Realising Opportunities Data Protection Notice

This data protection notice tells you how we (the Realising Opportunities universities) handle personal information. Please read it carefully and contact us if you have any queries. Further data protection notices may be provided for specific events. 

Use

All data collected in order to administer the Realising Opportunities programme will be stored in accordance with applicable data protection laws by the Realising Opportunities central team based at Newcastle University and used for contact, selection, reporting, research and monitoring and evaluation purposes as described below, and to administer and manage your application and participation in the programme. 

Security

We will take appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your data secure. 

Storage

Data will be stored for a reasonable period following your completion of the programme and any University course for project tracking and evaluation purposes. Following this period all data will be securely destroyed. If you withdraw from the Realising Opportunities programme your data will be held and used as described below unless you specifically inform us that you do not want your data to be used. You can do this by emailing info@realisingopportunities.ac.uk 

Sharing

We will only share relevant data with UCAS (see below) and with HEAT (see below). By “relevant” we mean data required to match the other party’s records; we would never share health data or family circumstances. We will share all data with the other Realising Opportunities universities in order to monitor and track your progress on the programme, application to university and beyond. Other organisations may also be involved in relevant data sharing including the Department for Education (including its National Pupil Database), Higher Education Statistics Agency, Skills Funding Agency, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (to become the Office for Students) and the Office for Fair Access. Please see below for details of organisations involved as at July 2017.

UCAS

We will specifically share your personal details with UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) in order for the Realising Opportunities universities to track any courses of theirs that you apply to, are made offers on and are accepted to. Tracking will be done for any course you apply to during the programme, or if you do not apply to UCAS during the programme, tracking will be done for any course you apply to up to one year after you have finished the programme. If/when you apply to one of the universities involved in Realising Opportunities, UCAS will flag your application to them to ensure that additional consideration is given. When sharing this information with the Realising Opportunities universities, UCAS will not give details about any other universities you may have applied to. UCAS will share your personal application data with the Realising Opportunities universities both during your first UCAS application and – if you reapply another year – one further occasion. UCAS will provide the Realising Opportunities central team with a statistical analysis of applications. 

HEAT

We will, if you agree to being tracked, share your data with the Department for Education’s National Pupil Database or HEAT (the Higher Education Access Tracker, run by the University of Kent), and/or with the other organisations HEAT works with. Please note that HEAT has access to government data sets and can inform us whether you progress to higher education, your success in higher education and career paths post-higher education. As well as with its key personnel and the supplier which maintains its database, HEAT may share your data with official custodians of education data including the Higher Education Statistics Agency, UCAS, the Department for Education, the Higher Education Funding Council (to become the Office for Students), the Office for Fair Access and other agencies for research purposes only (and agreed with the HEAT governance and steering groups). HEAT will otherwise only share your data as required by law or directed by a court or other body of competent jurisdiction. 

EPQ results

If you are taking the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) to fulfil the academic requirements of the programme, we will also share your personal details with HEAT or NPD (the National Pupil Database of the Department for Education) in order to receive confirmation of your result. We do this to confirm if you have successfully completed the programme and to assist us with assessing the impact of the Realising Opportunities programme. This will involve the Realising Opportunities central team receiving a yes or no statement from HEAT/NPD in order to confirm if you have received at least a grade C or above. 

Ementoring platform provider

The programme requires you to complete the online study skills test on the Realising Opportunities e-mentoring platform and to participate in ementoring. We will provide your details to the platform provider to set up a login for you. The provider will give us the results of your test, the results of any questionnaire you complete on the platform and statistical data about your engagement with the platform (how many times you logged in for example). Please see the provider’s privacy policy for details of its use of your personal data obtained through the platform, including the content of your online discussions with your e-mentor. 

Nuffield Foundation

If you apply for a Nuffield Foundation placement, the Nuffield Foundation will tell us the status of your application, whether your application is successful or not and, if so, the name of the placement organisation. This will be shared with your host Realising Opportunities University to support your academic assessment. We will tell the Nuffield Foundation the name of your host university. 

Evaluation services provider

As part of the evaluation of the Realising Opportunities programme your application form, questionnaire data (and other data we are permitted to use) may be used by us for research purposes to ascertain the success of this widening participation initiative. You will not be individually identified in any reports and confidentiality will be maintained at all times. At no time will the information you provide be used for marketing or sales purposes or provided to any organisation for this use. 

FOI

If Realising Opportunities is subjected to a Freedom of Information request, all data supplied will be made anonymous and at no time will you be individually identified.