Privacy and Cookie Policy

1. What information do we gather?

1.1 We gather information that relates to, and can identify you (e.g. your name and address) and information that does not identify you (e.g. a visitor’s behaviour patterns when they visit our website).

We collect information that does not identify you to evaluate our site, ensure that our site and services run properly and ensure we are paid for advertising services we offer.

We might also collect your IP address through the placement of cookies (see sections 6 and 7 on cookies and their management, below).

2. How do we gather information?

Directly (e.g. when you buy a subscription, sign up to create a universityportal.net profile, download a mobile device application or you otherwise provide your information when you interact with us).

3. How do you decide how you want to hear from us?

3.1 We always explain why and how we might contact you at the point you give your information to us. We also provide the means for you to grant or withhold your permission for us to contact you We do this by using opt-out tick boxes. If the boxes aren’t there, it’s because we will not use your information for any other purpose than that for which you give it (e.g. to administer a subscription).

3.2 When responding to promotions, offers etc. by postcard, if you do not wish for your details to be used by us to send you promotions and offers, please make this clear by stating “No Offers”.

3.3 If you have signed up to receive marketing from us by text, to stop this, please reply STOP to the last message you received.

4. How we use your information

4.1 We might use your information to:

(1) remember you when you visit our website and track your browsing patterns by using cookies. You can prevent this; section 5 deals with this in more detail;

(2) place your anonymised information into audience segments to identify your interests so that we might serve you with advertisements and offers that will interest you

(3) ensure any products or services you receive are correctly administered (including subscriptions);

(4) contact you by email, mail, telephone or sms text message to let you know about any of our products, services or promotions (which, in some cases may be provided by third parties) but only according to the permissions you give us;

(5) ensure materials on the website or in apps are presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer or mobile device;

(6) collate and log numeric internet addresses to improve the website and to monitor website usage;

(7) assess and understand customer feedback and identify usage hotspots;

4.2 If you have subscribed to any of or services, we will use the information you provide to keep you updated on those services unless you have told us otherwise.

5. Accessing and updating your personal information

5.1 You can update your details and marketing preferences by accessing your account pages on the website, by emailing info@universityportal.net or by writing to us at Data Department, Victory House, Meeting House Lane, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4TT.

5.2 You have the right to access the personal information held about you. To obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you, please send an email to info@universityportal.net. There will be an administrative charge of £10 for providing a copy of this information.

6. Cookies

6.1 A cookie is a small piece of information that is placed on your computer when you visit certain websites.

6.2 We use the following types of cookie:

(1) Analytics cookies that anonymously remember your computer or mobile device when you visit our website. They keep track of browsing patterns and build up a profile of how our readers use the website. We might use that information to target advertisements to you on our and other websites.

(2) Service cookies that help us to make our website work as efficiently as possible; remember your registration and login details; remember your settings preferences; and meter the number of pages you view for the purpose of administering subscriptions to The UniversityPortal.

(3) Third party advertising and analytics cookies, which are placed by or on behalf of independent advertisers who are advertising on our site. These cookies may be placed within the advertisement and elsewhere on our site. They are anonymous – they cannot identify individuals. They are used for statistical analysis by allowing the advertiser to count how many people have seen their advertisement or have seen it more than once. They might also allow the advertiser to tailor advertising to you when you visit other websites.

6.3 We have no access to third party cookies and third party organisations have no access to ours. The third party organisations that place cookies have their own strict privacy policies.

7. Managing your cookies preferences

7.1 Most browsers allow you to turn off cookies. To do this look at the “help” menu on your browser. Switching off cookies may restrict your use of the website and/or delay or affect the way in which it operates.

7.2 If you would prefer to just restrict third party cookies, visitwww.youronlinechoices.com or click on the AdChoices logo that you will see in the corner of advertisements that carry behavioural targeting cookies.

7.3 ComScore, Inc (www.comscore.com) is one of the third parties we use to provide us with information about how users use our website. Click hereto learn more information about how we use their third party service to collect and use information about this website.

7.4 If you would like to disable “third party” cookies generated by advertisers or providers of targeted advertising services, you can turn them off by going to the third party’s website and getting them to generate a one-time “no thanks” cookie that will stop any further cookies being written to your machine. Here are links to the two main third party advertising platforms we use, each of which has instructions on how to do this:

http://www.doubleclick.com/us/about_doubleclick/privacy/ad-cookie/

http://www.audiencescience.com/privacy

7.5 You can also visit the trade body representing these advertising companies for more information on how to opt out of these cookies:

http://www.youronlinechoices.com

8. Security

8.1 The password you provide when registering with the website is encrypted to ensure protection against unauthorised access to your personal information.

8.2 We invest in high-quality security and do our utmost to protect user privacy. No data transmission over the Internet can be entirely secure, and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information and/or use of the website. Any information that you send is at your own risk and may be read by others. However once we have received your personal information we use strict procedures to protect the security of your personal information.

9. Disclosing your information

9.1 We may disclose your personal information if we are approached by a potential buyer of our business, if we required to do so by law or in good-faith believing such action is necessary to comply with the law.

9.2 We sometimes share your personal information with third parties who are our subcontractors or providers of various products and services on our behalf e.g. the providers of the services available on our “Offers” page: .

9.3 We never sell personal information, or pass it to third parties for marketing purposes without your permission.

10. Where we store your personal information

10.1 The personal information that we collect from you may be sent and stored outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) in order to carry out the activities listed in “Use of Your Information”.

11. Changes to this Policy

11.1 If we change our Policy, we will post the changes on this page. Please check the website regularly for any changes to this Policy.

12. If you don’t feel we’re adhering to this Policy, what should you do?

12.1 If you believe that we have not adhered to this Policy, please notify us by email at info@universityportal.net and we will try to solve the problem promptly.