Last update 4th June 2019
This privacy notice has been compiled to help you understand why we ask you for your personal information when you use one of our websites and how we will store and use this information.
IDP Connect Limited, an IDP Education owned company, is the principle company and the Data Controller in the IDP Connect Group of companies (Hotcourses India PVT, Hotcourses Pty Ltd (Australia), Hotcourses Inc (North America) and Complete University Guide).
At the heart of our work is helping you and other users find suitable courses and learning providers. This is defined as our Legitimate Business Interest. We process your personal data to help you make informative decisions when selecting courses and learning providers. We do that by:
This privacy notice applies to all our website and app users whether registered or not, including people responding to surveys, competitions and writing reviews.
Keeping your information safe and private is very important to us. All our services are designed with privacy and security in mind.
You can browse our websites without providing any personal information. However, to use some of our enhanced functionality will sometimes ask for additional information in order to process your request. Examples include:
The details we request for each piece of enhanced functionality will depend on what is required to perform the action. For example:
Details of why we collect each piece of information is displayed clearly next to the field used to enter the data.
A full list of the data collected by each website is available on the site-specific data collection notice.
We also collect some technical information while you use our websites. For example, information on the type of browser you use and your IP address. This information is used to maintain and monitor the performance of our websites.
We use cookies on our websites to provide login and preferences functions, and to collect anonymised data on user interactions. For example, we use cookies to:
Personal information is never held on any of our first-party cookies.
You can choose to have your computer block some or all cookies for you. You do this through your browser settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser's Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you disable cookies, some advanced features will be disabled and some of our services may not function as intended.
You can read more about how we use cookies on our Cookie Policy.
Occasionally, we will ask for additional information to help us monitor the reach and effectiveness of our services. For example, when creating an account, we may ask for your country of residence or postcode. This data will only ever be used in an anonymised format to help us demonstrate the effectiveness and improve the products and services we offer.
We use Google Analytics to log review aggregated use data across all of our websites. No personal data is shared with Google Analytics.
As with all websites, your IP address is sent to us each time a webpage is viewed. For some functionality we use this, along with geo-location information provided by your browser to provide location-specific content within our websites and apps. Your IP address and location information is stored anonymously, and not associated with any other personal details. You can stop sharing this information by changing your browser settings.
We offer push notifications, location based services, and targeting advertising through our apps. When you first use one of our apps, you will be asked whether or not you want to turn-on these services. You can opt-out of these services at any time using the changing the permissions through your device settings.
The personal data you provide is stored in a secure hosting environment based in the UK. We employ a range of technology and procedures to ensure that this data is secure, including encryption, anti-virus and anti-malware software, intrusion detection, company-wide data usage policies, and mandatory security and privacy staff training.
Your data is not stored outside EU however it may be accessed by one of our principal companies based in USA, India or Australia if they need to provide you with a service on our behalf. To ensure your data is secure and we comply with our privacy obligation, we have data sharing agreements and security operational and technical measures in place with these companies.
We will keep your data for as long as we are required to, either:
Personal data is deleted in accordance with our internal retention policy. All identifiable personal data is deleted three years following your last interaction with this website, for users registering from within the UK, and after two years for international markets.
You can update the information we store on your behalf by logging into your website account and updating your profile. If you were not assigned a password when creating your account, you can request a new password online by selecting the ‘forgotten password’ option. If you do not have access to this account, you can request a data update by contacting the Privacy Manager.
In line with the GDPR regulations, you have the following rights:
You have the right to be informed why and how we collect your personal data, how we will use this information, who we share it with, what are the security measures we take to protect this information and what are your individual rights. We will publish this information in this Privacy Notice.
You have the right to access the information we hold for you by logging into your online profile, if you require a permanent record you can download this information in PDF format from our website. Alternatively you can make an offline Subject Access Request by contacting the Privacy Manager.
You have the right for inaccurate or incomplete data we hold to be updated. You can make a request to have your data updated through the Privacy Manager.
You have the right to be forgotten at any point by contacting the Privacy Manager or emailing
You have the right to restrict processing when you have exercised one of the above rights and it may take some time to process that request. For example: when you contact us to update your details you have the right to request restriction until your details are updated.
For the processing activities where we have asked you for consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any point by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any email we send you, or by updating your profile in the application or by contacting the Privacy Manager.
You can object to the processing of your personal data at any point by contacting the Privacy Manager. There may be instances where we may not be able to fulfil those requests, but we will provide you with explanation when replying back to you.
None of our processing activities are purely automated. There are instances where we process data to analyse or predict behaviour but we will ask you for explicit consent when this processing will involve your personal data.
If you have provided us with your personal data with consent or under the contact obligations, you have the right to request the data you have provided to us in a machine-readable format should you decide to move to another data controller.
To be in a position to offer you beneficial services and products, or to advise our partners on your educational preferences, we often run surveys and market research campaigns which you can choose to take part in.
The data collection, use and storage vary depending on the focus of the research. Before supplying any personal information and for more details on the research we are conducting, please read the privacy note included on each survey or survey invitation you receive from us. We currently run surveys using a 3rd party platform called Typeform.
For market research, we may engage a specialist company to conduct the research on our behalf and they may have access to your personal data. We will take all steps necessary to protect your personal data throughout the research period and either randomise it or delete it when it is no longer required.
We work with a range of learning providers that either advertise courses on our platforms or offer services relevant to your educational research journey.
Your personal data will only be shared with learning providers you have chosen to engage with via our websites. For example, when you make an enquiry or a prospectus request to an institution, your details relating to that enquiry will be provided to the institution so that they may answer your enquiry directly.
We also provide anonymised site usage data to providers to enable them to monitor enrolment from users who use our websites.
If you take part in one of our market research campaigns or surveys, we will never share your personal data with our partners, we only share aggregated data that cannot identify you individually. Our data handling procedures ensure your personal data is protected through the service you receive from us. Furthermore, we have data sharing agreements in place with our partners to make sure they apply security operational and technical measures when processing your personal information.
On our website there are lots of links to course provider websites. This privacy notice does not cover these links. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.
The date of the most recent version will appear on the top of this page. From time to time we may be updating this Privacy Notice, please review it each time you are to submit personal information. If we make any significant changes to this notice we will send you an email informing you of these amendments. If you do not agree with these changes please do not use our websites to provide personal information. You can also delete your account at any time – please see your rights section
If you have any questions or complaints regarding your personal data, please contact the Privacy Manager at the address below:
Privacy Manager
IDP Connect Ltd
First Floor, Bedford House, Fulham Green
69-79 Fulham High Street
London
SW6 3JW
If you feel the Privacy Manager has not dealt with your enquiry promptly or correctly, you have the right to complain to the ICO https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
The following section provides information on the collection and processing of personal data specific to the Hotcourses website.
This site is available at https://www.hotcourses.com/.
The site is intended for use by users aged 16 years and over. Users under this age are not allowed to create an account on the website.
The following items of personal data are collected as part of the registration process:
While using the Hotcourses website, you can carry out the following interactions where we process your personal data:
As part of the registration process, you have the choice to opt-in to the following:
Your contact details are shared with education institutions to which you have made an enquiry.