Privacy

Privacy Statement for the University of Galway Web site and App

The University of Galway (the “University”) fully respects your right to privacy and takes every appropriate measure to secure the privacy of any information shared with the University. University of Galway is the Data Controller of your personal data unless otherwise stated. The University acknowledges that such processing of Personal Data and Special Categories of Personal Data must meet the requirements of applicable Irish and European data protection legislation. Data Protection is the safeguarding of the privacy rights of individuals in relation to the processing of Personal and Special Categories of Personal Data. The Act, the Irish Data Protection Bill 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 confer rights on individuals as well as responsibilities on persons and organisations processing personal data.

Purpose of Processing:

The University obtains, processes, collects, keeps, uses, discloses (where permissible by law), and retains Personal Data and Special Categories of Personal Data (both as defined in: https://gdpr-info.eu/art-4-gdpr/  ) regarding its staff, students, service users and other individuals who come in contact with or engage in business with the University. The purposes of processing Personal Data and Special Categories of  Personal Data include but are not limited to the purposes set out in University Policies and Procedures available on the University website, fulfilling the University’s functions and obligations under the Universities Act 1997 (See http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/24/enacted/en/html ), the provision of educational courses and support services, the organisation and administration of courses, undertaking of research activities, the recruitment and employment of staff, compliance with statutory obligations, reporting to Government bodies,  the provision of commercial activities, the management of financial affairs, advertising and promoting the University, publishing University and alumni publications, and undertaking fundraising. The University also processes personal information through CCTV systems that monitor and collect visual images for the purposes of research, security and the prevention and detection of crime.

User Volunteered Information:

The University does not collect any personal information on this Web site without your permission. All information volunteered within online forms is treated as confidential in accordance with applicable Irish data protection legislation and with the General Data Protection Regulation 2016. Personal information requested by online forms shall be used for the purpose set out on the online form.

Automatically Obtained Information:

A small amount of browser header information is automatically stored by the system to generate website usage statistics. IP addresses are read by the website to identify users located on the University of Galway campus in order to offer them internal functionality.  Any other technical information, if automatically obtained by the system, will be clearly visible in a pre-filled area of our online forms.

Cookies

Some features of the University of Galway website and app require cookies to work properly.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files, saved by the browser onto your computer.  They either store settings or else an identifier (a string of letters and numbers), which can be read by the server each time the browser requests a webpage.  They allow the web server to know how you want it to behave (e.g. don’t load the chatbot) and lets it know that you are the same user who, for example, logged into the previous page (so that it won’t ask you to sign in again,  on the next page).  Cookies may be used to collect non-personal information about how visitors use our website.

If a cookie does not contain an expiration date it is referred to as a temporary session cookie. Temporary session cookies are stored in memory and never written to disk, when the brower closes the cookie is permanently lost from this point on. Temporary session cookies may be used in some areas to enable specific functionality.

If the cookie contains an expiration date, it is considered a persistent cookie. On its specified expiration date, the cookie will be removed from the disk. Persistent cookies may be used to remember your preferences (e.g. preferred text size) the next time you visit. These cookies exist on your computer for a set number of days after you have visited but they contain no private or sensitive data.

How we use Cookies

We only use temporary cookies if they are necessary for the site to work. Typically these are only needed in areas  of the website where you need to log in.

We also use the following types of persistent cookies:

• We use cookies as part of Google Analytics and Hotjar, web analytics services that allow us to see how visitors use our website.  Google analytics allows us to discover things like the number of visitors to the site; most popular pages, entry-points and exit-points; average page load times; types of browsers used; and the number of mobile devices vs PCs.   Hotjar lets us see what parts of a page were clicked on the most.  This information helps us improve our website.
  Your current analytics cookies are:
  _gid = GA1.2.1091936832.1639387353
  _ga = GA1.2.1770729746.1634649795
  _gat = 1
  _gat_UA-859162-1 = 1
• Cookies also store your preferences (e.g. whether to allow Analytics cookies).
  Your current preference cookies are:
  No preference cookies in use
• Marketing cookies allow us to track and manage our online ads for UniveristyofGalway.ie.  They help us see how successful our ad campaigns were and can also assist in targeting ads when you are on a site that we advertise on (e.g. when you’re next on Facebook, it may see, from our ad cookie, that you’ve been to UniversityofGalway.ie, and then show our advertisement instead of any other University’s).
  Your current marketing cookies are:
  _gcl_au (for our ads on Google) = 1.1.1325102337.1634649795
  _scid (for our ads on Snapchat) = 7b910709-44d0-47b7-bd17-381912dce26b
• Functionality cookies are required for some features, such as our chatbot, to work.  Embedded content from social media or video sharing platforms may also require cookies to behave optimally.
  Your current functionality cookies are:
  No functionality cookies in use
• Essential Cookies: We use 5 cookies to ensure we’re complying with EU cookie law. They store whether you have specified your cookie consent preferences, in the last 6 months, and whether you ticked each of the 4 cookie category checkboxes. This is how the website remembers whether to ask you about cookies and what your current cookies settings are.
  Your current essential cookies are:
  consent (preferences saved) = yes
  anal (ytics) = yes
  pref (erences) = yes
  func (tionality) = yes
  ads = yes

Setting your cookie preferences

You can manage your cookie preferences (for this website) at any time.  Desktop users can also invoke the cookie manager, anywhere on the website, by pressing Ctrl-M (PC) or Command-M (Mac) on their keyboard.  Your cookie preferences will be valid for 6 months (the maximum time allowed under EU law).  After this time has elapsed, the website will ask you to set your cookie preferences again.

3rd-Party Cookies

Some cookies present on our site are not related to the University: any cookies made by embedded content from Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, for example. The University does not have any control or influence on the operation of these third party cookies,  so please check the websites concerned for more information in relation to their cookie policies.

If you have not consented to functionality cookies, this website will not add them and, although it will try, it may not always be able to prevent embedded content, from other websites (such as Videos and Social Media Feeds) from automatically adding some.  Also, if you click on a link to a video in this website, or on a social media feature, that video hosting / social media platform may add cookies to your computer in order to carry out your requested action.

These 3rd party sites will also ask you for your cookie preferences when you visit them, seperately, but if you are concerned about third-party cookies, you could always configure your browser not to accept them.  More information on this can be found at howtogeek.com.

The University of Galway does not use malware, spyware, or adware in any form or fashion.

Legal Basis:

For the majority of the activities set out in this statement the Universities Act 1997 and the University Charter and Statutes gives the University legal authority to process your personal data where this is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the University as Data Controller. The University also has the authority to carry out the above activities if these are required to complete the performance of a contract with you.  If you use optional free services, the legal basis is your consent which you can opt into these and withdraw your consent to them.

Security:

University of Galway uses every appropriate physical and technical security measure to prevent unauthorised access, alteration or destruction of data. These measures are reviewed regularly.

Information Disclosure:

The University of Galway will not disclose any personal information obtained from its Web site to any third party unless it is in accordance with University Policy and applicable law.

Contact Information:

Any queries regarding privacy and this Website can be directed to info@universityofgalway.ie

Your rights:

You have a right to access your personal information, to object to the processing of your personal information, to rectify, to erase, to restrict and to port your personal information. For further information please visit:

(1)  http://gdprandyou.ie/

(2)  https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Home/4.htm

Any requests or objections should be made in writing to the University Data Protection Officer:

The Data Protection Officer,
University of Galway, Room A129,
The Quadrangle,
University of Galway,
University Road,
Galway

Email: dataprotection@universityofgalway.ie

How to make a complaint:

If you are unhappy with the way in which your personal data has been processed, you may in the first instance contact the University Data Protection Officer using the contact details above.

If you remain dissatisfied, then you have the right to apply directly to the Data Protection Commissioner for a decision. She can be contacted at: –