Privacy Policy | GDPR Compliance & Data Protection

1. Introduction

Welcome to uni-uk.ai. We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring transparency about how we handle data. This privacy policy explains our practices regarding data collection, use, and protection in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and UK data protection laws.

2. Data Controller

uni-uk.ai operates as the data controller for any personal data processed through this website. If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our data practices, please contact us through the website.

3. Personal Data We Collect

We are committed to minimizing data collection. The personal data we may process includes:

Clearing Adviser Conversations

Our Clearing adviser is an AI chat feature. When you send it a message, we process and store the following:

The full text of the messages you send
The full text of the adviser's replies
Details the adviser infers from your messages in order to give better advice — the subject you want to study, the grades you mention, whether you are a UK or international applicant, your home country, and your preferred location
A timestamp and a message number

These transcripts are sent to OpenAI to generate a reply, and are recorded in a private Google Sheet that we use to understand what students are asking and improve the adviser. They are not linked to your name, email address or account, because we do not ask for any of those.

Please do not type personal details into the adviser. It does not need your full name, address, date of birth, UCAS Personal ID, Clearing number or contact details to help you, and you should not share them. If you do include such details, they will be stored in the transcript — contact us and we will delete it.

Analytics Data

We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site. This includes anonymized data such as:

Pages visited and time spent on pages
Browser type and device information
General geographic location (country/city level)
Referral sources

We have configured Google Analytics to anonymize IP addresses and do not collect personally identifiable information through analytics.

Technical Data

Our hosting provider (Vercel) may collect technical data such as IP addresses in server logs for security and performance purposes. This data is automatically deleted after a short retention period.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

Under GDPR, we process data based on the following legal grounds:

Consent: By choosing to send a message to the Clearing adviser, you consent to your messages being processed and stored as described in section 3. You do not have to use the adviser — every university page, ranking and Clearing guide on this site works without it
Legitimate Interests: We process analytics data to improve our service and understand user needs
Legal Obligation: We may process data to comply with legal requirements

5. How We Use Your Data

We use collected data solely for:

Generating replies from the Clearing adviser and matching your grades and subject against our university database
Reviewing adviser transcripts to find where its answers were wrong, unhelpful or incomplete, and improving them
Improving website functionality and user experience
Understanding usage patterns through anonymized analytics
Ensuring website security and preventing abuse

We do not: Sell your data, share it with third parties for marketing purposes, pass your details to universities or agents, or use it for any purpose other than those listed above. We do not use your conversations to train our own AI models, and OpenAI does not use API data to train theirs.

6. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services that may process data:

Google Analytics

For anonymized usage analytics. View their privacy policy.

Google AdSense

For displaying relevant advertisements. Ads are contextual and based on page content, not personal data. View their privacy policy.

OpenAI

Powers our Clearing adviser and generates our articles. The messages you send to the adviser are transmitted to OpenAI's API in order to produce a reply. OpenAI does not use data submitted through its API to train its models, and states that API data is retained for up to 30 days for abuse monitoring before deletion. View their privacy policy.

Google Sheets

We store Clearing adviser transcripts and our article content in a private Google Sheet, accessible only to us via a service account. View Google's privacy policy.

Vercel

Our hosting provider. May collect technical logs for security purposes. View their privacy policy.

7. Cookies and Tracking

We use minimal cookies and tracking technologies:

Essential Cookies: Required for website functionality
Analytics Cookies: Google Analytics cookies for understanding site usage (anonymized)
Advertising Cookies: Google AdSense cookies for serving relevant ads

You can control cookie preferences through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect website functionality.

8. Data Retention

Clearing Adviser Transcripts: Retained for 12 months from the date of the conversation, then deleted. You can ask us to delete yours sooner — see section 9
Analytics Data: Retained for 26 months (Google Analytics default)
Server Logs: Automatically deleted after 30 days

9. Your Rights Under GDPR

As a user in the UK or EU, you have the following rights:

Right to Access

Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you

Right to Rectification

Request correction of inaccurate personal data

Right to Erasure

Request deletion of your personal data

Right to Restrict Processing

Request limitation of how we process your data

Right to Data Portability

Request your data in a portable format

Right to Object

Object to processing of your personal data

Right to Withdraw Consent

Withdraw consent for data processing at any time

Deleting your Clearing adviser conversation

Because we do not ask for your name or email, we cannot look up your conversation from your identity alone. To have a transcript deleted, contact us via our contact page with the approximate date and time you used the adviser and roughly what you asked about. That is normally enough for us to find and delete it. We will confirm once it is done.

Outside of adviser transcripts we hold very little that identifies you — our analytics are anonymized and we operate no user accounts. To exercise any of these rights, please contact us.

10. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your data:

HTTPS encryption for all data transmission
Secure hosting infrastructure with Vercel
API keys and sensitive data stored securely with environment variables
Regular security updates and monitoring
Minimal data collection principle - we only collect what's necessary

11. International Data Transfers

Some of our service providers (Google, OpenAI) may process data outside the UK/EU. These transfers are protected by:

Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs)
Adequacy decisions where applicable
Appropriate safeguards as required by GDPR

12. Under-18s

Most people using this site are 16 to 18 years old, and we design it on that basis. We do not operate accounts, we never ask for a name, email address, phone number or date of birth, and we do not build profiles of individual users or use their data for targeted advertising.

The Clearing adviser is the one place where a young person could type something identifying, which is why we ask them not to, and why we store transcripts without any identity attached and delete them after 12 months.

Parents and guardians: if you believe your child has shared personal details with the adviser and you want the conversation deleted, contact us with the approximate date and topic and we will remove it. You do not need to prove anything to us to have a transcript deleted.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Continued use of the website after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us & Complaints

If you have questions about this privacy policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us through the website.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's supervisory authority for data protection issues:

Information Commissioner's Office
Website: ico.org.uk
Phone: 0303 123 1113

15. Advertising & Third-Party Services

We use Google AdSense and other third-party advertising services to display ads on our website. These services may use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your browsing activity.

Summary

In simple terms: Browsing this site is anonymous — no account, no name, no email. If you use the Clearing adviser, we do keep what you typed and what it replied, for 12 months, so we can make it better; it is sent to OpenAI to generate the answer, it is not linked to your identity, and you can ask us to delete it at any time. We never sell your data or pass your details to universities or agents. Please do not type personal details into the adviser — it does not need them.