1. Who we are
EDUCERE ACADEMY LTD, trading as Educere Academy, is the data controller for the personal information described here.
- Company number: 16456732
- Registered office: 168 City Road, Cardiff, Wales, CF24 3JE
- Teaching centre: Swan House, 146 to 147 St Helens Road, Swansea, SA1 4DE
- Registered with the Information Commissioner's Office
Data protection enquiries: info@educere.uk.com, with "Data protection request" in the subject line.
We are not required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. Responsibility for data protection sits with the Director.
2. Who this covers
Website visitors, enquirers, applicants, current and former learners, sponsors and funders, education agents and their staff, referees, visitors to our teaching centre, people named on certificates issued by Educere Academy, and people or organisations that use our certificate-verification service.
3. What we collect
Enquiry and application information. Name, email, telephone or WhatsApp number, country of residence, nationality, date of birth, programme interest, preferred start date, education history, qualifications, English level, any university offer you hold, your current immigration status where relevant, the content of your messages, and supporting evidence you choose to upload through the secure application portal. Supporting evidence may include a passport or other identity document, visa or immigration evidence, qualification certificates and transcripts, university offer evidence, and other documents relevant to your application.
Enrolment and study information. Identity documents, proof of address, emergency contact, fee payment records, attendance and engagement records, assessment and progress records, tutorial and support notes, and correspondence.
Support and adjustment information. Where you tell us, information about a disability, health condition, learning difference, dietary requirement, religion or belief, or other need affecting your study. This is often special category data and is handled with additional care. See section 6.
Welfare and conduct information. Records relating to welfare concerns, incidents, complaints, appeals and academic misconduct.
Technical information. IP address, browser and device details, request timestamps and pages viewed. See our cookie information.
Certificate information. For certificates issued by Educere Academy, we keep the certificate code, learner name, completion year, qualification, provider, issue date, any expiry date and the certificate's current status.
Certificate-verification information. To check a certificate, the service asks for its code, the learner's family name and completion year. These details are used to find the relevant certificate record. A successful public result shows only the certificate status, qualification, provider, issue date and any expiry date; it does not display the learner's name.
We do not retain a copy of the submitted certificate code, family name, IP address, browser details or anti-bot token in the certificate-verification audit. The audit contains the result, a request identifier, the time of the check, a keyed lookup fingerprint and, where a record matched, an internal reference to that certificate. Separate website-security systems may process technical information as described elsewhere in this notice.
CCTV. Cameras operate at the entrances and rear of Swan House for security and safety. There are no cameras in teaching rooms, study areas or any other part of the building.
We do not record consultations or classes. Our public enquiry and initial-application forms do not accept documents. If Admissions invites you to continue an application, you may choose to upload supporting evidence through the secure application portal; each upload is optional unless Admissions later explains that particular evidence is needed to assess or complete your application.
4. Where we get it
Directly from you, and also from education agents acting on your behalf, referees and previous schools or colleges, sponsors or family members funding your study, universities and partner institutions where relevant, and our own IT and security systems. Certificate information comes from the learner information and completion records maintained by Educere Academy. Verification lookup information comes from the person or organisation carrying out the check.
5. Why we use it, and our lawful basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Responding to enquiries and arranging consultations | Legitimate interests |
| Assessing an application, including checking that your immigration status permits study with us | Steps at your request before entering a contract |
| Delivering your programme, teaching, assessment and support | Performance of a contract |
| Collecting fees and managing debt | Performance of a contract, legitimate interests |
| Welfare, safeguarding of adults at risk, and health and safety | Legal obligation, vital interests, substantial public interest |
| Complaints, appeals and conduct matters | Legitimate interests, legal obligation |
| Quality assurance, accreditation and inspection | Legitimate interests |
| Building security via CCTV | Legitimate interests |
| Website security and abuse prevention | Legitimate interests |
| Issuing, maintaining and verifying Educere Academy certificates, confirming their current status and preventing fraudulent or misleading use | Legitimate interests |
| Aggregate website analytics | Legitimate interests |
| Marketing you have asked to receive | Consent |
| Establishing, exercising or defending legal claims | Legitimate interests, legal obligation |
Where we rely on consent you may withdraw it at any time, without affecting anything done beforehand. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you may ask for our assessment of the balance between our interests and your rights.
For certificate verification, our legitimate interests are maintaining reliable evidence of the certificates we issue, enabling learners and third parties to confirm whether a certificate is genuine and current, and protecting learners, Educere Academy and receiving organisations from certificate fraud. The public result is limited to the minimum certificate information needed for that purpose.
6. Special category data
Information about health, disability, religion or ethnicity needs extra protection. We rely on your explicit consent, or on a substantial public interest condition in the Data Protection Act 2018 relating to equality of opportunity, safeguarding, or the provision of support, as appropriate. We collect criminal offence information only where there is a lawful basis and a genuine need.
7. Who we share it with
- Authorised Educere staff and contracted tutors, on a need to know basis
- IT and service providers acting on our written instructions, covering hosting, database, transactional email, consultation booking, form security and analytics
- Education agents, where the agent is acting for you and you have asked them to
- Universities and partner institutions, where relevant to your progression and you have asked us to
- Sponsors or family members funding your study, limited to what the funding arrangement requires and where you have been told
- Government or regulatory bodies where we are legally required to respond
- Professional advisers, insurers, auditors and, where necessary, debt recovery agents
- The police or other authorities where there is a legal obligation or a serious risk to someone's safety
Education agents act for you, not for Educere. Where an agent submits an application on your behalf, we will correspond with them about it unless you tell us otherwise.
We do not sell personal information and we do not share it for third party advertising.
A person who submits matching certificate details receives the certificate's status, qualification, provider, issue date and any expiry date. We do not disclose the learner's name through the public result. Authorised Certificate Managers can access the underlying certificate record and the minimised verification audit where required for their role.
8. International transfers
Some providers process information outside the United Kingdom. Where that happens we rely on UK adequacy regulations, the International Data Transfer Agreement, or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, together with a transfer risk assessment. You may ask us for details of the safeguards that apply.
9. Security
We use access controls, encryption in transit, private object storage, malware scanning, restricted database access, supplier due diligence, staff awareness and a documented breach response procedure. Supporting documents uploaded through the application portal are kept private and are available only to authorised staff with a work-related need. No system is completely secure, so please do not send identity documents, financial details or medical information by ordinary email, WhatsApp or a public website form unless we have confirmed a secure route.
10. How long we keep it
| Record type | Retention |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that do not become applications | 12 months from last contact |
| Unsuccessful or withdrawn applications, including supporting documents | 12 months from decision |
| Enrolled learner application and core record, including supporting documents needed to evidence admission or enrolment | 6 years from end of study |
| Fee and financial records | 6 years from the end of the relevant financial year |
| Complaints and appeals | 6 years from closure |
| CCTV footage | 30 days, unless retained for a specific incident |
| Website security logs | 90 days |
| Certificate-verification audit events | Reviewed 12 months after the verification. We retain an event beyond that review only where there is a documented security, fraud, complaint, legal or audit need; otherwise it is securely deleted or anonymised. |
| Educere Academy certificate records | 6 years from the end of study, then reviewed. We retain a record longer only while necessary to authenticate a certificate that remains capable of being presented, or for a specific legal, regulatory, audit or claims requirement. |
We may keep information longer where there is an active dispute, claim or legal requirement. At the end of a period we securely delete or anonymise the record.
Raw verification lookup values are processed only to complete the check and are not retained in the certificate-verification audit. Separate website-security logs follow the website-security-log period stated above.
11. Your rights
Subject to conditions in UK data protection law, you may ask us to give you access to your information, correct it, erase it, restrict how we use it, provide it in a portable format, or stop using it where we rely on legitimate interests or direct marketing. You may also withdraw consent where consent is our basis.
Email info@educere.uk.com with "Data protection request" in the subject line. We respond within one month and will tell you if we need longer because a request is complex.
12. Automated decisions
We do not make decisions about your application or your study by solely automated means, and we do not carry out profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects. The certificate-verification service performs an automated match and returns the status held in Educere's certificate register. It does not make a decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on the learner.
13. Marketing
We only send marketing where you have asked for it, or where you are an existing enquirer or learner and we are contacting you about closely related programmes. Every message contains an unsubscribe option.
14. Age
Our programmes are for adults. Learners must be 18 or over on the programme start date, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18.
15. Complaints
Please contact us first so we can put things right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone 0303 123 1113. Website ico.org.uk.
16. Changes
We review this notice at least annually and whenever our processing changes. The version and date above show the current position, and previous versions are available on request.