Updated January 2024 (v2.4)

Introduction

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (and, where applicable, EU GDPR) govern the way that organisations use personal data.  Personal data is information relating to an identifiable living individual.

Transparency is a key element of UK GDPR and this Privacy Notice is designed to inform you:

• how and why the University uses your personal data,
• what your rights are under UK GDPR, and,
• how to contact us so that you can exercise those rights.

We keep our privacy policy under regular review.  Any changes we make to our policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by email or post.

Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

This Privacy Notice relates to graduation. Please also see the Privacy Notices for students and alumni.

Why are we processing your personal data

It is necessary for the University to process your personal data to ensure that:

• You are invited to your graduation ceremony
• You are able to book and pay for your tickets
• Your name appears in the Graduation ceremony booklet
• Your name appears on the Class of ... t-shirt
• You have an opportunity to feedback on your graduation experience
• We are able to respond to any questions you may have related to your ceremony, and forward your query to another department if it’s not graduation related (e.g., certificate queries)

Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) our processing is necessary for the performance of your student contract and for the legitimate interests of the University. We are now required to collect additional data relating to the bill payer when processing payments online as a result of the EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2). This data collection is deemed necessary and complies with Article 6 (1) (f) of the GDPR.

All graduates

Whether attending or not attending a graduation ceremony, your

• · name, college, award title (but not your classification) will be included in the University's graduation ceremony booklet
• · name and college will be printed on the University's 'Class of ...' t-shirt

If you object to the publication of your personal data, tick the opt-out boxes on the 'check and amend my details' screen in My Student Record or send details in by email to the Graduation Office graduation@shu.ac.uk, to be received no later than 25 October 2024.

Graduation dates are on the public graduation website.  We will not share specific graduate information with anyone contacting the office, this includes booking tickets. Should you want us to speak to another individual on your behalf regarding your ceremony you will need to let us know by email, from an email address registered with the university, the name of your proxy.

Graduates attending a graduation ceremony

Graduation is a memorable public statement of students' achievements and the following features are considered to be essential parts of the ceremony.

Your name and award title (but not your classification) will be read out at the ceremony immediately prior to you walking across the stage.

You'll be filmed at the ceremony for the University's graduation DVD, Digital Ceremony Downloads and Social Media Clips. This content will be hosted and available for sale online at www.mygraduationfilm.com. The film may also be shown at future graduation events and receptions. The event will also be shown live as a webcast.

Crowd shots will be taken by the University's photographers, which may include images of yourself and your guests.

If you attend a graduation celebration such as a prizegiving ceremony, distant images of yourself and your guests may be publicly available on the University website via a webcam.

It's possible that television companies may be present to interview honorary doctors and other VIPs, or to film the event generally. If you don't wish to appear on television, you should maintain your distance from any filming taking place.

During the ceremonies and celebrations, the University photographers will be present. They will be using the opportunity to take individual and group shots to be used on the graduation website and on the University's social media channels, for future graduation brochures and booklets, and for marketing and promotion in the UK and overseas.

Visual images may be used in both printed and electronic format and will be used for no longer than three years. Verbal consent will be sought from you and your guests for close-up pictures prior to photographs being taken. If you don't wish for your photograph to be taken, you should tell the photographer when consent is requested.

Information relating to disability and access needs will only be used to make reasonable adjustments at the ceremonies. This information will not be shared with any other department within the university and will be deleted from our records after the graduation ceremonies.

Retention of your personal data

Information relating to attendance at your ceremony is saved on your record permanently, your payment information for a maximum of 7 years, information provided for a visa support letter for 1 year and special requirements are deleted immediately following the ceremonies.

In addition to this data protection notice for graduates, the University has an updated Alumni Privacy Notice which sets out what data is held and how it is used by the University after graduation. You can find the Alumni Privacy Notice here.

Data Subject Rights

One of the aims of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) is to empower individuals and give them control over their personal data.

The UK GDPR gives you the following rights:

• The right to be informed
• The right of access
• The right to rectification
• The right to erase
• The right to restrict processing
• The right to data portability
• The right to object
• Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling

For more information about these rights please see here.

Contact Us

You should contact the Graduation Office if:

• you have a general query about Graduation,
• you have a query about how your data is used by the Graduation Office

Graduation Office
Bryan Nicholson Building
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield
S1 1WB

graduation@shu.ac.uk
Telephone: 0114 225 5353

You should contact the University’s Data Protection Officer if:

• you have a query about how your data is used by the University,
• you would like to request copies of your personal data held by the University - please see our information about Subject Access Requests.
• you would like to exercise your other data subject rights (e.g., to have inaccurate data rectified, to restrict or object to processing)
• you would like to report a data security breach (e.g., if you think your personal data has been lost or disclosed inappropriately)
• you would like to complain about how the University has used your personal data.

Data Protection Officer
Directorate of Governance, Legal and Sector Regulation
City Campus
Howard Street
Sheffield
S1 1WB

DPO@shu.ac.uk

Telephone: 0114 225 5555