Privacy notice

The type of personal data the University may process about you regarding Graduation ceremonies includes: 

• Name and contact details (including address, telephone, and email address);
• Course details, degree classification, and year degree awarded;
• Academic student record and Ceremony Attendance;
• Debt status;
• Prize/award winners

 This data is processed based on the following conditions:

• Article 6(1)(a) – contract
• Article 6(1)(e) – public task
• Article 6(1)(f) - legitimate interests

 The University will also process the following: 

• Images by camera or film of you on the day. Your guests may also be captured on the day.

 This data is processed based on the following conditions: 

• Article 6(1)(f) - legitimate interests
• Article 6(1)(a) – consent in limited circumstances, for example for small group or individual photographs taken around campus

On occasion the University may also need to process special category data such as any access requirements or reasonable adjustments which need to be made for you or your guests attending the ceremony. If this is the case, this data is processed based on: 

• Article 9(2)(a) – explicit consent

All the information we process is recorded in your Student Record. Most of this information is provided by you either during registration with the University or during graduation registration.

We will process your personal data to organise, manage and administer our graduation ceremonies. We will use your information to communicate with you by email, post and telephone about your eligibility to attend the ceremony; to collect information about you and your guests, including any information you choose to provide about disability and access requirements to enable us to accommodate any special arrangements you have requested; to provide tickets; to manage guest numbers and plan seating; for ceremonial and catering arrangements; and to update your contact details in our student and alumni record systems. We will use your information to produce graduation programmes which will include your name, qualifications obtained and degree classification.

We will also process your personal data to take photographs and videos of graduands and guests at our graduation ceremonies for publicity purposes which will include using images and video on our website and social media channels and in other types of online and hardcopy publications. We will film the graduation ceremony, which will be live streamed on the University’s official YouTube account. A recording of the ceremony will remain on YouTube to view after the live event.

Individual photographs of graduands will be taken at the ceremony and can be purchased from our official photographer.

When you graduate, you automatically become a Keele University alumnus and will be provided with information about the University’s Alumni network. We will use information about you to offer you an alumni network which includes keeping you informed of University news, publications, and events, career opportunities and much more. Further information is available on the University Alumni webpages which can be found here. You can opt out of receiving communications from the Alumni network at any time by contacting the Alumni team.

We will not share your personal data with any other 3rd parties unless we have a legal basis to do so. If any of the data shared involves the transfer of your personal data outside of the UK / EEA, they will be carried out with appropriate safeguards in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal information.

Limited personal data, including your name, student number, ceremony and course title will be shared with our robing supplier to ensure you are able to book your graduation robes online. Your name and type of award will also be shared with our supplier to design and print the graduation programme.

Your name and ceremony date may be shared with KeeleSU to produce official graduation merchandise such as hoodies and t-shirts.

Graduate data is kept for 2 years as per the University’s central retention policy. The Graduation team remove any student data from the dedicated graduation inbox after ceremonies have taken place. Data processed for ceremonies, such as proceedings and usher lists will be deleted after 12 months.

You have several rights with regards to how we process your information including access, correction, erasure, and restriction. Full details of these rights and how to exercise them can be found at https://www.keele.ac.uk/informationgovernance/yourdata-yourrights.

If you have any questions about how we handle your personal information, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer (DPO). You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues.

DPO contact details: dpo@keele.ac.uk ICO contact details: www.ico.org.uk

We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.