How we protect your information

Thanks for following our link to find out more about what we are doing to look after your personal information. Student Switch Off is a project delivered by NUS Charitable Services and is part of the National Union of Students. NUS is one of the oldest student organisations in the world, and we work hard every day to help make your experience as a student the best it can be. We influence national and local policies in areas that are important to you, such as accommodation, fees and the right to study. We also run ground breaking programmes to drive change, such as improving environmental impact and reducing alcohol abuse.

 

We know that when you pass your personal details to us, you are trusting us to keep them safe, and we will do everything within our power to do this. We operate in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

 

We want you to feel confident knowing that when you pass your details on to us they will be safe and protected. If we have not made anything crystal clear, or you would like to know anything else, just get in touch, we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

What we collect and why

We collect just a few pieces of key information from you: your name, your email address, what university you are studying at and which hall you live in. This is information you have provided us when speaking with a member of the Student Switch Off team on campus, or inputting online through our website or quiz.

 

We collect this information in order to review the relative engagement in the project between different halls of residence, as well as to contact you directly regarding Student Switch Off related competitions and activities, including local or national energy saving and sustainability related information. Should at any point you no longer wish to be informed of these activities you can unsubscribe from our mailing list at any time using the unsubscribe option present on every e-mail. The lawful basis for this is “legitimate interests”.

 

Data retention and deletion

Your data, is stored securely on servers within the EU. NUS will use this data to ensure you receive relevant information on energy saving and sustainability advice and opportunities. We will only email you about Student Switch Off on campus during the academic year you have signed up and have been living on campus, and will then ask if you would like to join our Student Switch Off + mailing list to receive information on how to save energy and money whilst living in private accommodation off-campus. If you do not opt in to the Student Switch Off+ mailing list, all of your personal details will be deleted at the end of the academic year you have signed up to the campaign (August/September).

 

Security

When you entrust your personal information to us we take as much care of it as if it were our own. NUS spend a lot of time, money and resources on ensuring that the personal details you entrust to us are protected from loss, misuse and abuse. We constantly monitor our infrastructure for vulnerabilities and ensure that all IT systems, patches and anti-virus software are up-to-date. Your information is stored on secure servers based within the EU and we have some pretty impressive physical and electronic security to keep it safe and sound. We also take regular encrypted backups in case of a problem. The safety of your data is very important to us and we train our key staff in Data Protection to ensure that they both understand, and comply, with their obligations under the Act. We carefully control who has access to your information, and ensure that it is only used in the way you would expect.

 

How do we keep your information secure?

We take all reasonable precautions to keep your personal information secure and require any third party platforms we use to handle or process your personal information to do the same. Access to your personal information is restricted to prevent unauthorised access, modification or misuse and is only permitted among our employees on a need-to-know basis.

 

In order to store and process your data we use a small number of online tools to help us manage this all of which comply with GDPR guidelines.

 

Right to know and amend information

At any time you have a right to ask us what information we hold about you. You can also, if you wish, obtain a copy of this information, all you have to do is ask. We will just need to check your identity.

 

Please get in touch

We hope that you now appreciate that when you pass your personal details to us we will keep them safe, secure and only use them in a way that you would expect. The NUS is fully committed to its members, and our reputation for honesty, integrity and transparency is reflected throughout our privacy policy. If you have any comments, suggestions or feedback, be that positive or constructive regarding how we are using your personal data, if you believe the information we hold on you is out-of-date or you would like to unsubscribe from our mailing list, please contact our data controller (DPO@nus.org.uk), the Student Switch Off Programme Manager (jen.strong@nus.org.uk) or by writing to us at the address below.

 

 NUS SERVICES LIMITED

Ian King House, Snape Road

Macclesfield, Cheshire

SK10 2NZ

Telephone: 0300 303 8602

 

We have appointed a person with responsibility for data protection matters who has responsibility for advising us on our data protection obligations. You can contact this person officer using the following details:

DPO@nus.org.uk

 

Complaints

If you have any complaints about the way we use your personal information please contact DPO@nus.org.uk who will try to resolve the issue. If we cannot resolve your complaint, you have the right to complain to the data protection authority in your country (the Information Commissioner in the UK).