YOUR PRIVACY MATTERS

Overview

• Introduction
• Information we collect
• Why we process your data
• How we use your data
• How we share information
• Your choices and obligations
• Other important information

Introduction
The Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, is committed to protect the personal privacy of its stakeholders. It is the policy of the University that information collected from its stakeholders be stored, maintained, and used by the University only for appropriate, necessary, and clearly defined purposes, and that such information be controlled and safeguarded in order to ensure the protection of personal privacy to the extent permitted by law.

To be consistent with data protection laws, we ask you to take a moment to review the key points in this privacy policy. By availing of the University’s services, you consent to use of your data under this privacy policy.

Information we collect
We collect relevant personal information online through the Thomasian Alumni Information System (AIS) in addition to information already gathered from you when you applied for the UST Entrance Test (USTET) and when you were admitted as a student.

We collect information about your past and present employment, graduate degrees, recognitions, awards and other information which may allow us to determine attainment of graduate outcomes after completion of degrees in our institution.

Your personal information is connected to your academic performance within your years of study in the University. You may also be asked to provide feedback regarding your learning experience in the University and render suggestions for the improvement of our programs. For these feedback mechanisms, you will not be identified.

Why we process your data
We use your personal data, together with your academic performance, to determine successful attainment of graduate outcomes upon graduation from the University, as evidenced by employment, promotion, or recognition of our alumni. We also utilize your data for educational, research and institutional quality assurance purposes, such as but not limited to, monitoring graduate employability, determining factors for successful employment, patterns of employment, and identifying determinants of graduate employability. This will allow us to identify potential gaps in services which will need to be addressed in order to ensure that our programs remain relevant and responsive to needs of our students and alumni.

How we process your data
We may use your personal information to contact you on matters pertaining to your connection with us as an alumnus of the University.

We conduct data analytics of all alumni data for the purposes mentioned above and we compare aggregate data with those of previous terms or academic years to compare trends. We may conduct predictive and prescriptive analytics for future decision-making regarding our program offerings and teaching-learning strategies. These aggregate analyses do not identify you individually

As an educational institution, we retain alumni information in perpetuity, in order to allow us to update existing academic data. This allows us to make your academic records readily available when you request for it in the future. Information collected from you feeds models for 10-year predictive and prescriptive analyses for future decision-making regarding the University’s programs.

We may likewise utilize your personal information and contact details to provide you with information on continuing professional development (CPD) programs and graduate programs, which you may be of interest to you in the future. You may opt not to receive this information by unticking the choice below, and we will not use your data for these marketing purposes.

How we share information
The Office of Alumni Relations is the Personal Information Controller (PIC) of all alumni data. The respective academic unit that has jurisdiction over your program has access to your personal information as they directly monitor your graduate outcomes after graduation.

With the permission of the University’s Data Protection Officer (DPO), subject to compliance with research ethics and data privacy, PIC may share your depersonalized information to academic researchers who may request for such, instituting measures that will not allow you to be individually identified. You may opt not to grant these academic researchers with access to your personal information by unticking the choice below.

Upon your request, we may need to share your personal and academic data with external agencies that require these for evaluation of your credentials for purposes of employment or further studies.

We may need to share your data when we believe it is required by law or to protect your and our rights and security. We may likewise need to share your data if required by regulatory agencies such as the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Legal Education Board (LEB), Department of Education (DepEd), or by local and international accrediting agencies (e.g., PACUCOA, PAASCU), as part of the monitoring and/or evaluation process.

Your choices and obligations
You have the option not to grant use of your personal information for institutional marketing purposes or for research done by individuals or groups outside of institutional research purposes by unticking the options below.

You have the obligation to ensure the completeness and accuracy of all information provided to the University. Provision of fraudulent information, if proven to be deliberate, may prevent you from being admitted to the University.

Other important information
We implement security safeguards designed to protect your data. We regularly monitor our systems for possible vulnerabilities and attacks.

You may contact us through the Office of the University Data Protection Officer to communicate any concerns you may have regarding our privacy policy.