Privacy Policy

Overview

This privacy notice is designed to provide you with information as to how we, as data controller, process personal data.

Nature and Scope of this Notice

Data Protection Law includes the General Data Protection Regulation EU regulation 679/2016 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018), which transposed the GDPR into Irish Law, and the E-Privacy Directive (S.I. 336/2011) and they each apply to the processing of your personal data. The NTO is a data controller pursuant to these laws and as such we are required to provide you as a data subject with certain information to ensure you are aware that we are taking due care when processing your personal data, and are doing so in a compliant manner. This Notice covers data processed on this website, and by the NTO in carrying out its functions.

Data collection

The majority of data collected by the website concerns technical details in connection with visits to this website, these may be logged on the hea.ie server for analytical purposes (e.g. Computer IP number). The NTO will not disclose such technical information in respect of individual website visitors to any third party unless obliged to disclose such information by a rule of law. The technical information will be used only for statistical and other administrative purposes.

The technical details logged are confined to the following items:

• the IP address of the visitor’s web server (while this may be used to identify someone, it is not used for this purpose by the HEA)
• the type of web browser used by the website visitor.
• clickstream data which shows the traffic of visitors around this web site (for example pages accessed and documents downloaded)
• the previous website address from which the visitor reached us, including any search terms used

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small pieces of information that are placed on your device by a website that you visit. Cookies can store information about your preferences and other information that can be read by the website on any subsequent visit by you. The information stored in a cookie relates to how you browse the website and allows the website to remember you and your preferences when you return to it. More information on cookies, including how to disable cookies, can be found on aboutcookies.org.

Types of Cookies

Session cookies only last for the duration of your visit to the website, and are deleted when you close your browser.

Persistent cookies remain after you have closed your browser, and allow a website to remember your actions and preferences when you return. These cookies can only be used when you have given your consent for them.

How do we use cookies?

We use cookies for analytics, so we can track the number of visits to the website, the location of that visit, the type of browser you are using etc. This information is used on an aggregate, and not an individual, basis to help provide visitors with a better experience of our website. These cookies are set based on your consent.

There is also a cookie set when closing the cookie consent notification, so you do not need to close it every time you visit the website. This cookie is necessary and so is not based on consent.

The NTO will not personally identify visitors and will not use cookies to contact you. We are committed to respecting your privacy at all times.

Cookies do not in any way compromise the security of your computer.

How long do we Store your Data for?

We will not retain your data for longer than is necessary in order to meet the purpose for which we collect it, in accordance with our Records Retention Schedule. For example, for some processing activities in relation to our Student Records System, we may retain some personal data for a period of 40 years, in order to carry out longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of the higher education system in Ireland in accordance with our functions.