University accommodation Privacy Notice

The University of Strathclyde is committed to transparency and to complying with its responsibilities under data protection legislation. This privacy notice sets out important information regarding how we will use your information and your rights under the legislation. It is important that you read this notice prior to providing your information.

The University of Strathclyde is a data controller under data protection legislation.

Any enquiries regarding data protection should be made to the University’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@strath.ac.uk.

What information do we process?

We will process identifiable information about you from:

the details you supply via your accommodation application form or on any application to use the University’s parking facilities;
the information held on your UCAS application form;
any other information you supply to the University which is held on your Student Record; and
our use of CCTV facilities outside University student residences. For more information on our use of CCTV on campus, please consult our CCTV Code of Practice.

Purpose of the processing and legal basis

We will process your data for the purposes set out below to fulfil the contract you have entered into with us for accommodation services.

Managing your application including assessing your eligibility for accommodation.
Processing all aspects of your occupancy agreement.
Flat mate matching.
Contacting you regarding breaches of the Code of Conduct for Students Living in Residence.

We may also have to process your personal information where it is in our legitimate interests to do so and we believe it will be of interest to you e.g.

Keep you up to date with offers/opportunities available to residents.

In some cases we may ask you to provide information relating to your physical or mental health in order to allocate appropriate accommodation to meet your requirements or to ensure your wellbeing or safety. You will be asked to provide this information on the application form. You are under no obligation to provide this data to us but if you do not then we cannot consider any specific needs you may have when processing your application.

We will ask you for your explicit consent to process this information for assessing your accommodation application. However, in some situations the processing of medical/health data is justified to meet legal obligations, for reasons of substantial public interest or to protect your vital interests. In these situations we will not require nor seek your explicit consent.

Who we will share your data with

We may share your personal data in limited circumstances where it is lawful and legitimate for us to do so with:

other housing providers: if the University is unable to meet the demand for accommodation, we work with approved third party providers of student accommodation. As with all offers of accommodation you can choose whether or not to accept.
Glasgow City Council: the Council may require the University to provide your information in order to contact you for the purposes of placing your name on the electoral register.

We will not transfer your personal data outwith the European Economic Area.

Retention periods

We will retain your personal information for a maximum of 5 years after you graduate or leave the University.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

Find out what personal data we process about you and obtain a copy of the data.
Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
Withdraw consent to process your personal data at any time, if you were asked for and provided consent (and where no other lawful basis for processing applies).

Under certain conditions you also have the right to ask us to:

Restrict the use of your data e.g. if you have raised issues about the accuracy or use of your personal data, until we have investigated and responded to your concerns;
Erase your information or tell us to stop using it to make decisions about you;
Comply with your wishes where you have previously agreed to us processing your data for a particular purpose and have withdrawn your consent to further processing;
Provide you with a portable electronic copy of data you’ve given us.

Please contact us if you wish to exercise/enquire about any of these rights.

Right to complain to supervisory authority

If you have any concerns/issues with the way the University has processed your personal data you can contact the Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@strath.ac.uk. You also have the right to lodge a complaint against the University regarding data protection issues with the Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/concerns/) although we would appreciate the opportunity to respond to your enquiry first.