Privacy policy

Last updated: 7 May 2021

Introduction

THE World Universities Insights Limited ("we", "our" or "THE") is committed to protecting the privacy of all individuals in respect of whom we hold personal information. Please read the following Privacy Policy which explains how we use and protect your personal information. This Privacy Policy applies to use of all our services and websites (and web-based services) on which a link to this policy appears (the "Sites"). This policy should be read with and interpreted subject to our General Terms and any Additional Terms as found on our Websites at https://www.timeshighereducation.com/terms-and-conditions.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR") and any replacement legislation following the end of the Brexit Implementation period (per the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020) (together, the “Data Protection Legislation”), the data controller is THE World Universities Insights Limited of 26 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4HQ, United Kingdom.

We take your privacy seriously and we are committed to keeping your information private. To the extent we are required by law, we have notified the United Kingdom's Information Commissioner's Office that we will process your personal information in accordance with the Data Protection Legislation (as defined above).

By providing us with any information about yourself (including via the Websites), you consent to our processing of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Cookies Policy.

This Privacy Policy covers

  1. What personal information we collect about you and how we collect it
  2. How we use your personal information
  3. Personal information that we share with third parties
  4. Our legal basis for collecting and using your personal information
  5. Data retention, data security and transfers of personal information outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)
  6. Your rights
  7. Accessing and updating your personal information
  8. How to unsubscribe from any email alerts that you receive
  9. Changes to our Privacy Policy
  10. Legal and Contact Information

1. What personal information we collect about you and how we collect it

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 forums, this information will immediately be made available to other users throughout the world who may use it to send you unsolicited communications. In some circumstances we may display pseudonyms that identify you as a user but not your actual personal information (your username for example) when you post material to the Websites to allow users to identify each other.

Personal data collected from public sources

We collate and maintain a register of academics. This data will consist of name and email address. 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. If used by other THE group companies, we will ensure that there are data sharing agreements in place to ensure the security and correct usage of your data. We will not share your personal information with companies other than THE group companies.

Information that we automatically collect (including use of "cookies")

We automatically gather certain limited information about your visits to our Websites. 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.

Use of Cookies

In particular, we use cookies to collect this information. A cookie is a small collection of data sent by a web server to a web browser, which lets the server collect information back from the browser. Our use of cookies also may allow registered users to be presented with a personalised version of theWebsites.

Our Websites use ad servers (such as "Doubleclick") to serve the advertisements that you see on pages from ourWebsites. That partner uses cookies to collect information about your use of ourWebsites to help target ads to your interests. To find out more about the use of cookies and the information-gathering practices and opt-out procedures of DoubleClick please go to http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy.

Please note that if you do disable cookies, certain services on our Websites may not be available. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. Each browser is different, so check the "Help" menu of your browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences. If you reject all cookies, you will not be able to use products or services that require you to "sign in" and you may not be able to take full advantage of offerings or use on all our Websites.

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 it has obtained your consent to do this. However, where possible, we will request from our partners that they have the right to pass on this information

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. At THE, we rely on one or more of the following grounds to legally collect and use your personal information:

The data is necessary for the performance of the contract which we have with you (i.e. to provide our services to you);

We are using your personal information where it is in our legitimate interests to do so;

We have a legal obligation to process your personal information;

You have consented to the use of your personal information by us.

Where we rely on your consent to process any of your personal information, you may revoke your consent at any time. Any such revocation will not affect the lawfulness of any prior use of that personal information.

 2. How we use your personal information

We will use your personal information to enable us to provide our Services to you and enable you to use the Websites, including, for the following purposes:

2.1 Performance of Contracts

We will use your personal information for the following purposes where it is necessary to perform a contract, or enter into a contract, with you:

To authenticate your identity and administer your THE account(s);

To deal with your enquiries and requests;

To process your orders for any services or products that you purchase from us;

To share with recruitment institutions (if you are applying for a job);

To share your personal data with third parties, at your explicit request;

To provide you with job opportunity services we believe may be relevant to you when you when you have opted in to being contacted about such services.

To send you Job Alerts where you have signed up for this service.

To provide you with updates about developments on the Websites;

To provide you access to a third party product or service that can be accessed via your THE account(s);

To provide access to gated content published on our website by us;

To enter you into competitions or prize draws upon your request;

To contact you and investigate reports or complaints related to content that you have uploaded to our Websites

To enable our data processors (such as our group companies and hosting providers) to provide services (or components thereof) requested by you;

Where we provide a product or service to you, and that service is transferred to a third party organisation, to ensure the uninterrupted provision of that service to you.

Where we have your explicit consent to share your personal information with selected third parties.

2.2 Legitimate Interest

We may use your personal information where we have a legitimate business interest to do so. These legitimate interest are:

To personalise aspects of our services to you;

To carry out market research or surveys about our products and services;

For marketing and strategic development purposes, for example to identify trends in usage;

To enable our data processors (such as our group companies and hosting providers) to provide services (or components thereof) requested by you;

To market our products and services to you in conjunction with your position at an organisation;

To contact you, or the organisation you represent, about UK and International THE Awards;

For the proper keeping of business records;

To analyse and create statistical reports based on the services we provide and our performance of those services, including resale of insights data but not including sale of any personal identify data;

To enable you to continue accessing a product or service which you us in the event that the product or service is transferred to a third party organisation;

To investigate any accused or actual misuse of our platform for discriminatory behaviour including, but not limited to, discrimination based on age, race, sexuality, gender or gender reassignment, nationality, disability, religion or belief.

2.3 Legal Obligation

We will use your personal information where we are legally obliged to do so, this includes:

For financial reporting and auditing purposes,

Where you work with us or we place you in a job;

For anti-money laundering or fraud prevention, detection and reporting;

For copyright ownership claims, detection and reporting;

Where required, to record and maintain records related to complaints about content you have uploaded to our Websites

To investigate any accused or actual misuse of our platform for discriminatory behaviour including, but not limited to, discrimination based on age, race, sexuality, gender or gender reassignment, nationality, disability, religion or belief.

To maintain records of actions taken on your account.

2.4 Consent

We will use your personal information where we have your consent to do so:

To provide you direct marketing information related to information about the products and services we offer;

Where you have provided us with consent, we will also use and share your personal information to enable third parties to contact you in relation to services offered in conjunction with us or in respect of services that they provide.

It is your responsibility to ensure that any information submitted as part of the registration process to your user account or as part of an application to a job posting is accurate and up to date.

3. Personal information that we share with third parties

In order to provide the services offered on our Websites, we sometimes need to 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 may also share your personal information with third party processors or suppliers that we engage to provide services to us and/or support our offering to you (such as our hosting providers). These third parties may 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 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’shandling 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 at 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 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 EEA. In certain circumstances, we may require third parties that are based outside of the EEA to process, host or store your personal information and by submitting your personal information to us, you are acknowledging this transfer, storing or processing. Please note that countries outside the EEA may not have the same standard of data protection legislation as countries within the EEA.

In the event your personal information is transferred, stored or processed outside of the EEA, we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your personal information is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and the Data Protection Legislation. This means that we will only allow third parties to access your personal information where those third parties (a) are in countries that have been confirmed by the European Commission to provide adequate protection to personal information; or (b) have agreed to provide all protections to your personal information as set out in the Data Protection Legislation (such as by entering into the European Commission's Model Clauses).

8. Your rights 

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.

9. Accessing and updating your personal information

You have the right to see the personal information we hold about you and to ask us to: (a) make any changes to ensure that any personal information we hold about you is accurate and up to date; (b) erase or stop processing any personal information we hold about you where there is no longer a legal ground for us to hold it; or (c) transfer any information we hold about you to a specified third party. If you wish to do this, please contact us using the contact details set out below.

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 help@timeshighereducation.com 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. By continuing to use our services and/or ourWebsites, you agree to the updated Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to any changes that we make, you should not use or access (or continue to use or access) our services and/or ourWebsites.

12. Legal and Contact Information

The registered office of THE World Universities Insights Limited is:

THE World Universities Insights Limited
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
United Kingdom

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 EEA). If you would like to contact us, queries should be addressed to Customer Services at the above address; or by email at help@timeshighereducation.com.