Privacy Statement
From 25 May 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) replaced the Data Protection Act and govern the way that organisations use personal data. Personal data is information relating to an identifiable living individual.
Transparency is a key element of the GDPR and this Privacy Notice is designed to inform you:
- how and why the University uses your personal data,
- what your rights are under GDPR, and,
- how to contact us so that you can exercise those rights.
Why are we processing your personal data?
It is necessary for the University to process your personal data in order to ensure that:
- You are invited to your graduation ceremony
- Your name appears in the Graduation ceremony booklet
- We are able to respond to any questions you may have related to your ceremony, and forward your query to another department if it is not related to graduation (eg certificate queries)
Under the GDPR our processing is necessary for the performance of your student contract and for the legitimate interests of the University.
All graduates
Whether attending or not attending a graduation ceremony, your name, faculty, award title (but not your classification) will be included in the University's graduation ceremony booklet.
Graduation dates are on the public graduation website. We will not share specific graduate information with anyone contacting the office, including anyone wishing to book tickets.
Graduates attending a graduation ceremony
Graduation is a memorable public statement of students' achievements and the following features are considered to be essential parts of the ceremony.
Your name and award title (but not your classification) will be read out at the ceremony immediately prior to you walking across the stage.
You’ll be filmed at the ceremony for the live feed screened in the cinema of the Arts Centre, the Students Union and will also be shown as a webcast.
Crowd shots will be taken by the University's photographers, which may include images of yourself and your guests.
If you attend a graduation celebration, distant images of yourself and your guests may be publicly available on the University website via a webcam.
It's possible that television companies may be present to interview honorary awards and other VIPs, or to film the event generally. If you and your guests don't wish to appear on television, you should maintain your distance from any filming taking place.
During the ceremonies and celebrations, the University photographers will be present. They will be using the opportunity to take individual and group shots to be used on the graduation website and on the University's social media channels, for future graduation brochures and booklets, and for marketing and promotion in the UK and overseas.
Verbal consent will be sought from you and your guests for close up pictures prior to photographs being taken. If you don't wish for your photograph to be taken, you should tell the photographer when consent is requested.
Information relating to disability and access needs will only be used to make reasonable adjustments at the ceremonies. This information will not be shared with any other department within the university, and will be deleted from our records after the graduation ceremonies.
Retention of your personal data
Information relating to attendance at your ceremony is saved on your record permanently and special requirements are deleted immediately following the ceremonies.
Data Subject Rights
One of the aims of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is to empower individuals and give them control over their personal data.
The GDPR gives you the following rights:
- The right to be informed
- The right of access
- The right to rectification
- The right to erase
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
- Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling
You should contact the Graduation Office if you have a query about how your data is used by the Graduation Office:
graduation.office@aber.ac.uk
Telephone: 01970 622945
The University's Data Protection Statement can be found here: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/infocompliance/dp/
Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at: