Alumni & Development's Privacy Policy

Last Updated & Published 1st February 2025

The University of Strathclyde is committed to protecting your privacy. This privacy policy is to inform you how your personal information is processed and used by the University. 

The University is the 'data controller' as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018 (the “Act”). Personal information will only be collected and/or processed by the University in accordance with the Act.

As well as reading this policy (which contains the Terms and Conditions of Use for Strathclyde Alumni Online Community), it is important that you also read all of Alumni & Development's Privacy Notices and Policies at https://www.strath.ac.uk/alumni/alumniprivacy.

1. Terms and Conditions

By registering with Strathclyde Connect https://connect.strath.ac.uk (the "Site") or Strathclyde Alumni Online Community https://www.alumni.strath.ac.uk (the "Site"), or our affiliated social media sites (the "Site"):

you agree to each Sites' Terms and Conditions of Use.

Both Strathclyde Connect and Strathclyde Alumni Online Community are online free of charge services provided for University of Strathclyde alumni.  All potential users will be verified against the University’s current records during the registration process before being granted full access to the Sites. The University reserves the right to refuse access to anyone who misuses the Sites in any way including those listed below, and to delete frivolous updates to individual profiles.

Full details of Strathclyde Connect's Terms and Conditions of Use can be found at https://connect.strath.ac.uk/legal/termsandconditions. 

Full details of LinkedIn's User Agreement can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement. 

Full details of Instagram's Terms of Use can be found at https://help.instagram.com/581066165581870. 

Full details of Facebook's Terms of Service can be found at https://www.facebook.com/terms. 

2. Use of Submitted Information

By registering with either Site and providing contact details, you agree to the University contacting you by post, email, telephone and such other means as is reasonable about new developments and news concerning the University, details of alumni activities and programmes involving academic and administrative departments, fundraising programmes and for the promotion of benefits and services.

You may withdraw your consent to be contacted for any or all of these purposes by contacting the Alumni & Development Office by any of the contact methods listed in section 8.  Registered users of Strathclyde Connect and Strathclyde Alumni Online Community may also withdraw their consent at any time within the email preferences pages on each Site or by clicking on the relevant link at the bottom of any email.

The information you provide on Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community or our LinkedIn group for alumni may be used (and you may be contacted) in connection with furthering the University's educational, social and charitable activities, including:

  • alumni activity (e.g. University publications, reunions, events and development);
  • academic/administrative departmental activity;
  • operating Strathclyde Connect; 
  • operating Strathclyde Alumni Online Community
  • operating LinkedIn; and 
  • UK and international alumni activity (e.g. our alumni groups run by volunteers).

The University reserves the right to disclose a registered user’s personal information to third parties which seek the disclosure of it if required by law.

3. Privacy

In order to operate the University of Strathclyde websites, we may collect and store personal information you submit to the University, including via Strathclyde Connect or Strathclyde Alumni Online Community. 

Any data submitted to the University by means of a registered user’s profile within Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, or within LinkedIn for members of our LinkedIn group, or any other data registered users may choose to update from time to time through other communication with the University, will be processed by the University in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

In order to operate the Strathclyde Connect and Strathclyde Alumni Online Community websites, we may collect and store personal information you submit to the University via these Sites. By submitting your personal information via these Sites, you are consenting to the University holding and using it in accordance with this policy. The policy is subject to change, and any changes to it will be published on our website https://www.strath.ac.uk/alumni. We recommend that you check our Privacy Notices and Policies every time you visit our Sites.

Information that we collect from you

We collect information about you:

  • when you provide us with your personal details (such as your name, contact details, email address, etc) by registering with us or submitting an enquiry via our Sites;
  • when you respond to surveys which we ask you to complete for research purposes;
  • from your usage of our Sites and any other information you post on the site or send to us via email or other means; and
  • when you join Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community or our LinkedIn group for alumni, each site's servers may track requests made of it to centrally held log files.

Log files can contain any or all of the following types of data:

  • date and time of connection;
  • identification of the file(s) requested;
  • whether the request was successful;
  • size (in bytes) sent in response;
  • referring page (where the client came from), as supplied by the client browser; and
  • software used to access the server, as supplied by the client browser.

Information gathered is used for server system administration, identifying broken links, and for producing usage statistics. Logged information may be kept indefinitely. Log files do not contain any personal information. The University of Strathclyde also uses the following log reporting services on its websites to measure and analyse visitor information:

Examples of data collected automatically from all users include:

  • the Internet protocol (IP) address;
  • computer and connection information such as browser type and version, operating system, and platform; and
  • Uniform Resource Locator (URL) click stream data, including date and time, and content viewed or searched for on the Site.

Cookies

Cookies are small files that are sent from the web server to the client's computer via the client's browser. They are then stored in the client's computer as text files and passed back to the server. Cookies are generally used to identify users and on occasion, prepare customised web pages for them. Cookies may remain on the client's computer merely for the duration of the session (visit) or they may remain indefinitely. Most standard web browsers may be configured to refuse cookies.

The University of Strathclyde does not use cookies extensively on its servers at present. Such cookies that are used are transient, do not contain any personal information, and cannot be used to identify an individual user.

How we use your information

We use your information to:

  • enable us to supply you with the goods, services and information which you have requested;
  • ensure that content from our Sites is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer;
  • analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our Sites;
  • provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes; and
  • notify you about changes to our service.

We may use and analyse the information we collect so that we can manage and improve the services on our Sites. Demographic and statistical information about user behaviour may be collected and used to analyse the popularity and effectiveness of our Sites. Any disclosure of this information will be in anonymised form and will not identify individual users.

Disclosure of your information

Authorised personnel within the University will be able to access the information you provide to us. We may also disclose your information to authorised third parties, acting on behalf of the University, for the purposes set out in this policy or for purposes approved by you.

When necessary, to assist with the organisation or security of an event, we may pass attendee names, contact and education details onto the event organiser. 

Unless required or permitted to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information you provide to us without your consent.

4. Place of Processing

The University may disclose your data to service providers engaged in providing services to the University. Some of these service providers may be based outside of the European Economic Area in countries where there are not such strict laws concerning the processing of your data. The University will only do this where it is satisfied the disclosure meets the requirements of the Act.

Strathclyde Connect is provided by VeryConnect https://veryconnect.com, based in Glasgow, UK.

Strathclyde Alumni Online Community is provided by Blackbaud Inc. https://www.blackbaud.com, a US based company. Blackbaud Inc. are the software provider for the alumni and supporter database and its online portal: The Raiser’s Edge and NetCommunity (Strathclyde Alumni Online Community). We use Strathclyde Alumni Online Community to process bulk email communications. Blackbaud Inc. have undertaken to comply with the principles of data protection legislation, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. Blackbaud Inc. is a member of the Data Privacy Framework, further details of which can be found at https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov.

Strathclyde Connect and Strathclyde Alumni Online Community which process donations and event registrations are fully PCI DSS compliant. Payments taken via Strathclyde Connect are processed via Stripe https://stripe.com, and payments taken via Strathclyde Alumni Online Community are processed via Blackbaud Merchant Services (BBMS) https://www.blackbaud.com/products/blackbaud-merchant-services. Processing fees can be viewed at: https://stripe.com/gb/pricing and https://www.blackbaud.com/info/bbms/bbms-tier-1-processing-fees. Full payment card details are not shared with or stored by the University.

Direct Debits are processed in line with the Direct Debit Guarantee scheme.

We work with external providers to provide online fundraising campaigns which take place digitally (e.g. Giving Day and Telethon campaigns).

The Telethon platform (MOLE) is provided and hosted by Buffalo Fundraising Consultants Ltd. https://www.buffalofc.co.uk. Card payments taken via this system (for donations) is fully PCI DSS compliant and are processed via Stripe https://stripe.com. Full payment card details are not shared with or stored by the University.

StageClip https://stageclip.com is a video sharing platform that enables our alumni to watch and share a video clip of their graduation. The videos clips are hosted by StageClip on Microsoft Azure servers, based in Europe and the GDPR jurisdiction.  StageClip’s Privacy Policy can be viewed at https://stageclip.com/privacy-policy. 

5. Users’ Responsibilities

The functions and services provided on each Site by the University may be used for personal purposes only.  They are not intended for use as a business or commercial service and the University reserves the right to terminate the registration of anyone attempting to use Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, our social media sites on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook for business purposes.  The deliberate sending of junk email (‘Spam’) or email infected with a virus or other malicious attachments is forbidden.

It is the responsibility of each registered user:

  • to protect against unauthorised access to their username and password;
  • to ensure against use by anyone else of Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook through the machine that the registered user uses while they are logged on to the Site;
  • to log off or exit from the Site when not using it;
  • to ensure that it does not introduce any virus into the Site;
  • not to post any data or images on the Site which are racist, sexist, homophobic, explicit, abusive or likely to offend anyone; and
  • not to post any data or images on the Site which are unlawful or inflammatory or which infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.

We reserve the right to:

  • suspend or terminate any registered user’s access to our Sites, or parts of it;
  • edit, or require the registered user to edit, material posted on our Sites, if material posted by the user appears to us to be in breach of any provision of this policy;
  • monitor and remove any data from our Sites where the University believes it is contrary or in breach of this policy; and
  • provide any information or data concerning a registered user’s operation of our Sites to any appropriate authority or law enforcement agency where it is in the interests of the University to do so or where the law requires the University to do so.

Any person whose access has been suspended or terminated will not be permitted to re-register for, or re-access, the Site without prior consent from the University.  The registered user is responsible for the accuracy and suitability of all content submitted to or processed by Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook while logged on to the Site.

Registered users acknowledge that the University cannot monitor all material which appears on Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook and that the University is reliant upon all users to notify it of anything which appears likely to breach the Site's Terms and Conditions.  Any user encountering content on Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook which appears to infringe the Terms and Conditions, should contact the University by any of the contact methods listed in section 8.

6. Disclaimer

The University has no control over or responsibility for the truth or accuracy of any material available on Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook, whether provided by registered users or others.

Any links to third party sites from Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook, do not constitute any endorsement or any responsibility for the site in question or anything which appears on it.   
Each registered user’s use of Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook is entirely at their own risk.

It is a condition of use of our Sites and affiliated social media Sites that all users must be over the age of 18.

Accordingly, to the extent that the law permits, each registered user of our Sites, releases the University, its agents, contractors and employees from all liability arising out of or in connection with Strathclyde Connect, Strathclyde Alumni Online Community, LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook and any material included on the Sites by registered users and third parties.

7. Governing Law

These terms shall be governed by and interpreted and construed in accordance with Scots law.

8. Questions

You have the right to access the personal data which the University holds about you. The University charges a fee to process such a request. Please see https://www.strath.ac.uk/dataprotection/accessingyourpersonaldata or email dataprotection@strath.ac.uk.

For further information on the University’s policies in relation to Data Protection please see https://www.strath.ac.uk/dataprotection.

If you wish to enquire about Data Protection, this Privacy Policy or Cookies please email alumniweb@strath.ac.uk.

If you do not wish your details to be used for any of the above purposes, please contact us at:

Alumni & Development Office
University of Strathclyde
Room 701 Learning & Teaching Building
49 Richmond Street
Glasgow, G1 1XU, UK

tel:         +44 (0)141 548 2773
email:     alumniweb@strath.ac.uk