Privacy policy
Last updated: 9 December 2024
Privacy Notice
This privacy notice sets out how the THE group of companies processes your personal data.
It covers:
- Our role under data protection law
- What personal information we collect about you and how we collect it
- How we use your personal information
- Personal information that we share with third parties/processors
- Our legal basis for collecting and using your personal information
- Data retention, data security and transfers of personal information outside of the UK and European Economic Area (EEA)
- Your rights
The companies which make up the THE Group are:
- THE World Universities Insights Limited, UK
- The Education World Forum Ltd, UK
- THEWUR Hong Kong Ltd, Hong Kong
- BMI Globaled LTD, UK
- Inside Higher Ed, USA
- C-Change Media, Canada
- THEWUR Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore
- Unijobs Global Pty Ltd, Australia
- THE WUR Pty Ltd, Australia
- THE WUR, Inc, USA
For ease, these companies will be referred to collectively as THE throughout this privacy notice.
Our Role
THE World Universities Insights Limited of 98 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8WB, United Kingdom is the main controller of your personal data. That means we are trusted to look after and deal with your personal data in accordance with this notice. We determine the ways and means of processing your data and must therefore, be accountable for it.
We are also Joint Controllers for personal data processed by the rest of the group, unless they are a Data Processor carrying out work on behalf of one of their clients.
Where we are a Joint Controller, we have a Joint Controller Agreement in place with our subsidiaries outlining our respective responsibilities.
We are a Data Processor when we carry out work on behalf of our clients.
1. What personal information we collect about you and how we collect it
Information that you provide us directly
Information that you provide us directly
We collect personal information whenever you contact us and provide us with information that we are able to identify you by, including when you contact us by phone, email or when you sign up to use any of our services. In particular, we collect information about you when you register and create a user account on any of our Websites, post content on any of our Websites, register for an event, enter your details into a form, upload your CV, purchase a product from us (such as through the THE Store), subscribe to receive a product or service that we offer (for example, a magazine subscription), subscribe to receive email updates from us, take part in a competition or market research and every time you e-mail us directly. We also collect information about the payment methods that you use for any transactions that you make with us.
Content posted by you containing personal information
If you post any personal information to any of our public websites, for example by commenting on any part of the site, this information will immediately be made available to other users of our site globally.
Personal data collected from public sources
We collate and maintain a register of academics. This data will consist of name, email address and place of work. Data is collected from public sources. This data is used for the purposes of market research either by us, other THE group companies, or on behalf of our clients. Where we have your work email, we will also use this to keep you up to date with relevant information about the Higher Education Industry. You can opt out of these updates at any time.
Information that we automatically collect (including use of "cookies")
When you have consented to non-essential cookies on our website, we automatically gather certain limited information about your visits. This includes demographic data and browsing patterns. Information automatically received includes among other things your: IP address (which identifies the computer or device that you use to access the Sites); the time and date of your visit; browser; operating system; internet connection details, as well as a breakdown of your journey through our Websites and products that you searched for. This is used to build up marketing and usage profiles, to aid strategic development, to manage our relationship with advertisers and to audit usage of the Websites. Essential cookies user similar data and are dropped without consent to ensure the website works the way it is supposed to, in a secure manner and with the functionality that users expect to see.
We act as a joint controller with LiveRamp who provide ads for us. You will be asked for your consent for this when you visit our website.
For further information please see our Cookies Policy and for more independent information about cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org.
Information that we collect from third parties
Certain third party partners of THE may provide us with information relating to you. It is that third party's responsibility to ensure that they have the right to do this. If we have obtained data from a third party and we think you are not aware that we hold your data, we will contact you and let you know we have it, with a link to this privacy notice.
2. Our legal basis for collecting and using your personal information
Data Protection Legislation mandates that any personal information can only be used where there is a lawful basis to do so.
Account administration and service provision
| Process | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|
| To authenticate your identity and administer your THE account(s) | Performance of Contract |
| To provide access to gated content published on our website | Performance of Contract |
| To deal with your enquiries and requests | Performance of Contract |
| To personalise aspects of our services to you | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/customer experience) |
Subscriptions and Payments
| Process | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|
| Purchasing a product from THE Store | Performance of Contract |
| Subscribing to receive a product or service (e.g., magazine subscription) | Performance of Contract |
| Collecting information about payment methods used in transactions | Performance of Contract |
Website and Platform
| Process | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|
| To contact you and investigate reports or complaints related to content that you have uploaded | Performance of Contract |
| Registering and creating a user account on any of our Websites | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/providing a service to users) |
| Posting content on any of our Websites | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/providing a service to users) |
| To investigate misuse of our platform for discriminatory behaviour | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations/customer experience) |
| For copyright ownership claims, detection, and reporting | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations) |
| To record and maintain records related to complaints about content uploaded | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations) |
| To maintain records of actions taken on your account | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations/customer experience) |
| To provide you with updates about developments on the Websites | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/providing a service to users) |
| Entering details into a form | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/providing a service to users) |
Jobs and Recruitment
| Process | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|
| To share with recruitment institutions (if you are applying for a job) | Performance of Contract |
| Where you work with us or we place you in a job | Performance of Contract |
| To ensure submitted information during registration or job application is accurate and up-to-date | Performance of Contract |
| Uploading your CV | Performance of Contract |
| To provide you with job opportunity services we believe may be relevant to you | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/information for job seekers) |
| To send you Job Alerts where you have signed up for this service | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/information for job seekers) |
Events and Marketing
| Process | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|
| To enter you into competitions or prize draws upon your request | Performance of Contract |
| To carry out market research or surveys about our products and services | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/customer experience) |
| For marketing and strategic development purposes | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/customer experience) |
| To market our products and services to you in conjunction with your position at an organisation | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/marketing) |
| Registering for an event | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/providing a service to users) |
| To provide you direct marketing information related to our products and services | Consent |
| Subscribing to receive email updates | Consent |
| To enable third parties to contact you in relation to services offered in conjunction with us | Consent |
| Taking part in a competition or market research | Consent |
Business Purposes
| Process | Lawful Basis |
|---|---|
| For financial reporting and auditing purposes | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations) |
| For anti-money laundering or fraud prevention, detection, and reporting | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations) |
| For copyright ownership claims, detection, and reporting | Legitimate Interests (our commercial obligations) |
| For the proper keeping of business records | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests) |
| To analyse and create statistical reports based on the services we provide | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests) |
| Every time you e-mail us directly | Legitimate Interests (our commercial interests/providing a service to users) |
3. Personal information that we share with third parties
In order to provide the services offered on our Websites, we sometimes share your personal information with other companies in the THE group. However, we will continue to be responsible for the usage and security of your personal information when this happens.
4. THE's data processors
We also share your personal information with suppliers that we engage to provide services to us and/or support our offering to you (such as our hosting providers). These suppliers need to process your personal information on our behalf to provide such services. Where this is the case, we take great care to only appoint reliable third parties who can guarantee the security of your personal information and our business information. For example, we ask each such third party to complete an information security questionnaire to ensure their practices and procedures provide the level of security that we would expect (and is required under law) when processing personal information. Note that these third parties simply process personal information on behalf of THE and have no right to use, disclose or transfer your personal information in any other way. Please see below in relation to our policy for transfers of personal information outside the UK/EEA.
5. Third parties that we share your personal information with
Where you have provided us with consent, we will share your personal information with other third parties (who will also be data controllers in respect of the information that we share). To the extent you have any concerns about any third party’s handling of your personal information you should get in touch with that institution.
6. Other circumstances where use or share your personal information
In certain circumstances, we may be required by law to disclose your personal information to third parties such as government bodies, law enforcement agencies, and data protection regulators.
7. Data retention, data security and transfers of personal information outside of the United Kingdom/European Economic Area (EEA)
We take steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. We will only keep your personal information for as long as we reasonably require and, in any event, only for as long as Data Protection Legislation allows.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will take steps to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted via email and/or our website; any transmission is at your own risk.
The personal information that we collect from you will, where possible, be stored and processed within the UK/EEA. In certain circumstances, we may require third parties that are based outside of the UK/EEA to process, host or store your personal information.
In the event your personal information is transferred, stored or processed outside of the UK/EEA, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal information is treated securely and in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation and that we have an appropriate transfer mechanism in place.
8. Your rights
The right to be informed - We will tell you what we are doing with your information.
The right of access - You can ask what personal information we process about you.
The right to rectification - If you think that our records on you are wrong, please let us know. We will correct any factually incorrect information.
The right to erasure - In some cases you can ask us to delete your information.
The right to restrict processing – You can ask us to stop using your information for certain purposes.
The right to data portability – In certain circumstances you can ask us for a copy of your information in a format that is machine-readable.
The right to object – Where our lawful basis is legitimate interests you can object to us processing your personal data.
The right to object to direct marketing - You can ask us to stop sending you marketing at any time.
Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling - You can ask us to review any automated decision we have made.
9. Complaints
Should you have any queries or complaints in relation to how we use your information, please contact us via the details set out at section 10 below. Should you wish to take any complaints or queries further, you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner's Office regarding such issues. Further information about how to make a complaint can be obtained at www.ico.org.uk or by telephoning 0303 123 1113.
10. How to unsubscribe from any email alerts that you receive
If you have elected to receive information about our products or services or the products or services offered jointly with or on behalf of other organisations and/or "alerts" from us via email (for example, by creating an email alert for a job) and would like at any time to unsubscribe from this service, please email us at [email protected] or click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of an email.
11. Changes to our Privacy Policy
THE may amend this Privacy Policy at any time and where we make material changes to it we will provide notice on our website.
12. Legal and Contact Information
The registered office of THE World Universities Insights Limited is:
THE World Universities Insights Limited98 Theobalds Road, London, WC1X 8WB
United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
We will use all reasonable efforts to answer any questions or resolve any concerns regarding your privacy promptly.
All comments, queries and requests relating to our use of your personal information are welcomed (including in relation to transfers of personal information outside the UK/EEA). If you would like to contact us, queries should be addressed to Customer Services at the above address; or by email at [email protected].