Data protection

We collect personal information about our outreach participants - primarily name, date of birth, school, postcode and whether their parents/guardians have been to university. This information is collected only in order to meet specific research purposes, namely to monitor participation and evaluate the impact of the University of Kent’s outreach activities, and will be retained only for as long as those purposes remain valid.

To help evaluate the effectiveness of our activities as part of the government policy to widen participation in higher education and to develop future policies, personal data may also be shared with:

  • Office for Students (OfS)
  • Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
  • University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)
  • Our partner schools and colleges including the Kent & Medway Progression Federation
  • Higher Education Access Tracker service subscribers
  • National Data Service

We will not release data to any unauthorised third parties. Any personal information provided to us will be processed by the University of Kent’s Outreach and Widening Participation Department in accordance with current data protection legislation. Personal data will be stored securely on the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT) database and any paper forms will be securely destroyed once it is no longer required. Where an individual has supplied a first name, last name, date of birth and postcode, their information will be stored on the database until 15 years from: 

  1. the year in which they might be expected to enter HE, or
  2. the date their record was created, or
  3. when they last interacted with an outreach event,

whichever of these conditions is most recent. At this point, their information will be deleted.

Participants have the right to opt out of sharing their personal data at any time by contacting OutreachDataProtection@kent.ac.uk. They also have the right to a copy of the data held about them, by us, for a small fee. Requests should be made in writing to The Data Protection Officer, The Registry, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NY.

What information does the University hold about me?

Under current data protection legislation, you have the right to a copy of the data held about you by us. If you have concerns about the use of your data for these purposes or would like a copy of the data you have supplied directly to us, please get in touch with us on the Information Compliance website.

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