This page describes how you can access any personal information the OU may hold, and how we may use cookies to monitor usage patterns across the OU website. You may wish to print this page.
There are particular circumstances regarding the OpenLearn website (the OU's open content initiative) - see OpenLearn privacy statement.
When you contact us we create a record in your name. We add information that we then collect, including information that you may give us during registration, to that record. The data controller for your personal data is The Open University.
You have the right under the Data Protection Act to information about your personal data (the right of 'subject access'). You will need to pay a fee of £8. You should address your request to
The Data Protection Co-ordinator,
PO Box 497,
The Open University,
Milton Keynes,
MK7 6AT.
E-mail data-protection@open.ac.uk.
We may use the personal information that you provide when you enquire or register:
Use the link below to find a guide to the University's publication scheme which consists of nine groups of classes of information. Each class contains descriptions of the information available and the links to it. The site also contains information about the FoI Act and its implementation.
Freedom of Information website.
topA cookie is a small data file. Cookies cannot read your hard disk or make any information collected by use of a cookie available to any third party. A cookie can only be read by the organisation that installs it.
Some parts of The Open University website store a cookie on your computer to track user traffic patterns. We do this in order to determine the usefulness of our website and to see how effective our navigational structure is. We do not release this information to third parties.
If you prefer not to receive cookies while browsing our website, you can set your browser to refuse all cookies that are stored on your computer. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use or navigate through many parts of our website.
If you are a registered user of the University and wish to sign in to password protected websites you will need to allow "per-session" cookies. These are only stored on your computer for the duration of your visit and are deleted when you close your browser or sign out of The Open University website.
We take security very seriously. All staff are made aware of the security procedures they must follow when handling personal information. Data is protected from unauthorised access and we are confident no one will be able to access your personal information unlawfully. We also protect data which is being transferred. As long as your web browser supports the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), any personal data transmitted from your browser to our web service, or from the service to your browser, will be encrypted. Please note that Internet e-mail is never a 100% secure way of communicating. By using it, you agree that you will send any information by e-mail at your own risk.
topWhile we will take all reasonable precautions to make sure that other organizations who we deal with have good security practices, we are not responsible for the privacy practices of those organizations whose websites may be linked to our service.
