Accommodation
Your data will be processed by the BU Residential Services team where you choose to apply for certain categories of student accommodation or use other accommodation services provided by BU.
- BU accommodation (student halls)
Certain places in certain student residences are provided either by BU or by third party providers under contract with BU, and students access booking facilities for this accommodation through the BU Accommodation Portal, a service provided by the StarRez accommodation system. This accommodation is referred to as “BU accommodation”. BU directly allocates some BU accommodation to those with specific needs such as relevant health conditions or disabilities, otherwise students select their accommodation on the Portal and are then referred to the relevant accommodation provider to complete their booking.
More information
The StarRez accommodation system is provided to BU by an external supplier and cloud-hosted. Our arrangements with the system and hosting suppliers include provisions as to data security.
Your name, contact details and banking details will be processed for the purposes of managing your booking and then managing your contract for accommodation. This will include your data being passed to any third party accommodation provider which operates the accommodation you are booking so that you can conclude the booking process with them. After that, the provider will give you privacy information about how they process your information for the purposes of managing the accommodation and their contract with you.
If you are going to be under the age of 18 when you start your course, you will be given further specific privacy information about processing of your personal data and that of your parents/guardians in connection with your information.
Students resident in BU accommodation will automatically be sent information about ResLifeBU events and activities by email and text, as access to these services is part of the overall accommodation service covered by your rent payments.
- Necessary for the performance of the contract between you and the accommodation provider, or for preparatory steps in relation to that contract.
- Necessary for legitimate interests pursued by BU, i.e. enabling access by students to all services and facilities available to them as a higher education student and ensuring a safe environment
If you declare a relevant criminal conviction when you accept an offer to study at BU, the risk assessment we carry out in relation to your conviction(s) will include consideration of any risks to yourself and/or others if you live in BU accommodation. Depending on the outcome of that risk assessment, we may share information about your convictions and our risk assessment with relevant third-party accommodation providers. We will tell you before sharing information in this way.
- Necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest: this refers to the University’s duty to safeguard people within the University environment.
We can only process this type of information where it falls into one or more of the paragraphs in Schedule 1 to the UK Data Protection Act 2018. The relevant paragraphs are:
- Paragraph 18: necessary for the purposes of safeguarding, i.e. protecting individuals from risks of neglect, harm or damage to well-being;
- Paragraph 10: necessary for the purposes of prevention or detection of unlawful acts.
If you provide us with information about any health conditions, disabilities or support needs relevant to your booking of accommodation, we will process this within BU and share it with accommodation providers as necessary to identify your accommodation needs and help you secure a booking of appropriate accommodation.
If you tell us that you have a disability or medical condition that affects the type of accommodation you need, or that you have a partner, family or dependents who need to live with you, we will need to pause the registration and booking process while we collect further information needed to consider your accommodation needs. Information provided in this section or in response to our further enquiries may be shared with those who manage your accommodation, including BU’s third party accommodation partners. By providing the information you consent to its use by BU and its accommodation partners where this is necessary to identify appropriate accommodation for you, process your accommodation booking and support you in BU accommodation. You can withdraw your consent at any time, but this will affect our ability to provide you with accommodation and support.
- Consent: you have agreed to this processing.
While you are living in BU accommodation, if there are concerns about your welfare then BU’s Residential Services team and your accommodation provider will share information between them, and will provide information to other people within BU or to third parties (e.g. NHS organisations or the police) where they consider this necessary to safeguard your welfare.
- Necessary to protect your vital interests
- Necessary for a task in the public interest (BU’s duty as a university to safeguard its students)
- Necessary for the purposes of substantial public interest: safeguarding vulnerable people or providing confidential counselling or similar services
Each year we invite everyone living in BU Accommodation to complete satisfaction surveys. You do not have to complete it. Data collected through the survey is shared with third parties in an anonymous statistical format.
- Necessary for legitimate interests pursued by BU and a third party, i.e. monitoring and reporting on the quality and suitability of student housing.
- LettingsBU service
LettingsBU is an accommodation finding and letting service operated by BU. It provides similar services to those of commercial letting agencies. If you use the services of LettingsBU then you will be given separate privacy information about the processing of your data for these purposes.
Campus facilities
We process your information in a number of ways in order to manage the BU estate (land and buildings) on the Talbot, Lansdowne, Yeovil, Potrsmouth and Chapel Gate Campuses, so that we can provide a safe, secure, efficient and well-managed environment. This includes:
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Use of an electronic access control system to manage entry and exit to buildings. Access controls are applied to doors within BU buildings and access to some of our buildings is controlled through use of barriers. These controls are applied for safety and security reasons. The access control system enables access by a student with appropriate permissions through use of their student ID card. Where you obtain access in this way, the access control system will record your name and ID card number together with the details of your entry and exit times to the relevant buildings. This data is held in our systems for three months before being automatically deleted. While held this data is accessible only to limited BU with responsibilities for managing or supporting the access control system. The data is extracted and used /shared only for the purposes of identifying or resolving system or access issues (e.g. issues with access permissions), or where required for the purposes of a disciplinary process or by the police for a criminal investigation.
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Operation of CCTV systems. Data generated through the operation of these systems will be used internally by BU for investigating and responding to incidents. This data may in certain circumstances be shared with the police or other third parties.
CCTV systems are in place in some parts of BU’s estate for the purposes of ensuring a safe and secure environment, preventing crime and anti-social behaviour and facilitating the detection or prosecution of criminal behaviour. CCTV footage is processed in accordance with BU’s CCTV policy and procedures. Images are captured 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The CCTV systems digitally record seven frames per second. These images are automatically erased after a period of no more than 31 days after they are recorded, unless before that time we are made aware that the images are required for evidence (in which case they are securely stored until the incident is resolved or the information is passed to an official third party). Access to the footage is securely controlled by BU’s IT security arrangements. Footage may be viewed and used internally by BU staff for the purposes of investigating and responding to incidents on BU premises: this may include use within staff or student complaint/grievance or disciplinary processes, and use in relation to managing BU’s legal liability and making or managing insurance claims.
We may provide CCTV footage to the police where they believe that a crime has been or may have been committed and we are satisfied that the CCTV footage may assist them in their investigation and disclosure would comply with the data protection legislation.
We may provide CCTV footage to other third parties, but only if we are satisfied that there is a clear legal basis for doing so and that it will be fair to the individuals who are the focus of the request, including consideration of whether to notify those individuals before access to the footage is provided if their identities are known and this is feasible.
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Management of car parks and provision of parking permits. This includes sharing data with a third-party provider of parking enforcement services.
When you apply for a parking permit your data is processed within BU to assess your eligibility for a permit. The data held within the BU parking permit system is accessible only to staff in the Estates team with responsibility for managing the permit system. This data is deleted from our system within three months after you leave BU.
A third party provider carries out monitoring and enforcement of the terms and conditions of use of BU car parks. The provider uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology for this purpose. Separate privacy information about this processing is provided on the signs in BU car parks and when you make any application for a BU parking permit.
- Timetabling of classes. We use student personal data to produce individualised student timetable information. This involves processing student names, ID numbers, contact details and module choices.
- If you make a room booking at BU we will use your BU email contact details to send a confirmation email to you and to contact you if any issues arise in relation to your booking.
- We use your contact details to let you know of any issues affecting access to or safety on the campus
- Necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, i.e. operation of BU as a university in a safe, secure and efficient environment or prevention and detection of crime
- Necessary for the performance of a contract between you and BU
- Necessary for legitimate interests pursued by BU, i.e. management of premises
Additional Student Services (Sport, Culture, Careers)
BU provides a number of other services for students to support them in achieving a wide and fulfilling experience of student life and in making the best use of their BU education after they leave BU. Some information about the scope of these services and their availability to BU students will be provided within general student communications as described below. Other information about the services will be made available only if you engage with a specific service and choose to receive information about it. At this stage you will also be given more information about how your data will be processed in connection with that service.
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Culture
We issue regular mailings to those interested in music and art activities and events. Separate privacy information will be provided in those communications.
With your agreement, we will share your data (including your contact details and information about your musical interests) with music tutors to facilitate the arrangement of music tuition.
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SportBU
Separate privacy information will be provided when you access SportBU services and facilities. Communications may be sent to you about the existence or scope of SportBU services as described in the Communications section below.
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BU Careers & Employability Service
Information you provide will be processed for the purposes of responding to any specific enquiries you make, providing any specific services or support requested and carrying out internal analysis of the use of the Careers & Employability Service. Much of the information and support available from this Service can be accessed through the online MyCareerHub system: to use this system you will be asked to set up an individual account using your BU login and password information. Further privacy information about the processing of your information through MyCareerHub will be provided at this point.
- Consent: this means that you have agreed that we can use your data for this specific purpose.
- Necessary for legitimate interests pursued by BU: providing support and additional services to students as part of the higher education experience