Privacy Policy
University of Essex ("We") are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.
This policy (together with our (terms of use) and any other documents referred to on it) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX of WIVENHOE PARK, COLCHESTER, CO4 3SQ.
Our nominated representative for the purpose of the Act is Sara Stock (University Records Manager), whose responsibilities cover the University’s compliance with the Data Protection Act. Further information, including contact information, can be found at the Records Management Office.
Information we may collect from you
We may collect and process the following data about you:- Information that you provide by filling in forms on our site (www.venturenavigator.co.uk). This includes information provided at the time of registering to use our site, posting material or requesting further services. We may also ask you for information if you report a problem with our site.
- If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence.
- We may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them.
- Details of transactions you carry out through our site.
- Details of your visits to our site and the resources that you access.
- Any other personal data that you supply.
IP addresses
We may collect information about your computer, including where available your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration purposesOur use of cookies
Our website uses cookies. A cookie is file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and more personalised service. They enable us:
- To estimate our audience size and usage pattern.
- To store information about your preferences, and so allow us to customise our site according to your individual interests.
- To speed up your searches.
- To recognise you when you return to our site and store login details.
You may refuse to accept cookies by changing the settings on your browser which allows you to stop the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site.
For more information about cookies and how to disable them in most common web browsers please see http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
3rd party cookies
We use third-party products to help us understand how our site is used and to provide you with extra services. For this to work cookies are used and information about your use of our site, including your IP address, may be transmitted to, and stored by, these 3rd parties. This information is subject to the 3rd parties privacy policy. As with other cookies, you can control the use of cookies on your computer by adjusting your web browser preferences. The third-party products we use which set cookies are:
- Facebook Connect (allowing you to login via and share information with Facebook). Use our standard login if you do not wish Facebook to set a cookie
- Add This (for sharing content via other platforms). To opt out of being tracked by Add This visit http://www.addthis.com/privacy/opt-out
- Google Analytics (for analysis of who visits our site). To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
Web beacons
In emails we send you we may include web beacons. They consist of a small string of software code, typically 1-by-1 pixels in size, which are placed in an email message to track if the email is delivered and opened. We will make you aware of these in the email and if you no longer wish to receive these emails you may unsubscribe.
Where we store your personal data
All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will use reasonable efforts to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.
Uses made of the information
We use information held about you in the following ways:- To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.
- To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us or which we feel may interest you.
- To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us.
- To allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so.
- To notify you about changes to our service.
We will not pass on or permit third parties (except as defined below).
Disclosure of your information
We may disclose your personal information to any member of our consortium (Business Edge) including but not limited to Universities of Essex, Cambridge Warwick, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow and the Open University.
- We will not disclose your personal information to third parties unless we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with a legal obligation, to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of University of Essex, our users, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction. If the Project Business Edge or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
- We will not disclose material which describes businesses and business ideas submitted as part of the 'free text' elements of Assessment tools. These are treated as confidential and are not disclosed or shared in any way unless they are selected to be shared by the user. We may however collect and share anonymous aggregated statistics based on the quantitative elements of the Assessments.
Your rights
You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes (if presented) on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at Business Edge, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ.Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.
Access to information
The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you.
Changes to our privacy policy
Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail.