Privacy policy

This privacy policy sets out how Loughborough University obtains, manages and uses data on alumni, supporters and friends of the University and is in addition to the University’s general privacy policy. All data is held securely and in accordance with current Data Protection legislation.

If you have any questions about how we use your data please contact us by email alumni@lboro.ac.uk phone 01509 228497 or write to us at Alumni Relations, Hazlerigg Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU.

What personal information do we hold about you?

If you studied at Loughborough a record is created for you on the Alumni database using information from the University’s Student Records database.

Much of the data we hold comes directly from you – this includes information you may have given to Loughborough when you were a student or that you have provided subsequently, for example by filling in an alumni update form, registering for an event, making a donation, or through the LboroConnect platform.

If you contact other departments at Loughborough University (including academic departments or professional services) or Loughborough Student’s Union, they may also pass your details to the Alumni Association.

We also hold data that has been created by Loughborough University, for example details of degree programmes you have studied, qualifications obtained, clubs and societies you were a member of and your interactions with the University.

We may also obtain information about you from publicly available sources of information, for example Royal Mail’s National Change of Address File, LinkedIn, Companies House and articles in the media. Sometimes this information is supplied to us by third parties.

The information stored and processed by the University may include:

Biographical information (including name, titles, gender, date of birth)
Contact details (including address, email address, phone numbers, social media profiles) 
Information about your time at Loughborough (including education details, hall affiliations, memberships of clubs and societies and details of placements, prizes and scholarships) 
Employment details (including positions held, organisations worked for, areas of responsibility, contact details, income)
Your relationships (including spouse/partner, friends, family, university staff, other alumni and organisations)
Communications sent to you by the University or received from you
Donations to Loughborough University (including gift aid status and if donating by Direct Debit or standing order your bank details). We do not store credit or debit card numbers.
Volunteering on behalf of the University (for example mentoring, giving a talk, advisory board membership)
Events you have attended (including meetings with University staff)
Future fundraising and engagement plans (including details of planned financial and non-financial asks for support, projects of potential interest and indicators of your volunteering/giving potential and wealth)
Media articles that you have featured in
Hobbies and interests
Dietary and mobility/access requirements

You can update your data by using our online update form, emailing us at alumni@lboro.ac.uk or writing to us at Alumni Relations, Hazlerigg Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU or calling us on 01509 228497. 

We also routinely check our data against Royal Mail’s National Change of Address file and other publicly available sources of information to try and ensure the data we have for you is up-to-date.

Why do we collect your information?

We use your data to communicate with you about Loughborough University via post, email and phone. This includes invitations to reunions and other events, news and updates from Loughborough University and fellow alumni, further study opportunities, fundraising materials and information about how you can continue to support Loughborough and how the University can support you. Please see the ‘Your rights’ section of this policy for more information about how you can update your communications preferences. 

To try and make sure we are sending you communications that are relevant and of interest we may analyse and group data using a range of factors including demographic, geographic, education, employment details and details of past engagements with Loughborough. When sending fundraising materials we analyse and group data to try to ensure that we do not ask you for an inappropriate amount or for projects that are not of interest. Sometimes this analysis may include automated processing and decision making.

Fundraising and volunteering is important to the University. If we believe that you may have the ability to make a significant financial or non-financial contribution to the University we may undertake further research using publicly available information and produce a profile. We also analyse data to help identify people that may be able to make such a contribution to the University. We may also carry out due diligence on potential donations in line with the University’s Gift Acceptance Policy

Other academic departments (for example the School or Department you studied in) and professional services (for example the Careers Network) may also wish to contact you from time to time or to find out more about specific groups of alumni. A typical example would be identifying how many alumni work in a particular sector. Where this is the case we work with departments to provide them with up-to-date data and manage the sending of any associated communications. 

Our legal basis for holding and using your data for the majority of these activities is that they are in our legitimate interests. Additionally some activities are carried out with your consent, because there is a legal obligation or because they are tasks carried out in the public interest.

Who has access to your data at the University?

Your data is held in a secure database with controls in place to limit who has access to it.

We may make data available to academic and administrative University departments, recognised alumni societies, sports and other clubs associated with the University, and to agents contracted to the University for alumni-related projects. 

In certain cases (such as overseas alumni groups) this may involve transferring your data outside the European Economic Area. In these instances we will ensure that an adequate level of protection is in place for the processing of your personal data.

Who do we share your data with outside the University?

The University sometimes uses third party suppliers to carry out activities on our behalf (for example mailing houses and event venue providers). When this is the case we will ensure there are written contracts in place governing the usage of data. 

As required by law the University may also provide information to organisations such as Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) or organisations operating on their behalf. If you Gift Aid your donations we are also required to share details with HMRC. 

We may also share limited information (your name, contact details and information about programmes studied) with organisations carrying out surveys for league table and course ranking purposes (for example the Financial Times) to enable them to contact you about taking part in their surveys.

We will not share your contact details with other alumni unless you give us permission to do so. Similarly if you want to get in contact with a former classmate we may be able to send a message to them on your behalf but will be unable to share their details with you.

We may publish details including your name, subject of study and year of graduation in class lists, donor lists and event attendance lists on our alumni website or in printed publications (for example ‘Your Gift’). We will not publish your contact details.

We will never sell your data to other organisations.

How long do we keep your information?

We believe that the relationship we have with our alumni, donors and friends is a life-long relationship and so we will retain your data until such time as you request its removal. We will always maintain a record on our database containing at least your basic biographical and education details for statistical purposes and to ensure that we do not inadvertently contact you in the future.

Who can I contact?

If you have a general question, concern or complaint about how data is used by Loughborough University, please do contact us.

You can contact us by email: alumni@lboro.ac.uk phone: 01509 228497 or by post: Alumni Relations, Hazlerigg Building, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU

You may update your communication preferences and opt-out of receiving some or all communications from us at any time.

You may request details of personal information which we hold about you. If you would like a copy of the information we hold please contact us using the details above.

Should you wish to make a complaint, object to the processing of your data for any of the purposes outlined in this policy or have elements of the data we hold amended or removed please contact us. We always aim to comply with these requests, if for any reason we are unable to we will let you know the reason why.

If you have any questions more generally regarding Data Protection at the University, then please do contact the Data Protection Officer on dp@lboro.ac.uk or write to The Data Protection Officer at Academic Registry, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leics, UK LE11 3TU.

Complaints about Data Protection

If you have taken steps to have a concern or complaint about Loughborough University’s handling of data resolved but are still not satisfied you have a right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico), who are the relevant regulator for data privacy and protection matters. The ico can be contacted at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF and you will find more information at www.ico.org.uk.

Updates to this policy

We regularly review this policy and will update it if there are changes in how we manage or use your data. This page will always contain the latest version of this policy. 

This policy was last updated in January 2020.