Privacy notice
We hold your first name, the email your bulletin arrives at, what you studied and when you left. We use it to send you the monthly bulletin, to show your story if you add one, and to see in aggregate what former students are looking for. Nothing goes to the college's marketing team unless you tick the box that says so. You can ask for anything to be changed or removed at any time.
Last updated 30 October 2026.
What this is
The Derby College Network is run for Derby College by Think Alumni (WCL Alumni Limited, ICO registration Z3277107). The college and Think Alumni decide together how your information is used for the network: in the law's words, we are joint controllers.
We have agreed who does what. The college looks after its own student records and the information it gave you when you enrolled. Think Alumni runs the network (the monthly email, this site, the stories and, where the site offers it, the Next-Step Check) and is your main contact for anything about it. That split is between us: you can use your rights with either of us, and each of us stays responsible under data protection law.
What we hold, and where it came from
Because you studied at Derby College, the college passed us a short record:
- your first name and email address, and a second email address if the college had one;
- your college learner reference and, where you have one, your Unique Learner Number;
- the year you were born;
- the course you took: its code, title, level and subject area, how it was funded, its apprenticeship standard where there was one, when you started and left, and whether you completed it;
- whether the college has asked us not to contact you.
Some of the records the college sent before 2025 also include your full date of birth and your gender, as the college supplied them then. We do not hold your address or postcode, a phone number, your grades, or anything about your health or support needs. The college does not send us records of anyone under 18.
To that we add what the network itself produces: a private reference number for your personal links; whether an email was opened or a link clicked, and from that whether you are active in the network; anything you send us through the forms on this site (a story, a message, a sign-up); and, where the site offers the Next-Step Check and you use it, your answers and the summary it builds.
What we use it for, and on what legal basis
| What we do | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Receiving your record from the college and keeping the network up to date (welcome email, reminders, removing bounced addresses) | Legitimate interests |
| Sending you the monthly email, including news of courses, and choosing what goes in it for people at your stage and in your subject | Legitimate interests |
| Measuring opens and clicks, and reporting to the college in aggregate what former students read and ask for | Legitimate interests |
| Counting, once a year, how many former students enrolled again | Legitimate interests |
| Replying to messages you send us | Legitimate interests |
| Where the site offers the Next-Step Check, storing your answers and summary so you can come back to them | Legitimate interests |
| Showing your story on this site and in the email | Consent |
| Letting the college use your story in its own marketing (a separate tick on the form; we never assume it) | Consent |
| Where the site offers the Next-Step Check, passing your answers to a named adviser at the college when you press "Send to the college" | Consent |
| Keeping a list of people who have unsubscribed or asked not to be contacted, so we never contact them again | Legal obligation |
The legitimate interests are the college's, in keeping in touch with its former students and helping them into further learning and work, and ours, in running the network for the college. We have weighed these against your interests: the emails are about the college you studied at, every one lets you stop them, and we keep only a short record.
Grouping people by course and time since leaving to choose content is a simple form of profiling. You can object to it, as to anything else here. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting what was done before. The college's own basis for sharing your record with us is in its policies and privacy notices.
Who sees it
We never sell your information. Apart from the college and the suppliers described below, we do not share it with anyone.
The college receives counts, not names, with three exceptions:
- where the site offers the Next-Step Check, your answers and brief, only if you press "Send to the college";
- your story, for its own marketing, only if you ticked the box that says it can;
- once a year, a list of learner references so that the college can count re-enrolments itself. No enrolment data comes back to us.
Our suppliers hold your information only to do a job for us, under a written contract, and may not use it for anything else. They are:
- our email platform and database (UK);
- our business email, where your replies and messages to us arrive (UK and EU);
- the host of this site, which also receives form submissions and stores Next-Step Check answers (US);
- the AI language-model service that reads your Check answers to suggest routes (US);
- an email-delivery service that sends you a copy of your Check brief if you ask for one (US);
- the secure file-transfer service the college uses to send us the leaver file (Switzerland).
We will tell you who they are if you ask.
The language-model service is sent your answers, never your name, email address or learner reference. It only sees what you type, so please don't put personal details such as your name or contact details into free-text answers.
Outside the UK. The UK has recognised Switzerland and the EU as giving adequate protection to personal information. For our US suppliers we rely either on UK adequacy regulations, where the supplier is certified under the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework, or on the ICO's International Data Transfer Addendum to the supplier's standard contractual clauses. Email us for details of the safeguard that applies to each supplier.
How long we keep it
- While you are active: for as long as you are part of the network and the college uses Think Alumni.
- If you go quiet: if you don't open or click anything we send for a year, you get up to two reminder emails, a year apart. If you respond to neither, your record is retired three years after you last opened or clicked. A retired record is taken off every mailing list. For two more years we keep only your learner reference, the college code and the dates the re-enrolment count needs, for that count alone; then those go too.
- Unsubscribes and no-contact requests: we keep the minimum needed (your email address and the college) for as long as it is needed to make sure you are not contacted again, and use it for nothing else.
- Stories stay on the site until you ask for them to come down.
- Next-Step Check, where the site offers it: if the Check is linked to your record, your answers and summary are kept with your record. If not, they are deleted two years after you last used the Check.
- Messages you send us through the site are deleted twelve months after we have dealt with them.
- If the college stops using Think Alumni, your record is returned to the college and deleted from our systems.
Your rights
- Stop the emails. Every one has an unsubscribe link, and it works first time. You have an absolute right to object to direct marketing: if you ask, we stop, and we stop using your information to decide what to send you.
- Object to any other use based on legitimate interests. We will stop unless we have a strong reason to continue, and we will tell you what it is.
- See what we hold about you, and have it corrected or deleted.
- Restrict our use of your information while a question about it is being settled.
- Take a copy of the information you gave us, in a common format, where the portability right applies.
- Withdraw consent for anything that relies on it, such as your story.
Some of these rights depend on the circumstances; we will explain if one doesn't apply. To use any of them, email admin@dbyalumni.co.uk. A person replies within a month, usually much sooner; story changes are made within five working days. You can also ask the college, which will pass your request to us.
Complaints. We would like the chance to put things right, but you don't have to come to us first. You can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at any time: ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or 0303 123 1113.
The Next-Step Check
This section applies where the site offers the Next-Step Check.
The Check stores your answers and the summary it builds, so you can come back to it at a private link. If you arrived from a link in your email, or you attach the summary to your record, we know which former student you are and the summary is kept with your record. Otherwise it is not linked to your mailing record. The notes you type are never copied into our mailing system.
The Check uses automated matching to suggest courses from what the college publishes, and says what still needs checking. It does not decide anything about you: admission, funding, eligibility and access to any college service are decided by people at the college. You can ask for your answers to be deleted at any time.
Cookies and email tracking
This site sets no advertising cookies and no analytics cookies. Where the site offers the Next-Step Check, it can set one cookie, and only if you arrive from a link in one of our emails: an identity cookie, so that later visits still recognise you and your Check is kept with your record. It holds a signed reference number, not your name or email address, and lasts 90 days. You can remove it at any time by clearing this site's cookies in your browser; the Check still works, but won't recognise you.
Our emails contain a small image and tracked links that tell us whether each email was opened and which links were clicked. We use this to judge whether you are still active in the network and what former students find useful. You can stop it by turning off images in your email app, or by unsubscribing.
Using this site
The articles and pages here belong to the college and Think Alumni; the stories belong to the people who told them. You are welcome to read, share and quote with a link back. Links to other sites are provided for your use, and we cannot vouch for what is on the far end of them.
Contact
For anything in this notice: Think Alumni, admin@dbyalumni.co.uk.
For the college's handling of your student record, please contact the college's Data Protection Officer directly.