DIMERSAR data retention policy

Students may request copies of personal data kept by the Institute in accord with the retention policy stated below. At the end of the retention period, data are either destroyed or anonymised and used for statistical analysis, unless subject to an appeal or complaint. Please note however, that there is no requirement to supply copies of examination scripts under the data protection act of 1998.

All applications for copies of personal data held by DIMERSAR should be directed in writing to the appropriate DIMERSAR contact in the first instance (see Section 5).

Release of data under this policy does not constitute a subject access request under the Data Protection Act of 1998. Requests for access to all other personal data should be directed to the DIMERSAR Administration Manager who is the Data Protection Officer.

Data retention

¹ Assignments unsuitable for electronic submission or scanning will be returned to students for appropriate retention/storage.

HESA data protection notice

We may 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 require it to carry out their functions connected with funding higher education.

• • · Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

  • · Welsh Assembly Government (WAG)

  • · Scottish Government (SG)

  • · Department for Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DEL(NI))

  • · Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

  • · Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW)

  • · Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Council (SFC)

  • · Training and Development Agency for Schools

  • · Research Councils (RCs)

  • · Department of Education (DoE)

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 any way that could affect you personally and the organisations will take precautions to reduce the risk of your being identified from the information once it is published and released.

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.

However, towards the end of your studies on some courses, we are required to 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.

About six months after you graduate (or achieve your HE qualification), we may contact you to ask you to fill in the HESA ‘Destinations 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 or achieve an HE qualification. If this happens, 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, after being contacted you do not want to take part in this second survey, please let us know in writing.)

Under the Data Protection Act 1998, you have the right to a copy of the information HESA holds about you, but you will have to pay a small administrative fee to obtain it. If you have any concerns about the use of your information, please contact HESA at the address below:

HESA, 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ

Website: www.hesa.ac.uk