discoveruni.gov.uk

1. Introduction

Discover Uni (“we”, “us”, “our”) is an independent resource for higher education information in the UK, operated by the UK funding and regulatory bodies for Higher Education, including the Office for Students, the Scottish Funding Council, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, and the Department for the Economy (Northern Ireland).We are committed to protecting your personal information and ensuring transparency about what data we collect, how we use it, and your rights under data protection legislation.

2. Who We Are

The Office for Students (OfS) acts as the sole data controller for Discover Uni. OfS is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) under registration number ZA309955.Our location and contact details are below:Office for StudentsWestward HouseLime Kiln CloseBristolBS34 8SRTel: 0117 931 7317Email: [email protected] Data Protection Officer (DPO) is the first point of contact for people whose information is processed. You can contact the DPO using the details above.

3. Information We Collect

We may collect personal information when you:

• Provide feedback about improving the Discover Uni service

The information that we process is:

• Name
• Job role (if provided)
• Email address
• Feedback you provide about improving the Discover Uni service

Discover Uni also uses cookies to ensure the website functions effectively and to enhance usability.

4. How We Use Your Information

Your personal data may be used for the following purposes:

• To receive, respond to, and manage enquiries
• To gather your views on the Discover Uni website in order to improve the design and functionality of Discover Uni

5. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal data under the lawful basis of:

• UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e)Public task
• UK GDPR Artciel 6(1)(f) Legitimate interests

6. Measuring website usage

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to help us make sure that it is meeting your needs and to understand how we could do it better.Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got there and what links you follow. We do not collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are. We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data.

7. Sharing Your Information

Discover Uni does not share your personal information with third parties for marketing or commercial purposes.

8. If the information will be transferred to another country

Your personal information will be stored on servers in the UK and will not be transferred outside that territory unless required by a court order.

9. Data Retention

We retain personal information for a maximum of 10 years.

10. Your Rights

Once your personal information has been collected, you have certain rights in relation to that personal information that may be exercised. You have the right to request:

• A copy of your personal information
• Inaccurate personal information held about you is corrected
• Your personal information to be deleted
• Processing of your personal information is restricted
• A copy of your information in a format that allows easy transfer (‘data portability’)
• That you are not subject to automated decision making or profiling (if these take place).

All these rights have certain limitations depending on the request and the purpose for which we are holding your personal information. Further information can be found about these rights and our processes for handling such requests at: www.officeforstudents.org.uk/privacy/individual-rights-under-the-general-data-protection-regulation/.

11. Complaints about the use of your personal information

If you are unhappy with the way in which your personal information has been handled by the OfS, please contact us via our Data Protection Officer and we will try to resolve your issue informally.If you remain dissatisfied, you can complain to the data protection supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and they can be contacted at:Information Commissioner's OfficeWycliffe HouseWater LaneWilmslowCheshireSK9 5AFTel: 0303 123 1113Email: [email protected]

12. Changes to this notice

We keep our privacy notices under regular review and we will inform you of any changes to this notice by placing an update on our website.This privacy notice was last updated in May 2026.

How do we use cookies?

To make this site easy to use, useful and reliable, we sometimes place small amounts of information on your computer. These small files are known as cookies. They are essential for the site to function properly.

We do not use cookies to identify you personally, and you can delete them at any time.

We may use cookies for:

• remembering settings, so you don’t have to keep re-entering them whenever you visit a new page
• remembering details you have saved on the website (e.g. bookmarked courses) so that you can access them from wherever you visit within the Discover Uni website
• enable the use of social media functionality, giving you direct access to the Discover Uni Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages
• measuring how you use the website so we can make sure it meets your needs.

To learn more about cookies and how to manage them, visit the ICO website ICO guide to cookies [opens in new window]

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use this site. We do this to help us make sure that it is meeting your needs and to understand how we could do it better.

Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got there and what links you follow. We do not collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify who you are. We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data.

The following cookies are used by the Discover Uni website:

Essential cookies: used to make the site function.

Required for form submissions

• csrftoken (expires - Session )

Stores the user's cookie consent state for the current domain

• DiscoverUniAnalyticsCookies (expires - 1 year)
• DiscoverUniAnalyticsCookiesDeclined (expires - 1 year)

Analytics cookies: These are used with your permission to measure website usage.

Google Analytics

• _ga (expires - 2 years)_
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• _gid (expires - 1 day)