The Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR require institutions to inform their students and other stakeholders about how data about them is used and who it is shared with.
The University of Kent is the Data Controller for the personal information you give to the University and is subject to the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK and European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Student Enrolment Privacy Notice for the University of Kent can be found on the Information Compliance website.
This privacy notice explains how the University of Kent Careers and Employability Service (CES) uses and shares your personal data and outlines your rights in relation to the personal data we hold.
What information are you collecting?
The CES may obtain, hold and process data relating to students and graduates including:
- Personal details
- Education and training records, applications and forms relating to schemes, programmes and bursaries administered by the CES including convention de stage agreements, Study Plus, mentoring schemes, the Work and Opportunities Fund and Employability Points
- Employment, work placement and volunteering information including Work-Study Scheme applications and contracts of employment
- Career and further study ideas
- CVs/applications/practice interviews etc. and any feedback given on them
- Careers and employability event and appointment attendance
- Graduate Outcomes (previously Destination of Leavers from Higher Education) data
- Financial details (for example bank details for wage payments for the Work-Study Scheme or for Work and Opportunities Fund bursary payments)
Where any special category data including ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, health and disability data relating to physical or mental health or specific learning difficulty is held e.g. for a particular scheme or initiative, there will be a separate privacy notice for this.
For employers, professional bodies and professional mentors who engage with the Careers and Employability Service, including the Employability Points Scheme, we will collate and hold the following information: organisation name, business registration information, financial details, first name, last name, role, email address, telephone number, social media profile and information in respect to any work, placement or volunteering opportunities.
If any additional data is collected from students, graduates, employers, professional bodies and professional mentors for any particular schemes or initiatives that is not covered here, then a separate privacy notice will be provided.
Why are you collecting my data?
The CES holds the personal data of its students and graduates to:
- Manage our processes and services
- Offer individuals support that is tailored to their needs
- Enable advisers to prepare for and deliver meaningful first and follow up appointments
Information from employers, professional bodies or professional mentors is collected to provide careers services such as vacancy, opportunity and mentoring promotion, events, careers fairs, presentations and workshops. Only information required for these purposes is obtained and processed, and without it the CES may not be able to provide its services to you or to students and graduates.
How will you use my information?
The CES will use student and graduate personal data to administer the careers service offered to you including:
- Provision of support services in relation to careers development
- Monitoring of attendance
- Provision of references (where a student or graduate has been employed by us or through us e.g. via the Work-Study Scheme)
- Submission of applications within the University and to external employers and other third parties on request of the individual
- Providing details of support, mentoring, career opportunities and events available within and outside the University
- Maintenance of student records
- Financial transactions (e.g. invoices, bursaries and scholarships)
We may also use your data for other administrative purposes, for example: to undertake statistical analysis, carry out compliance audits, promote services or answer enquiries.
Employers, professional bodies and mentors associated with the Careers and Employability Service will receive regular email communication in relation to further opportunities for engagement, whilst other University of Kent departments may contact you in relation to further business-orientated opportunities.
What is the legal basis for processing the data?
Student and graduate personal data is collected and processed by the CES as necessary for providing careers and employability services to them; this forms part of our Public Task (A6(1)(e,). Information relating to employers and third parties is also collected on the same basis.
Special category data of students and graduates is only collected and processed where necessary to provide the relevant support and only with student/graduate consent.
If you are sharing my data with others, who are you sharing it with?
For purposes referred to in this privacy notice we may share your personal data with other staff from the University of Kent, Kent Union and The Hub, and appropriate external trainers, where there is a legitimate reason. Examples include: divisional employability and placement staff, staff who approve and produce documents relating to convention de stage/training agreements, staff who collate or process attendance or employability engagement information for awards such as Employability Points, the Global Skills Award, trainers delivering workshops etc.
For purposes referred to in this privacy notice we may also share your personal data with the software provider Group GTI. They provide our customer relationship management system, Target Connect, where some of the student and graduate data mentioned in this privacy notice is stored securely (personal details, education and training records, employment, work placement and volunteering information, career and further study ideas, CVs, applications, practice interviews etc. and any feedback given on them, Graduate Outcomes data). We have a data sharing agreement with this provider to ensure that data is kept securely. If you set your occupational and opportunity type interests within your profile you may be sent communications about opportunities relevant to you, but you can unsubscribe at any time.
The CES also has contracts with other software providers e.g. Graduates First Shortlister, CareerSet and GoinGlobal, that students/graduates may choose to access. Students may choose to share their email address if single sign on (sign on using Kent credentials) is enabled and students choose to access the systems. Each system has a privacy notice and if students and graduates are required to provide email addresses or any other information when they use these systems, then they may choose whether to proceed or not.
The CES would not share special category data with third party employers or education providers for the purpose of job applications without consent.
Data shared as part of the statutory Graduate Outcomes Survey, co-ordinated by HESA (Higher Educations Statistics Agency), is subject to a different privacy notice that is emailed to graduates.
How long will you retain my data?
Information will be kept for three years after a student’s graduation when entitlement to use the CES ends.
What are my rights and how can I enforce them?
- The right to be informed about which data is collected and how it will be used
- The right to request access to your personal data held by the CES
- The right to have incomplete or inaccurate data rectified
- The right to restrict the processing of personal data – individuals have the right to block the processing of their personal data by the University in specific situations
Please visit the University’s Information Compliance Pages if you would like more information on how your personal data is handled or to discuss any aspect of your rights in relation to your personal data.