Privacy Notice

Introduction

Under the General Data Protection Regulation, users have the right to be informed of the collection and processing of their personal data. This document is intended to provide clear information regarding the data collected by Academy Online Learning and how it is used. It also explains how users can obtain the data held by Academy Online Learning and request its deletion.

 

Our organisation

Academy Online Learning Ltd.
City Tower 13th Floor
Piccadilly Plaza
Manchester
England
M1 4BT

Office: 0161 726 5970
Mobile: 07816510699
General email: enquiries@academyonlinelearning.com

Director: Kim Cullen

Data Protection Officer: Keiron A. Walsh
Email: keironwalsh@academyonlinelearning.com


How we obtain personal information 

There are several ways we may have obtained your personal information:

      • You have given the information to us
        • when you completed your course enrolment form or the registration form for the body that awards the qualification you are pursuing.
        • when you completed an application form to become an employee or contractor.
      • The organisation you work for has provided the personal information
        • for example, where they have completed the enrolment form on your behalf.
      • Some information about your activity on the website is stored in the form of cookies
        • Some cookies on this site are essential, and the site won't work as expected without them. These cookies are set when you submit a form, login or interact with the site by doing something that goes beyond clicking on simple links.

 

The information we collect and why we collect it

We collect personal information so that we can carry out the necessary administration to support students on their courses and enable them to be certified by awarding bodies. The information we require is collected from the enrolment form and includes full name and contact details and information about the course they are applying for and their future career aims. The enrolment information is collected so we can ensure students are enrolled on a course that is appropriate for their career aims and, where applicable, meets the entry requirements of the university they intend to apply to.

Awarding organisations often require additional information that we do not collect as part of the enrolment process. Where such information is required, students are asked to complete a registration form for the appropriate awarding body.

We also collect personal data when users make financial transactions with Academy Online Learning. In addition to the transaction details, we store the billing name and address details of the user and the last 4 digits and  expiry date of the payment card - the full card details are passed securely to our payment processor; however, they are not stored on our servers for security reasons. When users arrange to pay a recurring charge instead of paying the full course fees up front, the payment processor provides a secure token that can be used for future payments instead of the card details; this means that we never store full credit or debit card details on our servers. To guard against fraud, we also ask users who choose to pay in monthly instalments to provide proof of identity in the form of a photograph and a signature.

In addition to cookies that are essential for the functioning of the website, we also use some non-essential cookies to anonymously track visitors or enhance their experience of the site. These tracking cookies send anonymised data to Google Analytics so we can see how users navigated to the site and we are able to use this information to improve the quality of the site and make it easier to navigate. When logged into your user account, you can turn off tracking by clicking on the "edit" tab and changing your tracking settings. You can log into your account at https://academyonlinelearning.com/user

Users' participation in our courses also generates personal data, such as assignment grades, feedback and records of progress on the course. Where users apply to university, we keep records of their application and any references we provide to support the application. 

 

Sharing of data with other organisations

We are sometimes required to share the personal information we process with users themselves and with other organisations. Where this is necessary we are required to comply with all aspects of the General Data Protection Requirement (GDPR). We never share personal information with anyone for marketing purposes. We only share personal information with third parties for legitimate purposes and where we are legally obliged to do so.

 

Who we share personal data with

We share student information with our awarding bodies so that students can be registered and so that we can provide them with information such as assignment grades so that students' qualifications can be certified. We also share information about employees and contractors of Academy Online Learning with awarding bodies to ensure the appropriate safeguarding and quality standards are maintained.

When users pay for one of our courses, the payment information is shared securely with our 'payment gateway', SagePay who process the transaction and retain information such as the full card details if it is a recurring transaction.

We may also share information with third party credit reference agencies, legal representatives and debt collection agencies in cases where customers do not meet their financial obligations.

Some of our web pages contain social media buttons, such as the Facebook 'like' button. When a user clicks on these buttons, they are sharing the information that they visited the page with Facebook and the 'like' is recorded by Facebook and the statistics shared with the AOLL Facebook Account.

 

How we protect personal information

All personal data is stored securely and protected by SSL encryption (https) to ensure safe transactions between users and the Academy Online Learning website. You can check our security rating using the SSL Server Test.

 

How long we keep personal information

We only keep personal information for as long as we are required to by law or as long as is reasonable given the nature of the information. For example, it is a legal requirement for financial transactions to be retained for at least six years. It is also reasonable to expect that students who discontinue their studies may wish to resume them at some point in the future, so we retain academic documents, such as assignments and grades for at least 12 months following discontinuation of the course, after which time the data will be deleted at the next Personal Information Review and students will need to restart the course should they wish to continue after this time.

Academic references, such as for UCAS are retained for 5 years following course completion

Personal information that we do not need to retain can be deleted at any time upon request

 

Personal Information Review

Every six months Academy Online Learning will carry out a Personal Information Review, which will involve the following:

      • An audit of the personal information we hold.
      • Personal information that is no longer required to be held will be removed; for example, academic documents of former students who discontinued a course more than 12 months ago.
      • The privacy policy and any related policies will be reviewed and updated as necessary.

 

 

Contacting users

      • We may sometimes contact users to update them with legal information that affects them.
      • We may contact users as part of their course, this includes tutor contact, such as feedback, advice and to check on students' progress.
      • We may send automated emails as part of their course. This includes information emails, notifications and reminders. These are sometimes triggered by site activity, such as submitting an assignment for marking.
      • We may occasionally send emails to inform you of new courses which will be beneficial to you; however, we do not send frequent marketing emails.
      • We may occasionally contact former students to gather data on progression to university; for example, if a student didn't apply to university while they were on the course and intended to apply later, we may contact them to find out which university they attended.
      • We may send out newsletters to users who choose to subscribe to them. 

 

 

Accessing your personal information

Users have a right to access their personal data easily and can do so by the following methods:

      • Click on the Personal Data tab on the Account Details page.
      • For VLE activity logs, you can make a Personal Data Request from the contact us page.

 

 

Correcting Personal Information

Users also have a right to correct inaccurate personal information. You can easily correct some information by editing your Account Details; however, some information is not editable by users and you will need to request a correction using the contact us page.

 

How to request removal of personal information

To request the removal of your personal information, simply visit your Account Details page and click the "edit" tab. The "Cancel account" button at the bottom of the page will submit a request for your account to be removed. Academy Online Learning will remove as much of your personal information as possible; however, we are legally required to retain certain information such as financial transactions. Retaining financial transactions also requires the retention of the identity of the parties involved in the transaction, therefore, your name and contact information will be retained. Nevertheless, in such cases, your account will be deactivated and you will not receive further communications from AOLL unless it is to pursue unsettled financial commitments or for other legitimate purposes, such as to send certificates for completed courses.