This article is written in conjunction with the IE Law Society.By Lea Hocholdinger
In our growing digital world, universities such as IE are embracing new technologies to streamline learning experiences, enhance campus security, and improve the availability of student services. Whilst these advancements bring benefits, they heighten the importance of the questions regarding students’ privacy. As students, we often share personal information with our university, both with and without our knowledge. This comes through online platforms, campus IDs, academic portals, or everything we access on the university’s wifi. This raises the question of how much control and data we give to the university and what we keep private. How do we balance ensuring our safety with respecting our rights as students?
The Legal Landscape of Student Privacy
Multiple laws protect students’ privacy, but these laws vary across countries. In the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the cornerstone of data protection, ensuring that individuals, including students, have control over their data. However, each country within the EU can implement the GDPR with additional national laws. In Spain, the Ley Orgánica de Protección de Datos Personales y Garantía de los Derechos Digitales (LOPDGDD) complements the GDPR, offering more specific regulations.
The GDPR and LOPDGDD, which apply directly to horizontal relationships—such as those between students and universities like IE—ensure that personal data is collected and processed lawfully. It emphasizes transparency and the rights of individuals to access, rectify, and erase their data. Under this law, universities must be explicit about what data they collect and how it is used and ensure that students give informed consent. While these laws serve as safeguards, they also allow universities to collect and use personal data, provided they comply with transparency and informed consent rules. This means that as long as students have signed consent documents—often included in the terms and conditions—the university is legally allowed to collect and process data, including sensitive information.
Despite these protections, the question remains: are students fully aware of the extent to which their data is being collected and used?
The Role of Universities: Security vs. Privacy
How do universities balance the need for security on campus with the right to student privacy? Universities such as IE monitor attendance, enhance safety through CCTV cameras, track academic performances, collect data on tuition payments, and use facial scanners to open doors. These measures aim to create a safe learning environment while raising concerns about the extent to which students are monitored. Data collection begins as early as the application process, where personal information—including details about your parents’ income and occupation—is gathered. By graduation, the university may hold a comprehensive file containing much of your personal information.
For instance, universities like IE employ online proctoring programs to monitor students remotely during exams. While this ensures academic integrity, it distinguishes between necessary security measures and potential surveillance. Is this an infringement on our privacy rights? And what about when we use the school’s Wi-Fi? If our private messages and online activity are monitored and collected through campus networks, it raises even deeper concerns about the extent of surveillance over students. Is “Big Brother” watching us through every digital interaction on campus?
These questions highlight the tension between efforts toward security and academic integrity against preserving personal privacy in an increasingly monitored world.
Student Consent: Are We Fully Informed?
While universities, including IE, obtain consent from all students before collecting personal data, the informed consent process still needs to be improved. Students sign lengthy terms and conditions, including the IE privacy policies, which require them to read them fully to comprehend what they agree to. How many students read the fine print before agreeing to the terms and conditions of the school Wi-Fi? Nearly all simply accept them and log on.
This raises the issue of whether students are informed about the rights they are signing over when they make the split-second decision to use internet services on campus.
The Need for Greater Transparency and Student Rights
To address these challenges, universities must empower students to actively safeguard their privacy. This could be facilitated by creating easy-access platforms where students can manage their consent for various privacy settings. Additionally, students should be able to access the personal data the university has collected on them—a right guaranteed under regulations like the GDPR and Spain’s LOPDGDD. Students can regain some control over their personal information by reviewing, correcting, or even deleting their data. Greater transparency in how data is collected, stored, and used will enable students to make informed decisions and exercise their rights more effectively.
Shaping the Future of Student Privacy
Whilst universities such as IE continue to embrace digital transformation, the implications for students’ privacy become an ever-growing and pressing issue. By cultivating transparency and ensuring that all students are fully informed about how their data is being used, they can make more informed decisions and, thus, create a safer and more secure network and learning environment.
Ultimately, the future of student privacy lies in proactive legal measures, greater awareness, and open dialogue—ensuring that our digital age enhances, rather than undermines, our fundamental rights.
Featured image courtesy of Public Domain Pictures
