skip to content

Postgraduate Study

 

This page explains how and why we collect and use your personal information when you visit the University of Cambridge’s Postgraduate Study website (www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk).

Who processes your personal information

When you view or use www.postgraduate.study.cam.ac.uk, the University of Cambridge (‘we’, ‘us’ and ‘the University’) is the data controller.

This privacy notice applies to the use of your personal information (also known as ‘personal data’) by the University of Cambridge, including its Departments, Faculties, Institutes and Research Centres/Units.

The 31 Colleges of the University are a separate legal entity for these purposes. Each College should provide its own privacy notice on their respective websites.

If you follow a link from this website to another site, we recommend that you read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.

What personal information is collected and why

For site security and performance

When you visit our website, we use cookies and page-tagging techniques to collect information about your visit. This includes:

  • Your IP address
  • The date and time of your visit
  • The version of the web browser you are using
  • The pages you view

We use this information to ensure the security of our website and to monitor its performance. This data is retained for a maximum of 3 months and may be disclosed if necessary in the event of a security concern or incident.

To allow you to use additional functionality

We use the following third-party services on our website. For details on individual cookies set by these services, refer to our cookies notice:

  • Unibuddy - The Unibuddy service allows you to 'Chat with our Students'. When you use this feature, Unibuddy uses cookies to establish a secure connection and to remember your preferences.
  • Zendesk - We use Zendesk to provide customer service and support through a live chatbot, FAQ knowledge base and email system. Zendesk will use cookies to provide the necessary functionality and improve user experience. 
  • Gecko - When you complete and submit any of our online forms - for example, to register for events or to sign up for newsletters - your personal information will be used and processed to fulfil your request. See further details about how we use participant data.

To improve our service to you

We use Google Analytics to collect anonymised data about how visitors use our website. This helps us improve the usability and content of our site. We do not make (and do not allow Google to make) any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our site. For more information about how Google Analytics uses this information, see Google's privacy policy.

To remember marketing preferences

Third-party services that we embed on some of our pages, such as YouTube videos, may set cookies to measure how you use their services and record what advertising you see. This will only happen if you interact with the embedded content or opt-in to marketing preference cookies.

What happens to your personal information

The use of your personal information, as described above, is necessary for the legitimate interests of the University in operating and improving its websites, analysing their use and ensuring their security. Where applicable, this processing is carried out with your consent, such as when you opt-in to receive personalised settings or marketing preferences.

We are committed to respecting and protecting the information you share with us. We have established systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data. We also ensure that any third parties we deal with keep personal data secure.

If we need to collect additional personal data via our website that is not listed above, we will inform you of the purpose at the time of collection.

Where your data is processed and stored

We design, build and run our systems with security in mind, to ensure your data is as safe as possible both during processing and in storage.

We may need to transfer your personal information outside the United Kingdom to provide you with the services and products you require or as necessary for our legitimate interests. Any such transfers are carried out with safeguards in place to ensure the confidentiality and security of your personal information. Transfers are protected either by 'adequacy regulations' issued by the UK Government (declaring the recipient country as a 'safe' territory for personal data) or by standard contractual clauses issued by the UK Information Commissioner's Office.

Children’s privacy protection

Our services are not designed for, or targeted at, children 13 years of age or younger. We do not intentionally collect or maintain personal data about anyone under the age of 13.

Finding out more

For full details on how we use cookies on our website, including those that do not collect personal data, please refer to our Cookie Notice.

For more information about how we handle your personal information when you apply to the University of Cambridge, and to understand your rights under data protection legislation, please see the University's general Data Protection Notice.

Last updated: 27 November 2024