities you have. HESA will pass your record, or parts of it, to any of the following organisations that need it to carry out their statutory functions connected with funding higher education.
  10. HESA and the organisations listed above will use the information mainly to produce statistics. This may result in information being published and released to other approved users, including academic researchers and commercial organisations. Your record will not be used in a way that could affect you personally and the organisations will take precautions to reduce the risk of you being identified from the information once it is published and released.
  11. While you are a student, we will need to keep your contact details. These do not form part of your HESA record, so HESA and the organisations listed above cannot use this record to contact you.
  12. Towards the end of your studies, we will pass your contact details to the organisation that has been contracted to carry out the National Student Survey. That organisation will use your details only for that purpose, and will then delete them.
  13. About six months after you graduate, we will contact you to ask you to fill in the HESA ‘Destination of Leavers from HE’ survey. We will not give your contact details to HESA. You might be included in a sample of leavers who are surveyed again a few years after they graduate. If so, we will pass your contact details to the organisation that has been contracted to carry out that survey. That organisation will use your details only for that purpose, and will then delete them. (If you do not want to take part in this second survey, please let us know.)
  14. Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have the right to a copy of the information HESA holds about you. You will have to pay a small fee for this. If you have any concerns about your information being used for these purposes, please contact HESA: HESA, 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ, www.hesa.ac.uk