Privacy policy

Privacy Notice
GIS respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Notice outlines the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us and will also tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you. This Privacy Notice relates to our processing of personal data of past, present and prospective students of GIS and such other third parties who interact with us (including visitors to our website).
 
1 – Who we are
Global Institute of Sport Limited (company number: 14951229, registered office: Arch View House, 16 First Way, Wembley, England, HA9 0AF) and its subsidiary companies including UK Global Institute of Sport Limited (company number: 12211907, registered office: Arch View House, 16 First Way, Wembley, England, HA9 0AF), Global Institute of Sport Americas LLC (FEI/EIN number: 86-3626979, registered office: 1350 NW 55th Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309, USA) and Global Institute of Sport Australia PTY LTD (ABN: 26 658 854 374, registered office: Docklands, 3008 Victoria, Australia) are collectively referred to as "GIS", "we", "us" or "our" in this Notice.

We have appointed a designated data privacy team who are responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this Privacy Notice. If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the data privacy team using the following details:
Email address: dataprivacy@gis.sport
Postal address: Data Privacy, Global Institute of Sport Limited, Arch View House, 16 First Way, Wembley, England, HA9 0AF

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues (www.ico.org.uk). We would, however, appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes
We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. Any changes we make to this Privacy Notice in the future will be posted on our website and, where appropriate, notified to you by email. This version was last updated on 11 June 2024.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.
 
2 – The data we collect about you
Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed to the extent that the person can no longer be identified (anonymous data).
We may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you depending on the nature of services we are providing. We have grouped together the types of personal data as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth, gender, national insurance number (or other tax identification number), passport number and photographic identification and CCTV images.
• Contact Data includes email address, telephone numbers and postal address.
• Education Data includes information about your education history at other schools/colleges/universities as well as current connections with GIS including student clubs and societies and your other interests.
• Financial Data includes bank account and payment card details.
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
• Usage Data includes information about how you use Our Sites (as defined below) and our services.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

Where it is necessary to act in your best interests, and for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims (or as otherwise authorised by data protection laws), we may need to process information in accordance with this Privacy Notice which is sensitive in nature such as details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs or information about your health and also information about criminal convictions and offences. If you volunteer sensitive personal data, you will be allowing us to process it as part of instructing us in respect of our services.

The services which we provide together with Our Sites are not intended for children and we do not knowingly collect any data relating to children.

If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or in order to perform the services for you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to provide you with the services however we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
 
3 – How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity and Contact Data by filling in forms on our online systems and/or on our website (“Our Sites”) or by corresponding with us in person or by post, phone, email, social media or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
• register to use Our Sites;
• enrol with us or subscribe to our services;
• make an enquiry about our services;
• subscribe to our publications;
• request marketing to be sent to you; or
• give us some feedback on the services we provide.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources. When we obtain information about you from third parties or publicly available sources rather than from you directly, we will notify you of any relevant information obtained, for example, the type of personal data, within a reasonable period. Some examples of third parties or publicly available sources and the type of personal data received include:
• Identity, Contact and Education Data from your previous or current school, sixth form college or university;
• Identity, Contact and Education Data from business partners (such as University of East London, Vrije Universiteit Brussel or UCFB Holdings Limited);
• Identity and Contact Data from The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS);
• Technical Data from analytics providers such as Google in connection with the use of our website.

Information collected from you about other people
When you provide personal information to us which does not relate directly to you but is personal information of a third party (for example, details of family members), you confirm that you are authorised to do so and shall ensure that this Privacy Notice is brought to the attention of such individuals so that those individuals understand how their data will be used by us. We will hold and use such personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice and data protection laws.

Third-party links
Our Sites may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave Our Sites, we encourage you to read the Privacy Notice of every website you visit.
 
4 – How we use your personal data
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

See below to find out more about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.

We do not use your information for automated decision making.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data except in those circumstances set out in the table below relating to sending direct marketing communications via email or as otherwise set out in this Privacy Notice. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by following the links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us.

Purposes for which we will use your personal data
We have set out below, in a table format, a description of all the ways we may use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.
Note that we may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data. Please contact us if you need details about the specific legal ground we are relying on to process your personal data where more than one ground has been set out in the table below.

We have set out below further information on the meaning of each of the legal bases for processing set out in the third column of the table above:

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to provide the best service and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting us.

Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

Consent means processing your personal data where you have provided a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of your agreement to us processing your personal data.

Marketing
We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing. You will only receive marketing communications from us if we have a lawful basis for sending such marketing, details of which can be found in the table above.

Opting out
You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out links on any marketing message sent to you or by contacting us at any time.

Cookies
You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use on our website, please click here.

Change of purpose
We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.
 
5 – Disclosures of your personal data
We may have to share your personal data with selected people or organisations for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above. This will include, but is not limited to, sharing personal data with:

• Other companies in the GIS Group acting as joint controllers or processors and who are based in the European Economic Area (EEA) and provide educational services.
• University of East London, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and UCFB Holdings Limited, in connection with our arrangement with it which allows us to provide approved educational programmes.
• Service providers who provide IT and system administration services (including back-office support), marketing platforms and website hosting services.
• Selected third parties including UCAS, accommodation providers, financial intermediaries and student support services, in each case where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information.
• Government departments and agencies where we have a statutory obligation to provide information (e.g. the Office for Students (OFS), and Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)).
• Parents, guardians and next-of-kin (where there is a legitimate reason for disclosure).
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Notice. We may also disclose your personal information to third parties if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal or regulatory obligation, or in order to enforce or apply any terms of our arrangement with you or to protect the rights, property or safety of GIS or any part of our Group, our students or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

 6 – International transfers
We may need to send your personal data outside of the EEA. Where your personal data is being transferred outside the EEA, we will carry out an assessment of the level of protection required taking into account the circumstances relating to the transfer. We may, in certain circumstances, need to obtain your consent to the transfer unless there is an overriding legal need to transfer the personal data.
 
7 – Data security
We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to Our Sites; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of Our Sites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.
 
8 – Data retention
We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available in our retention policy which you can request from us by contacting us.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see 'Request erasure' below for further information.

Furthermore, in some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.
 
9 – Your legal rights

• Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. You have the right to:
• Request access to your personal data (commonly known as a “data subject access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to check that we are lawfully processing it.
• Request correction of the personal data that we hold about you. This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.
• Request erasure of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.
• Object to processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.
• Request restriction of processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.
• Request the transfer of your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.
• Withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us.

No fee usually required
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with your request in these circumstances.

What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

Time limit to respond
We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.