Privacy notice - UoY CITY College PhD applicants

The University collects information about you in a variety of ways. These include:

• information collected through CITY College application forms and documents provided as part of a CITY College application; 
• information collected as part of the CITY College pre-selection process;
• information collected through any correspondence with you during the application process; 
• through an academic  interview (conducted by CITY College and University of York staff).

Personal data including:

• your name, address, date of birth and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
• details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history, including start and end dates, with previous employers;
• details of your current employer;
• proof of identity documents.

Special category data including information about disability, health, gender identity, ethnicity and racial origin. 

The University needs to process personal data during the admissions process and keep records of that process. Processing data from applicants allows the organisation to manage the admissions process, assess and confirm an applicant's suitability for a program of study and decide to whom to offer a program of study. The organisation may also need to process data from an admissions application to respond to and defend against legal claims.

Typically, data will be processed:

• on the grounds of contractual requirement or to take steps to enter into a contract with you, eg to offer you a place on a program of study at the University;
• because it is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest (for information on our public task see our function as set out in our charter; 
• because it is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests;
• to allow us to comply with our legal obligations; 
• to protect your or another person’s vital interests;
• to monitor equality and diversity; 
• because you have given us your consent or, in the case of special category data, your explicit consent. 

The University may process your personal data (including special category data) for the following purposes:

• to operate admissions recruitment and selection processes;
• to form the basis of a student record, should you be offered a place of study at the University;
• to enable effective communication with you as an applicant; 
• to check, where necessary, that applicants are eligible to work with children, patients and other vulnerable adults;
• to ensure effective general recruitment and admissions administration, including the analysis of applicant numbers and trends to improve our administrative processes;
• to compile statistical and personal returns for reporting purposes;
• to maintain and promote equality and diversity;
• to respond to and defend against legal claims; 
• to meet the audit requirements of funding providers.

The University will share your data with:

• Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for the purpose of data reporting;

• CITY College (for the purpose of conducting an initial interview assessment and contributing to the assessment of an applicant's suitability for a program of study) and;
• OFSTED.

The University takes information security extremely seriously and has implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data and special category data. Access to information is restricted on a need-to-know basis and security arrangements are regularly reviewed to ensure their continued suitability. For further information please see our IT Security webpages.

It is necessary to transfer your Personal Data (including Special Category Data) outside the UK, in this instance to CITY College, based in Thessaloniki, Greece. In respect of such transfers, the University will comply with our obligations under UK GDPR and ensure an adequate level of protection for all transferred data. 

The University will retain your data in line with legal requirements or where there is a business need. Retention timeframes will be determined in line with the University’s Records Retention Schedule. 

Under the UK GDPR, you have a right of access to your data, a right to rectification, erasure (in certain circumstances), restriction, objection or portability (in certain circumstances). You also have a right to withdraw consent. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact Partnership Admissions - partnership-admissions@york.ac.uk. For further information see our guidance on your rights under UK GDPR.

If you have any questions about this privacy notice or concerns about how your data is being processed, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@york.ac.uk.

If you are unhappy with the way in which the University has handled your personal data, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. For information on reporting a concern to the Information Commissioner’s Office, see their complaints guidance.

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This notice was last updated on 5th November, 2021.