Who we are

The University of Wolverhampton (‘The University’, ‘we’ or ‘us’) are a ‘Data Controller’, as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018 and are responsible for, and control the processing of your Personal Data. You can contact us at email dataprotection@wlv.ac.uk, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1LY. Tel. 01902 32 1000. Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at dataprotection@wlv.ac.uk.

How We Use Your Data

We collect and process your personal data to deliver Careers, Employability and Student Success services, including via Target Connect. Processing purposes and lawful bases are listed below.

All of your personal data is processed in the UK or EEA.

Information We Collect

The vast majority of information that we process about you will be provided automatically through the University’s student record system (SITS) and transferred securely into Target Connect. This ensures that your profile remains accurate and up to date throughout your time as a student or recent graduate.

Additional information will be provided directly by you when you use Careers, Employability and The Workplace services. This may be through:

•    booking appointments or events in Target Connect,
•    uploading documents such as CVs or applications,
•    completing forms, surveys or diagnostic tools,
•    emailing or speaking with careers staff,
•    applying for employment or volunteering opportunities.

Further information is created by University staff as part of your interactions with the service (e.g., adviser notes or action plans).

Target Connect is accessed using the University’s Single Sign-On (SSO) system. Where appointments are delivered online, Microsoft Teams may be used to facilitate meetings. In these cases, limited information such as your name, University email address and meeting time is shared solely to enable secure access to the meeting. Target Connect does not store user passwords.

Where information is shared with employers at your request, our lawful basis is Consent. You can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting dataprotection@wlv.ac.uk.

GTI (Target Connect) Privacy Notice

Target Connect is provided by GTI Futures, who act as a Data Processor on behalf of the University.

GTI’s own privacy notice, which explains how they handle personal data within the Target Connect platform, can be found here: https://www.groupgti.com/privacy/gti-futures 

Information collected:

• Information imported automatically from SITS includes:
• Your name, student number and University email address
• Contact details where held (address, telephone number)
• Demographic details (e.g., gender, nationality, domicile)
• Course and study information such as:
• course title and code
• faculty/school
• level and mode of study (e.g., undergraduate/postgraduate, full-time/part-time)
• year of study, start and expected completion dates
• enrolment and registration status
• fee status
• Widening participation indicators (e.g., disability, care-experienced, estranged status, POLAR/IMD data)
• Award information once your programme is completed
• Information you provide directly includes:
• CVs, cover letters and other documents uploaded to Target Connect
• Appointment bookings and any details submitted as part of the booking
• Event registrations, attendance and feedback
• Applications for jobs, placements, internships or volunteering roles
• Responses to surveys, employability tools or diagnostic assessments
• Communication and marketing preferences
• Information created through your interactions with the service includes:
• Notes recorded by careers staff following appointments
• Action plans, guidance recommendations and support records
• Records of your engagement with opportunities and resources
• System usage data such as log-ins or features accessed (non-intrusive analytics)

We may process special category information such as ethnicity and disability, imported from SITS, for statutory equality monitoring and to ensure inclusive access to careers support.

Health or criminal offence information is processed only if you voluntarily choose to disclose it and only where directly relevant to the support we provide (e.g., workplace adjustments or employer restrictions).

The lawful basis we rely on for processing most of this information is that the University is carrying out a Public Task, as providing employability and student success support forms part of our role as a Higher Education provider.

Where we process special category data, we do so under substantial public interest provisions in the Data Protection Act 2018, including promoting equality of opportunity for students.

Where information is shared with employers at your request (e.g., forwarding your CV or job application), our lawful basis is Consent. You can withdraw this consent at any time by contacting us.

Consent (where applicable)

Where we rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing, for example, when you ask us to share your CV, job application, or any information relating to your health, disability, or DBS status with an employer or opportunity provider, you will always be given a clear choice to opt in.

If you provide consent for us to share this information, you may withdraw that consent at any time by contacting dataprotection@wlv.ac.uk.

This includes withdrawing permission for us to share:

• your CV or application documents;
• any health-related information you have voluntarily disclosed;
• any DBS-related information provided for suitability or safeguarding purposes.

Once consent is withdrawn, we will stop sharing this information and, where appropriate, notify relevant employers that your consent has been withdrawn.

We will not process or share your personal data for any consent-based purpose unless you have opted in, and we will always inform you before using your data for any new purpose.

Who We Share Your Personal Data With

Information is shared with relevant University departments for the purposes outlined above. External recipients are listed below.

Where we use a third-party organisation to administer any services we will always ensure that they have robust data security measures that comply with current Data Protection law in place and will always inform you.

Other departments in the University may contact you regarding using your information for promotional purposes, marketing or surveys. This will typically be the Marketing Department, Aspire to HE or our Recruitment Department and the lawful basis they will rely on is that we have a legitimate interest to do so or for email marketing to our existing customers / students we may rely on the ‘soft opt-in’.  We will always abide by the law and seek your consent first where this is required.

We may also share personal details with organisations with enforcement powers such as HMRC or the Police. However, we will only do so if this is required to comply with our legal obligation to disclose information to these bodies.

We will only share the minimum amount of personal data with any of the above and will always do so in accordance with the law.

Retention

Your careers and employability data is retained for:

• Up to 3 years after graduation to provide continued employability support to recent graduates.
  Or
• Up to 6 years after the student relationship ends, where data forms part of the University’s wider student record retention schedule and where alumni may wish to continue accessing alumni support.

GTI Futures only retains data for the duration of the contract and a short period afterwards for secure deletion or return.

Your Rights

As an individual, you have several rights under data protection law. These include:

•    Right of access (requesting a copy of your data)
•    Right to rectification (correcting inaccuracies)
•    Right to erasure (where applicable)
•    Right to restrict processing
•    Right to object to certain types of processing
•    Right to withdraw consent (where consent is the lawful basis)

More information is available on our Data Protection web pages or the ICO website.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact: dataprotection@wlv.ac.uk

How to Complain

If you have any queries, concerns or believe that your Personal Data is being handled in a manner which is contrary to statutory requirements, you may wish to contact the University of Wolverhampton’s Data Protection Officer via dataprotection@wlv.ac.uk or complain to the ICO via www.ico.org.uk

Changes to Privacy Notice

We regularly review our privacy notice and will review it at least annually. This privacy notice was last updated on 12/10/2025