Privacy notice - clearing enquirers

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

• information provided to us by third parties, such as UCAS, including UCAS clearing plus;
• information collected through University of York clearing alerts forms;
• information collected through any correspondence with you during the clearing process including email, telephone, online chat and in some cases social media platforms; 
• information collected at University of York Clearing Open Days (campus based or online).

Personal data including:

• your name, postal address, date of birth, UCAS Personal ID  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; 
• information about your entitlement to study in the UK, if you are required to provide it;
• previous immigration history, including copies of previous visas;
• proof of identity documents.

If you choose to refer yourself to the University of York via UCAS (including Clearing Plus) then Special category data will be requested for regulated professional programmes e.g. Medicine, Social Work, Nursing  including information about disability, health, ethnicity and racial origin. 

The University needs to process personal data during clearing to keep records of that process. Processing data from clearing enquirers allows the organisation to manage the clearing process, assess and confirm a clearing enquirer’s potential suitability for a program of study and decide whom to offer a program of study. The organisation may also need to process data from a clearing enquirer record 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 e.g. 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 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 Clearing (including Clearing Plus) 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 a Clearing enquirer; 
• to tell you about the University, the city and the experience of studying here and to make you aware of relevant upcoming events;
• to ensure effective general recruitment and admissions administration, including the analysis of applicant numbers and trends to improve our administrative processes;
• to compile statistical returns for reporting purposes;
• to maintain and promote equality and diversity;
• to respond to and defend against legal claims.

The University may share your data with:

• Academic departments within the University of York;
• Student and Academic Services;
• Accommodation team at the University of York;
• Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for the purpose of compiling statistical returns;
• QS Enrolment Solutions (QSES) for the purposes of providing support to clearing enquirers. This includes the QSES CRM, Acoustic and Twilio software. 
• third parties that process data on behalf of the University to support it in fulfilling its obligations and responsibilities to and relationship with you e.g. UCAS, Formstack, Dynamics 365, ClickDimensions, DotDigital, Vodafone Storm (our clearing phone line provider) and Salesforce (our clearing enquiry management system).

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.

In certain circumstances, it is necessary to transfer your Personal Data (including Special Category Data) outside the UK.  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 dataprotection@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 6th June, 2023.