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Information for Students Y9-13

Higher education activities and the NCOP programme

Higher education outreach activities are aimed at showing students the higher education opportunities available at college and university, and how completing a higher education course can benefit their job prospects. The activities may also improve students’ attainment. The activities are being run by HeppSY, Hepp, Sheffield Hallam University, The University of Sheffield and other approved partners.

The National Collaborative Outreach Programme’s (NCOP) aim is to increase the number of young people progressing to university and higher education by 2020. The HeppSY team and their partners1 are being funded by the Office for Students (OfS) to undertake outreach activities with young people at your school or college to let you know about the benefits of going into higher education. You may have the opportunity to take part in activities such as university campus visits, summer schools, finance workshops and other higher education opportunities.

Why do we need to collect data and evaluate higher education activities?

To make sure the activities we provide are useful and effective for young people, we need to gather certain information which we use purely for research and evaluation purposes. Under data protection law we are able to process this data because the activities are a task carried out are in the public interest. It is also important to prove that what we do is working. We must:

  1. ensure that the activities we offer are appropriate
  2. identify the most effective activities and best practice
  3. measure the impact of our activities

Collecting individual information

We will ask your school/college to provide information about all of the young people in the school/college. We collect this information to identify participants for outreach activities, monitor and evaluate, and enable us to track individual young people over time to find out whether or not they eventually apply to any form of higher education. If you have not taken part in any activity from members of the partnership, your data will be securely deleted at the end of the next academic year. The types of data we collect are outlined below:

 

Full Name Ethnicity Young Carer status  
       
Date of Birth Disability Looked after child/ Care leaver status  
       
Postcode Free school meals status Estranged status (if available)  
       
Gender Pupil premium If first generation of Higher Education  
(if available)  
   

HEAT

Secure storage of the student data will be done using the Higher Education Access Tracker (HEAT). The HEAT service and database is a national database which is used to record the students attending outreach activities, with the aim of following their potential progression towards higher education. The data protection and storage processes set in place by HEAT ensure that the data is stored securely and not shared without your permission. For research

  • Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), the University of Sheffield (TUoS) and the Higher Education Progression Partnership (HEPP).

 purposes only, HEAT might share the student data with educational organisations such as government departments or agencies (e.g. UCAS or the Higher Education Statistics Agency).

Data protection

Data will be processed in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, 2018) and Data Protection Act 2018, as well as all legislation enacted in the UK in respect of the protection of personal data. As the NCOP is a collaborative programme, this information will be shared between HeppSY, Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), The University of Sheffield (TUoS) and the Higher Education Progression Partnership (Hepp). HeppSY and its partners will not release individual information to anyone who is unauthorised. More details about this can be found on Sheffield Hallam University and The University of Sheffield websites:

https://www.shu.ac.uk/outreach-data

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/outreach/data

All data will be stored securely and any reporting will be done so through collated data, meaning that individual students will not be identifiable.

Data retention

Students engaging in outreach activity whilst under the age of 21 will have their data retained by the Universities on the HEAT database for 15 years after their graduation, or until they reach 30 years of age (whichever period is greater). After this point, data will be anonymised in bulk at the beginning of the next academic year.

Questionnaires

As part of the NCOP evaluation, we will ask a selection of students in Years 9-13 to complete a short questionnaire in the autumn term. The questionnaire is designed to collect information about each student’s knowledge and attitudes towards university/higher education. The survey runs once a year so that we can capture any changes over time. Your participation is entirely voluntary.

Your rights

You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the ‘right to object’ or request for your data to be removed from our system. If you have a query, complaint or request about the use of your data please contact Lucy Clague (details below).

You are also entitled to request copies of all the personal data that the Partnership holds about you, this is called a Subject Access Request. If you would like to make a request for any information held about you please get in touch with the universities using the link above.

Contact HeppSY:

Lucy Clague

Evaluation and Data Manager

HeppSY

0114 225 3052

l.clague@shu.ac.uk

HeppSY – Privacy Notice

In a recent survey of 10,000 students, HeppSY found that 66% of young people said their family have the greatest influence on their decision about which direction to take after school. As a parent, carer or family member, the information you have can help a student make the right choice for them.

HeppSY work with students who are most at risk of missing out on higher education by providing them with impartial information and advice in order for them to make an informed choice. They are part of a national programme funded by the Office for Students (OfS) to support young people most at risk of missing out on higher education. It stands for Higher Education Progression Partnership South Yorkshire.

Their remit is to work with young people at Saint Pius X (and other schools) to support young people and help them progress into higher education. To make sure the activities HeppSY provide are useful and effective for young people they need to gather certain information which they use purely for research and evaluation purposes. In accordance with Data Protection Law two privacy notices are attached stating what data they gather and how they use the data.