Our privacy policy tells you about the personal information we collect from you, how we use it, and what your rights are. If we make any major changes to this policy, we’ll add an alert on this website, our social media channels, or contact you. If you've got any questions about our privacy policy, or how we use personal information, email contact@brighterfuturesafrica.com or write to brighterfuturesafrica@gmail.com
BFA stands for ‘Brighter Futures Africa’ – we provide equal access to higher and further education by providing a platform that offers African students learning opportunities both locally and internationally. All personal information provided by you through this website is under the control of BFA and BFA Media, and we’re responsible for taking care of your personal information. This policy may refer to either organisation as ‘BFA’, ‘our’, ‘us’, or ‘we’, and our registered office is Plot 34271, Off-Shantumbu Road, Lusaka, Zambia.
When you visit our website, we may collect your personal information, so we can contact you about your request or enquiry. This could include:
You also have the right to access the personal information we hold about you. Contact us to
request a copy.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains a variety of purposes for which
personal information can be used, and our uses of personal information must meet one of
these. They are listed at Article 6 of the GDPR.
There are also additional requirements in respect of ‘special category’ personal information
listed at Article 9 (2) of the GDPR. The Data Protection Act 2018 contains provisions that
allow personal information about criminal convictions to be used where certain
circumstances apply.
This is known as the ‘lawful basis for processing’. BFA’s lawful basis for using personal
information varies, depending on the purpose for which we are using it. Our basis for
processing is explained in more detail below.
Managing your application to higher or further education, or attendance at a BFA event If you apply through BFA, or register to attend a BFA event, you’re accepting our terms and conditions, and entering into a contract with us. We’ll collect the personal information necessary to satisfy the purpose of this contract, such as personal information to allow course providers to make informed decisions on whether to offer a place on a course. This also covers personal information collected from other sources, such as referees, or examination and awarding bodies. GDPR lawful basis for processing – Article 6 1 (b) ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract’.
Sharing personal information with statutory bodies with responsibilities for the higher education sector, and to enable academic research into higher education We share personal information with providers and other public authorities (e.g. government bodies such as the Department for Education) to help them with their statutory functions, including funding, regulation, and policy making. We share personal information with universities to help them meet, or demonstrate they are meeting, government aims or policies such as ‘widening participation’ initiatives, which require them to address discrepancies in the take up of higher education opportunities between different social groups. We also share personal information to enable academic research. We also publish a wide range of reports about our higher education admissions schemes. We always try to share information in a way that does not identify individuals, such as by providing statistical information. Where personal information is provided in a way that allows individuals to be identified, it is done so under contractual terms, and not used to support decisions being made about individuals. GDPR lawful basis for processing – Article 6 1 (e) where ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest’.
Sending information to unplaced applicants about available courses, display advertising, providing services to universities to help their admissions strategies, and producing commercial research If you apply through BFA Undergraduate and do not get a place, we may send you course and opportunity information on behalf of providers, unless you opt out of receiving this. If you have subscribed to Google, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Snapchat, we may also use their remarketing features to support promotion of our services that you have shown an interest in. You can stop receiving these adverts by following the advice in ‘Direct marketing, accessing student We give analysis to providers, to help them understand and measure the success of their admissions procedures and improve them. We do not provide personal information that identifies individuals for this purpose. We also may provide statistical analysis to people or organisations undertaking research into the higher education sector. GDPR lawful basis for processing – Article 6 1 (f) where ‘processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child’. BFA does not receive public funding. These services help fund our charitable purposes for public benefit and keep application fees free. These activities do not involve sharing personal information in a manner that identifies you with third parties. We issue information about relevant course opportunities on behalf of universities. Applicants can opt out of receiving such information when they apply, and at any point during the admissions cycle. We have controls built into the technology systems that produce our research, to prevent it being shared in a way that can identify individuals.
We offer services that enhance customer experience, which people can opt in to. These include: