Applicant privacy policy

This privacy notice is intended to provide specific information to candidates applying to a masters degree programme (“you”, “your”) at London Business School (“School”, “we”, “our”, “us”), covering how we collect, use, and share your data.

This privacy notice relates to the School using any personal information we collect from you during the application process. This notice should be read in conjunction with the School’s Website Privacy Policy, which sets out certain information about how the School uses personal data more generally.

The School is a graduate business school established in the UK by Royal Charter (RC000721). Founded in 1964, we are a member institution of the University of London. Our registered office is at Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, London, NW1 4SA, United Kingdom.

All aspects of the student experience are overseen by Degree Education, which is the directorate of the School responsible for recruitment and admissions, programme management, timetabling, assessment, and global experiences.

The School is the Data Controller and our registration number with the UK Information Commissioner is Z8182937.

We may collect your personal data in a number of ways, for example:

• from the information you provide to us when you interact with us before making an application to one of our programmes;

• when you submit a formal application to one of our masters degree programmes, and provide your personal data in the application form and covering letters, etc;

• from third parties, for example referees and previous education institutions in order to verify details about you and/or your application to one of our masters degree programmes;

• in various other ways as you interact with us during the application process (including during interviews) and afterwards, where relevant, for the purposes set out below.

We may collect the following types of personal data about you in connection with your application to study with us:

• the information you have provided to us in the online application form, including: your name, title, gender, contact details, nationality, photograph, date of birth, visa status and passport details;

• details of your education and qualifications, including examination results, GMAT, GRE and Executive Assessment scores, and references from your institutions of study;

• work related information, including details of your work history, any management experience and other information about your experience in the workplace provided as part of your application; and

• any other information relevant to your application to study at the School, for example languages spoken and information about your academic and extracurricular interests.

We may also collect and process sensitive personal data including:

• information concerning your health and medical conditions (for example, to make reasonable adjustments to the application process and/or for equality monitoring);

• information about relevant criminal convictions or offences (for example, where you let us know about an unspent conviction as part of the self disclosure process).

This will only be undertaken where and to the extent it is necessary for a lawful purpose in connection with your application to study with us.

Please note that if you fail to provide information when requested, which is necessary for us to consider your application (such as evidence of your qualifications or work history), we will not be able to process your application.

The purposes for which we may use personal data (including sensitive personal data, where applicable) in connection with your application include:

• administering your application, assessing your skills, qualifications and suitability for the programme you have applied for and, where relevant, offering you a position on one of our masters degree programmes;

• sending you communications relevant to your application (including deadline reminders, application tips, funding advice, faculty and participant profiles and other relevant information);

• providing you with information about events (including reminders and joining details) to which you have registered;

• checking you are legally entitled to study in the UK, in compliance with UK immigration laws, regulations and requirements;

• carrying out due diligence checks on you during the application process, including by checking references in relation to your education and your employment history, and your source of funds for paying fees;

• conducting research and statistical analysis (including, where this is legally required for example, by way of HESA returns, and for service quality and business improvement);

• considering whether we need to provide reasonable adjustments to the application process and/or to the teaching and learning experience if your application is successful;

• monitoring equality of opportunity or treatment between different groups of people; and

• monitoring the effectiveness of our promotional activities, for example by asking how you came to hear about the School and the course that you have applied for.

We may process your personal data for the above purposes because:

• it is necessary to enable us to decide whether to enter into or perform a contract for the provision of education services with you;

• it is necessary in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract (i.e. a contract for the provision of education services);

• it is necessary for our or a third party's legitimate interests. Our "legitimate interests" include our charitable objectives and operating the School in a professional, sustainable manner, in accordance with our Charter, Statutes and Ordinances (including, for example, marketing the School and its services, events and resources and analysing our recruitment and marketing activities in order to determine their effectiveness);

• it is necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, we have a legal requirement to provide personal data to HESA); and

• we have your specific, or where necessary, explicit consent to do so.

For the purposes referred to in this privacy notice and relying on the bases for processing as set out above, we may share your personal data with certain third parties including:

• our educational partners if you apply to join one of our partnership masters degree programmes (e.g. Masters in Financial Analysis or Global Masters in Management) (see further below), or our EMBA-Global programme which is jointly administered by Columbia Business School. Our masters degree programme partners are:

  • EMBA-Global Columbia Business School, Columbia University in the City of New York, 3022 Broadway, New York, NY10027, USA

  • Global Masters in Management programme School of Management, Fudan University. 670 Guoshun Rd, WuJiaoChang, Yangpu Qu, Shanghai Shi, China, 200433

  • Masters in Financial Analysis Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, 30 Shuangqing Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China, 100084; School of Management, Fudan University. 670 Guoshun Rd, WuJiaoChang, Yangpu Qu, Shanghai Shi, China, 200433

• members of staff, agents and contractors where there is a legitimate reason for their receiving the information, including third parties where we have engaged them to process data on our behalf as part of administering recruitment services etc;

• alumni where we have engaged them to conduct interviews and/or provide feedback;

• donors where you have applied for a scholarship award;

• internal and external auditors and legal advisers; and

• relevant authorities when the School is legally required to do so (by a court, government body, law enforcement agency or other authority of competent jurisdiction), for example the Home Office and by HESA as set out above.

Please refer to our Website Privacy Policy for more information.

We may change and update this notice from time to time.