Development Office Privacy Statement

The University of London is a federal University and is one of the oldest, largest and most diverse universities in the UK. Until recently, all students studying for a degree at one of our member institutions received a University of London degree. We consider all those who studied for a University of London degree to be an alumnus or alumna of the University. 
  
Today, all students studying for a University of London degree or a degree with one of our member institutions continue to benefit from a wide range of facilities and services. Those students and alumni may well decide to keep in touch with the University. 
The member institutions are self-governing and they are considered as individual institutions. They are separate legal entities, and each will have their own data protection procedures. 
 
In addition to the member institutions, the University includes the School of Advanced Study, comprising of research Institutes (for example, the Institute of Historical Research) and the Senate House Library; the University of London Institute in Paris; and the University’s flexible and distance learning programmes. All University of London development activities undertaken by these parts of the central University are covered by this policy. 
 
The University, its Institutes and programmes as well as the member institutions have a shared interest in our alumni and supporters. Through the Development Office we seek to ensure that alumni and friends have access to all the benefits and services that the University of London has to offer.   

The Development Office holds personal data collected by the University during the course of our relationship with our alumni, supporters and friends. We hold data in electronic and paper formats. 
 
Student data held by the University of London, such as name, contact and personal details and degree information are copied from central University records and used to create a record for all alumni on the Development Office database.  
 
We also hold records on non-alumni friends of the University, who include donors, potential donors and those who have become actively engaged with the University, such as through membership groups. 
 
A proportion of the information stored will have been obtained directly from you, for example when you register for an event or enquire about our activities; some of the data may also have been obtained from publicly available sources and appended to your record. 
 
We also use third parties to provide contact information to enable us to keep in touch.  
 
In addition, we use third parties to assess publicly available information to help us understand if you have the financial capacity to contribute to our fundraising efforts.  
 
We also use the data we hold on you to help us determine which of our communications, appeals, activities, and services to share with you. All data is held securely and in accordance with UK data protection legislation.  
 
The personal data stored and processed by the Development Office may include: 

• Biographical information; 
• Gender; 
• Contact details; 
• Information about your time at the University, and other education history; 
• Your professional activities; 
• Membership of groups, such as the Friends of Senate House Library and the Society of Advanced Legal Study; 
• Current interests and activities, which may include extracts from related media stories; 
• Family and spouse/partner details; 
• Relationships to other alumni, donors and friends; 
• Whether you are a donor, and research and fundraiser reports/briefings and wealth assessment information, indicators of your interest in giving, ethical and reputational risk analysis; 
• Where relevant, publicly available information about you which may have a bearing on reputational risk. Further information is available if this applies to you;  
• Records of communications, meetings and marketing activities by the University; 
• Volunteering by you on behalf of the University; 
• Registration and attendance at events; 
• Photographs 
• Donation details if you express an interest in or make a donation to the University. 

If you make a donation to the University of London, you have the option of deciding whether your name can be used on donor lists or other stewardship materials and you have the ability to opt out of future communications. 
 
The Development Office does not store any bank or credit/debit card details within its database. 
 
We obtain personal information from you when you enquire about our activities, register for an event or service, make a donation to the University or otherwise provide us with personal information. 

We may record special category data about you, which is sensitive personal information requiring higher levels of protection. We need to have further justification for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information.  
 
The Special Categories of personal data consist of data revealing: 

• racial or ethnic origin; 
• political opinions; 
• religious or philosophical beliefs; 
• trade union membership;  
• data concerning health;  
• data concerning someone's sex life or sexual orientation. 

In these cases, in addition to legitimate interest, we will use the following legal basis for processing the data:  

• Where you may have made the data public yourself, such as a commitment to a political or religious cause 
• Where you provide the data directly to us for a specific purpose e.g. about a disability you disclose to us to ensure we have proper facilities in place at our events. 

The University uses records for alumni relations and fundraising purposes. These include sending publications (print and electronic), alumni surveys, appeals and marketing alumni events and services such as providing transcripts, access to Senate House Library, etc. Communications may be sent by post, telephone or electronic means. 
 
We may also contact you for marketing, promotional and fundraising purposes. These types of communications include: 

• Informing you of other products, services or events related to the University of London, such as alumni, friends and supporter events, courses, reunions or networks 
• Updates on University news 
• Other relevant communications based on your relationship with the University of London 
• Information on fundraising operations, including occasional requests to consider giving financial support to the University, or to ask you to consider supporting the University in other ways 

Any such electronic communications will be made in accordance with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. You can opt out of any or all of our communications at any point by contacting: development@london.ac.uk 
 
Tools may be used to monitor the effectiveness of the University’s communications with you, including tracking when an email from us is opened and/or how many links are clicked within the message.  
 
Your data will not be disclosed to external organisations other than those acting as agents or data processors for the University. 
 
The University may facilitate communication between individual alumni, but in doing so does not release personal contact details without prior permission. 

The University will report on your donations to Trustees and other internal governance groups. Your name will be included in a list of donors in our annual report, which is published on our website. If you would like your name to be withdrawn from this report, please let us know.  

The University is committed to holding your data securely and treating it with sensitivity. Any transfers of your data outside of the UK, for example to our international alumni groups or to one of our trusted partners’ servers, are protected either by an adequacy decision by the UK or by standard contractual clauses adopted by the Information Commissioners Office. 
 
All information is held and transmitted securely. Data is held in accordance with the University’s security policy.  
 
Unless you have requested otherwise, data held by the Development Office is accessible to the University and its Federation Members* and central academic units. Data is used and processed for a full range of alumni activities and programmes involving academic and administrative departments, and a full range of communications and marketing activity (by mail, email, text and telephone), including the sending of University publications and the notification of alumni events, fundraising programmes and for the promotion of benefits and services. 
 
*See a list of all our Member Institutions

The University aims to keep your data up to date and welcomes any updates to your details you may wish to send. 
 
We continuously review records of alumni and supporters to ensure your data is as accurate as possible. We may consult alternative sources in order undertake these checks, e.g. Royal Mail address files, reviewing job information that you have made publicly available via social media, newspaper articles, company filings, corporate websites and other publicly available sources. 
 
Where we appoint an external party to undertake this type of review, any such arrangements will be subject to a formal agreement between the University and that organisation, to protect the security of your data. 

You are in control of your data. You have a choice about whether you want to receive information about the University, our progress or fundraising activities, and by which methods of communication. You can change your marketing and contact preferences at any time. 
 
We will not use your personal information for marketing purposes if you have indicated to us that you do not wish to be contacted in this way. You can change your marketing and contact preferences at any time by contacting the Development Office at the University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU UK or: development@london.ac.uk 
 
If you wish to restrict data processing or sharing including use for marketing or do not want to be contacted by the University in any way, please inform us. You can request that we remove your details from our database by contacting the Development Office. We will work with you individually and personally to ensure we are adhering to your wishes. We will remove data in accordance with your wishes excluding data we are required to keep by law, such as official academic record and sufficient information to make sure you are not contacted again inadvertently e.g., name, member institution, subject, graduation details, central University ID number and date of birth. 
 
For former students, data relating to your academic achievements will be retained indefinitely. Other personal data will be held to enable us to contact and engage with you for as long as it is necessary for the above purposes in accordance with the University’s retention schedules. 
 
You will also need to contact your member institution separately if you wish to restrict their data processing, sharing, marketing or contact.  
 
We will publish any changes we make to this data protection statement and, where appropriate, notify you by email.

You have a number of legal rights in regards to your data, including the right of access, erasure or restriction of processing – for further information, and the contact details of the University’s Data Protection Officer, please see the University’s data protection pages

The terms of this statement may change, so please check it periodically. This statement was last updated in July 2024. 
 
If you have any queries about this privacy statement, or wish to update your record, please contact the Development Office at the University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU UK or: development@london.ac.uk 

Our website may include links to websites run by other organisations. The University of London is not responsible for the privacy practices of these other websites, so you should read their privacy policies carefully.