About the University

Privacy policy

Bournemouth University (BU) recognises the importance of your personal privacy. This privacy policy sets out how BU uses and protects any information that you give us when you use this website. By using this website you consent to the collection of your personal information in accordance with this policy.

The processing of personal data is regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act). Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this privacy statement and the Act.

Any requests by individuals for access to information held about them by BU should be made in writing to the Information Officer, Legal Services, Bournemouth University, Melbury House, 1-3 Oxford Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH8 8ES. The fee for access to information is £10 and this should be submitted with the request.

BU may change this policy by updating this page. This policy is effective from 26 May 2012.

What information do we collect?

In order to use the main BU website, you are not currently required to register or provide any personal information about yourself. Any personal information collected from visits to our website is purely on a voluntary basis, however by supplying this information you are consenting to the University keeping it for a reasonable period of time and using it for the purposes set out below.

On the occasions that we do ask you to provide some limited information to participate in services such as registration, applications or event bookings, this information may include your name, title, institutional affiliation, address, telephone number, email address, dietary requirements, as well as qualifications or further information requested specifically for an event. It may be stored manually or electronically by BU.

When you use the BU website it automatically issues your computer with a small piece of code known as a cookie. This cookie enables the web page to be displayed correctly. This information enables us to manage and improve services on this website - this cookie does not however contain any personal identifying information.

When you view our website, our webservers build logs of activity which contain information about your location in the world and your computers IP address.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers which asks permission from your browser to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual and allow us to distinguish you from other users of the site. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences and allows us to improve our site.

Cookies we use:

We use Google Analytics cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic (the number of visitors and how visitors move around the site when they are using it) and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis.
When you use our Course Search, there is a cookie which remembers which course you were looking at when you clicked 'Apply Online'. This then pre-selects that particular course on the application form to assist you. This cookie expires after three hours.
We also use Third Party cookies within our email campaigns, predominantly sent using the dotMailer email marketing tool, as well as Google Analytics. Cookies are used to monitor open rates and improve your email experience and also for the tracking of website activity initiated from hyperlinks within email marketing campaigns. More information about dotMailer Third Party cookies and their Privacy Policy can be found on their website.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer, other than the data you choose to share with us.

Removing and disabling cookies

If you do not wish to accept cookies on your machine you can disable them by adjusting the settings on your browser. You should be aware however, that if you choose to decline cookies, certain functions or features on our website may not work correctly.

Two types of cookies are used on this website:

Session Cookies. These are temporary cookies, which only exist in the period you access the website (or more strictly, until you close the browser after accessing the website). Session cookies help the website remember what you chose on the previous page, therefore avoiding having to re-enter information.
Persistent Cookies. These are cookies, which remain on your device after you have visited our website. These cookies help us identify you as a unique visitor (by storing a randomly generated number).

The length of time a cookie will remain on your device will depend on the type of cookie. On our website, these cookies do not contain personal information, and cannot be used to identify you.

To find out more about how to manage cookies through your chosen browser go to: www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/

What we do with the information we gather?

Any personal information that we gather will only be used in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and used for the purpose stated at the time we request the information. We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

We may use the logging data to analyse demographic and other statistical information to conduct an analysis of the popularity and effectiveness of the BU website. In conducting such analysis we will only ever disclose information in the aggregate form so as not to identify individual users.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes
if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us direct, altering your preferences or by selecting the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any direct marketing emails we send to you.

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please contact us as soon as possible and we will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect or incomplete.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

You should be aware that when you email BU the possibility exists, however minimal, that unauthorised individuals maybe able to intercept your message. We recommend as a result you should not use unsecure forms and email to send personal data, such as financial information to BU.

You should be aware of the following:

When we transfer and receive personal data, we redirect visitors to a web connection that uses SSL encryption (similar to that used for internet banking). We notify visitors of this connection through the use of a padlock symbol, which will appear in your address or status bar.
Some of our forms allow our visitors to ask questions about our products or services. You should be aware that these messages are not sent over an encrypted connection and the possibility exists, however minimal, that an unauthorised individual maybe able to intercept this information.
We are not responsible for the privacy of email messages except those stored in our servers.
We have appropriate security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from you, while using our website.
That when you email BU the possibility exists, however minimal, that unauthorised individuals may be able to intercept your message. We recommend as a result you should not use email to send personal data, such as financial information to BU.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to enable you to visit other websites of interest easily. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Contact us

Please contact us if you have questions about our privacy statement at newmedia@bournemouth.ac.uk.