Privacy Policy

The University of the West of England, Bristol (UWE) respects the privacy of users of its web site. This Privacy Policy applies to any UWE web site from which it is linked. Special terms which apply only to Blackboard (the University′s virtual learning environment ) are grouped later in this document. Users of myUWE should also consult our advice on Protecting your privacy.

Cookies

Please see the University′s Cookie Policy. Also, the information (below) on tracking in Blackboard, which depends on use of cookies.

Information you supply

As you use this web site, you may be asked to provide personal information by entering it on a web page, and submitting it to the University by clicking a button or link (this includes discussion boards and feedback forms). Generally, this information will be requested to help us provide a service. However, whenever you enter such information on a web page, the University has legal obligations to you about the ways in which it may use and store the data you provide. We will treat that data in accordance with current legislation and aim to follow best Internet practice. The data will not be supplied to anyone outside the University without your consent unless required by law, and when stored in a database, this will be in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998.

Information we gather

When you access a web page, information about your usage is automatically collected. This will usually include your operating system, browser, IP Address (a number, assigned to your computer to identify it on the network), the pages which you browse, the referring page that led you to the current page, your software and aspects of its configuration. This information is available to web service administrators. Some of this information is also automatically included in feedback e-mails sent from the UWE web site, but does not represent the passing of any additional information to us (and is used to help us resolve any technical issues related to your use of the site).

You are not personally identifiable as an individual from such information alone. However, the University of the West of England, Bristol may be legally obliged to release this information to appropriate authorities.

Web metrics

To maintain and improve the quality of our website we use the Digital Analytix web metrics service provided by comScore. The Digital Analytix Privacy Policy states that comScore"do not link IP-addresses of your website visitors to individuals" and that where measuring data includes personal data that comScore will process such data only on our behalf and will not use the data on its own behalf, nor make the data available to other comScore customers, unless the data have been anonimised and aggregated (i.e. are no longer linked to an individual or to our website).

Some UWE web pages use Google Analytics rather than Digital Analytix. These include the UWE new campus web pages and internal wesbites for staff and students. Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses cookies to measure use of websites. For more information about these cookies please see our Cookie Policy.

If you visited the UWE website by following a Google Adwords link, Google willl have set a cookie to confirm that you have used their service. The UWE website will support confirmation that the Adword has been used.

Personal disclosures

Please be aware that information you share via e-mail, discussion forums, or web pages could be distributed or used in ways you did not intend. For example, if you disclose your mobile phone number in an online discussion board, another user could copy that phone number and distribute it to others outside the discussion board without your permission. Similarly, if you use a discussion forum to relate a personal experience to fellow staff or students expecting it to remain confidential, it could be copied and distributed to others outside your intended audience. Therefore, please exercise caution in sharing via web pages information you would not wish to be made public.

Users under 16

If you are aged 16 or under, you should not enter personal information on our web pages without the approval of a parent or guardian.

Blackboard

Blackboard is a web-based learning environment used by staff and students at the University of the West of England, Bristol. It requires users to "log in" by entering a user ID and password when they wish to access its resources. The following special provisions of our Privacy Policy apply to its use.

User tracking in Blackboard

If you are enrolled in a module which uses Blackboard your use of that site may be logged. Your module leader and system administrators are able to access such information as the number of times you logged onto the site, the pages you visited, and the dates and times that you visited them. Where your tutor intends to use the tracking information created by Blackboard for the purposes of assessment he/she must advise you in advance. You may wish to seek the advice of your tutor if in doubt.

Please note that for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 by logging on to Blackboard you consent to the University of the West of England, Bristol holding and processing information relating to your use of that system. This processing takes effect subject to this Privacy Policy and is conducted in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

This statement should be read in conjunction with the University′s IT Monitoring Statement.

Blackboard and e-mail

Participation in a Blackboard course or organisation may require you to send and receive e-mail. Your tutor may correspond with you through e-mail and may in addition require you to communicate with fellow students through e-mail. Your e-mail address will also be published if you post to a discussion board within Blackboard. By participating in a Blackboard course or organisation you consent to the publication of your e-mail address within the Blackboard system. UWE Students must not publish another students e-mail address without their express informed consent.

You should not use the e-mail facility within Blackboard to e-mail en masse to your fellow students, unless this has been expressly authorised by the tutor. You are reminded that the sending of e-mail via Blackboard is governed by the University′s E-mail Policy.

UWE e-mail privacy

The following relates to e-mails that link to this page at their base.

Using the information that you provided on registration UWE may, from time to time, contact you by e-mail. UWE uses dotMailer to send such e-mails. dotMailer uses unique identifiers in those e-mails to perform tracking functions. We use the tracking data they collect to ensure our e-mails are both relevant to your interests and also to ensure we do not e-mail you needlessly. Information on how to disable this can be found online or in your e-mail program instructions. You may choose to opt out of e-mails sent by UWE using the link provided on the e-mail.

UWE does not send unsolicited e-mail. If you appear to have received unsolicited e-mails from us please use the unsubscribe link on the e-mail or contact us and we will remove you from our lists.

UWE does not share its e-mail lists with third parties.