The Commonwealth Exchange Scholarship Council (“the Council,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy and personal data of all individuals who interact with our organisation. The Council collaborates with stakeholders across 56 member nations to curate exclusive scholarship and exchange opportunities for Commonwealth Scholars worldwide.
This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and safeguard your personal information when you access our online application portal or engage with our programmes. It also sets out your rights under applicable data protection law.
The Council is registered and headquartered in the United Kingdom and operates in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This Policy applies to all individuals whose personal data we process, including:
If you are under the age of 18, please ensure that a parent or legal guardian reviews this Policy with you before you submit any personal information.
The Commonwealth Exchange Scholarship Council is the data controller responsible for your personal data.
If you have any questions about this Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, you may contact us at:
Commonwealth Exchange Scholarship Council
Data Protection Officer,
118 Fenchurch St, London, EC3M 5BA, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
We collect only the personal data that is necessary for the purposes described in this Policy. The categories of personal data we collect include:
We collect personal data exclusively through our online application portal and website. This includes data you provide directly when you:
We do not collect personal data through social media platforms, paper forms, or other offline channels unless you are directed to do so as part of a specific programme requirement, in which case you will be separately notified.
We may also collect certain technical data automatically when you visit our website, including your IP address, browser type, and pages visited, through cookies and similar technologies. Please refer to our Cookie Policy for further details.
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so under UK GDPR. The purposes for which we use your data, and the corresponding legal bases, are set out below.
We process your identity, contact, and academic information to assess your eligibility, evaluate your application, and administer your scholarship or exchange placement. This is necessary to perform our obligations to you as an applicant or scholar.
We use your data to manage your participation in our programmes, communicate important updates, and maintain accurate records of current and past scholars. This is in our legitimate interest as an organisation delivering scholarship programmes across the Commonwealth.
We may process your data to comply with applicable laws, regulations, or lawful requests from public authorities in the United Kingdom or relevant member nations.
We use aggregated, anonymised data derived from application and programme information to analyse trends, improve our selection processes, and develop new opportunities for Commonwealth Scholars. This data cannot be used to identify you personally.
The Council does not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to any third parties.
We do not share your personal information with partner universities, government agencies, or any external organisations as part of our standard operations. Your data remains within the Council.
We may disclose your personal data only in the following limited and exceptional circumstances:
All such disclosures are made in accordance with UK GDPR and on a strict need-to-know basis.
The Council operates across 56 Commonwealth member nations. In limited circumstances, the processing of your data may involve transfers to countries outside the United Kingdom. Where such transfers occur, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including:
You may request details of the safeguards applicable to any specific transfer by contacting our Data Protection Officer.
We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes set out in this Policy.
In line with our data minimisation principles, we retain personal data for less than one year from the date of collection or from the conclusion of your application or programme engagement, whichever is the later.
At the end of the retention period, your personal data will be securely deleted or anonymised so that it can no longer be associated with you.
We may retain limited data for longer periods where we are required to do so by applicable law or where it is necessary to defend or pursue a legal claim. You will be informed if this applies to your data.
As a data subject, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
Right of Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you, along with information about how we use it.
Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold.
Right to Erasure: You may request that we delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example, where it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.
Right to Restriction of Processing: You may ask us to restrict the processing of your data in certain situations, for example, while we verify a request for rectification.
Right to Data Portability: Where processing is based on your consent or a contract, you have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
Right to Object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where that processing is based on our legitimate interests.
Rights Related to Automated Decision-Making: You have the right not to be subject to a decision made solely by automated means that produces a significant legal or similarly significant effect on you. The Council does not currently use automated decision-making for scholarship assessments.
Right to Withdraw Consent: Where our processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out prior to withdrawal.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer using the contact details in Section 3. We will respond to your request within one calendar month. We may need to verify your identity before processing your request.
We implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures include:
While we take all reasonable steps to protect your data, no method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely secure. We encourage you to take care when submitting personal information online.
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to ensure the site functions properly and to improve your browsing experience. Cookies may also be used to collect anonymised analytics data about how visitors interact with our portal.
You may adjust your cookie preferences at any time through your browser settings or via the cookie consent tool displayed on our website. Disabling certain cookies may affect the functionality of the application portal.
Full details of the cookies we use and their purposes are set out in our separate Cookie Policy, available on our website.
Our website may contain links to external websites operated by third parties, including partner institutions or Commonwealth government bodies. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit, as we have no control over their content or data practices.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, applicable law, or the services we provide. When we make material changes, we will notify you by posting the updated Policy on our website and, where appropriate, by sending a notification to the email address associated with your account.
The date at the top of this document indicates when the Policy was last revised. Continued use of our portal or services after any update constitutes your acceptance of the revised Policy.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, we ask that you contact us in the first instance so that we may address your concerns.
For any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact:
Data Protection Officer,
Commonwealth Exchange Scholarship Council
118 Fenchurch St, London, EC3M 5BA, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
We are committed to working with you to resolve any concerns fairly and transparently.
This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of England and Wales. Any disputes arising in connection with this Policy shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
