Last update 22nd January 2025
IDP Hotcourses understands the importance of your privacy. We are committed to meeting your expectations and complying with all applicable privacy and data protection legislation. Here's a summary of how we respect your privacy:
We only collect what we need to help you with your request or provide you with information that you ask for, personalising it to your interests.
We won't hang on to your information. If we don't need it, and you don't want us to keep it, we'll delete it.
We want you to understand everything we do with your information, so we'll try our best to explain with no nonsense.
No surprises — you decide what and how you hear from us.
That goes for everyone. We do not pass your personal data to third parties for marketing purposes without your knowledge.
The rest of this policy provides you with more detail of our privacy and personal data handling practices.
IDP Hotcourses is run by IDP Connect Limited t/a IDP Education UK, a member of IDP Group of companies.
IDP Connect Ltd t/a IDP Education UK
First Floor Bedford House, 69-79 Fulham High Street, London, SW6 3JW, UK
Company registration number: 02471319
Information Commissioner Office registration number: Z9247630
At the heart of our work is helping you and other users find suitable courses and learning providers. We process your personal data to help you make informative decisions when selecting courses and learning providers. We do that by:
Providing extensive educational information
Providing advertising and promotional opportunities for education providers
Recommending things which we think you'll like, such as courses and learning providers
Notifying you about things you've told us you like, such as a new course in your local area
Personalising sections of our websites to your preferences
Dealing with any requests you make or content you submit
Getting in touch if we need to tell you about something, like a change to our policies or issues with our service
Monitoring usage and performance to improve the services we offer
This privacy notice applies to all our website and app users regardless of location, whether registered or not, including people responding to surveys, competitions and writing reviews. We refer to all registered users as "members of our community".
Keeping your information safe and private is very important to us. All our services are designed with privacy and security in mind. We will never sell your personal data to any third party.
Our website uses services provided by The Ambassador Platform (TAP) to support community engagement and communication features. In these situations, TAP acts as a data sub-processor on behalf of IDP Connect and processes personal data only as necessary to enable the following functionalities:
Student Community Content – photos, videos and FAQ answers created by student ambassadors and published by IDP staff, which users can comment on and like;
Student Community Groups – chat-based forums where prospective students can interact with other prospective students and ambassadors;
Student Community Streams/Events – live or on-demand online events; and
Student Community Chat – one-to-one chat between a prospective student and a student ambassador.
TAP processes personal data in accordance with IDP Connect's instructions and applicable data protection laws.
You can browse our websites without providing any personal data. However, using some of our enhanced functionality will require additional information. Examples include:
Providing your name, email, and contact details to request a prospectus or make an enquiry to an education provider.
Providing your name, email address, and preferences to create an account to receive email newsletters and save your preferences.
Providing your name, contact details, and education history to engage with education counselling services offered by IDP Education Ltd.
You can access all personal data we have collected about you in your IDP Hotcourses Abroad profile page.
The following items of personal data are collected as part of the registration process:
First name
Last name
Country of residence
Nationality
Intake year and month
Preferred study destination
Subject
Study level
Date of birth
Phone number
Under your user profile, you can choose to add additional information:
Gender
Current qualification
Current qualification status
Grade type of current qualification
Score of current qualification
Date of completion of current qualification
Test completed
English proficiency test scores
Other tests
IDP owns and/or operates various User-generated Websites that permit users to submit, post, publish, tag or upload ("Submit") content, which may include, but is not limited to, text and user data and any other actions made to a User-generated Website (collectively, "Content").
User-generated content shall be processed by our service provider, The Ambassador Platform (TAP), which acts as a data sub-processor on our behalf.
We collect your search history and the articles you have read. We use this information to suggest courses you may be interested in or are eligible to apply to.
Each time you access our website we will receive your IP Address. We keep this information for 3 months only and use it for analytics purposes only.
While using the IDP Hotcourses Abroad website, you can carry out the following interactions where we process your personal data:
Creating a user account
Making an enquiry to a university
Requesting a prospectus from a university
Downloading e-books
Initiating counselling services with our parent company IDP Education
Booking a place at an open day
Adding an institution review
Search filtering
Contact us
We use your personal details to respond to your enquiry i.e. create an account for you; answer your question, contact you if you are one of a prize draw winner (when taking part in a competition) or send you newsletters if you have subscribed. We also use your personal data and search history to suggest tailored content such as posts, universities and courses.
We only process your personal data where we have an appropriate legal basis to do so, including:
to perform a contract or take steps to enter into a contract with you
legitimate interests as a commercial organisation, e.g. run international education market research
your consent to processing your personal data for a particular processing activity, e.g. invite you to be featured in multimedia content
As part of the registration process, you have the choice to receive the following:
Newsletters from IDP Hotcourses Abroad
University updates sent by us on behalf of third-party partners
Market research, surveys and competitions
Marketing communication from our partner institutions (external subscription where you can opt in to receive newsletters and marketing materials from your chosen Universities directly)
All opt-in except the marketing options from our partner institutions can be withdrawn at any point by updating your mailing preferences available within your profile online or clicking on the unsubscribe link available in every email you receive from us.
To opt out marketing from one of our partner institutions (when given on IDP Hotcourses Abroad) you will need to contact the institution directly. You can view which institutions you have opted in via your IDP Hotcourses Abroad profile page.
To be able to offer you beneficial services and products, or to advise our partners on your educational preferences, we invite you to contribute to our surveys and market research campaigns.
The data collection, use and storage vary depending on the focus of the research. Before supplying any personal data and for more details on the research we are conducting, please read the privacy note included on each survey or survey invitation you receive from us. We currently run surveys using a 3rd party platform called Qualtrics.
For international education market research, we may engage a specialist company to conduct the research on our behalf and they may have access to your personal data. We will take all steps necessary to protect your personal data throughout the research period and either obfuscate it or delete it when it is no longer required.
To reward respondents, we often run competitions. If you would like to take part in such a competition, we will ask you to enter an email address. We will only use this information to contact winners and arrange a prize delivery. We will delete all personal data collected as part of a competition 1 month following the competition closing date.
As part of multimedia production activities, IDP Hotcourses processes personal data on the basis of consent. There are number of instances when we may ask you to take part in a video or appear in a photograph:
Student Events (organised or attended by our team)
Video and photo materials recorded at the event are used to stream the event live and/or promote future events. Some of these events will be featured in an article published on our websites and use video and photographic material from the event.
Promotional Video Production Events (commissioned by our clients)
These videos and photographs are used to promote a specific university and highlight certain aspects of the facilities the university offers.
Review videos (recorded by our review collection team or supplied by you directly)
These videos are produced to give our users an independent view of your student experience. Each time we record a video, or take a photograph, we will ask for your consent and provide you with a form containing specific information about the filming/photoshoot event. Please read all the information before signing.
We use social media to make our products, content and services more accessible and to interact with you. You can engage with us by reading, sharing and commenting on our posts. You can also share any article that has that option on your social media page. When creating a post or leaving comments on a post, please do not leave any personal data as these posts are made public and anyone can see them. Instead, if you need to ask a more specific question, please send us a private message. When contacting us via social media platforms please familiarise yourself with the privacy notice of that platform. Private messages will be stored no longer than is necessary, usually one year before deletion. Messages are not shared with anyone outside our company. When contacting us via social media platforms please familiarise yourself with the privacy notice of that platform. We are active on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and LinkedIn.
We use cookies on our websites to provide login and preferences functions, and to collect anonymised data on user interactions. Personal data is never held on any of our first-party cookies. You can read more about how we use cookies on our Cookie Policy.
Occasionally, we will ask for additional information to help us monitor the reach and effectiveness of our services. For example, when creating an account, we may ask for your country of residence or postcode. This data will only ever be used in an aggregated format to help us demonstrate the effectiveness and improve the products and services we offer.
We use Google Analytics to log review aggregated use data across all of our websites. No personal data is shared with Google Analytics. You can learn about Google's practices by visiting https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
As with all websites, your IP address is sent to us each time a webpage is viewed. For some functionality we use this, along with geo-location information provided by your browser to provide location specific content within our websites and apps. When you browse our website or use our apps your IP address and location information is stored on our system anonymously unless you are a registered user in which case it will be possible to link it to your profile. This link will only exist temporarily and will be removed three months after your visit. We will not use this information to identify you personally. We use location data for analytics purposes, in order to understand the locations our products are successful in and to ultimately deliver a better service. You can stop sharing this information by changing your browser settings.
Because IDP Hotcourses operate as part of a global business, your data may be processed by IDP Group of companies based outside the UK, including Australia, Canada, US and India, to provide you with a service on our behalf. To ensure your data is secure and we comply with our privacy obligation, we have data sharing agreements and security operational and technical measures in place with these companies.
We will keep your data for as long as we are required to, either:
By law, for example, to meet financial regulations relating to payments
For as long as we require the data to provide a service to you
Personal data is deleted in accordance with our retention policy. All personal data is deleted three years following your last interaction with this website, for users registering from within the UK and after two years for international markets.
You can update the information we store on your behalf by logging into your website account and updating your profile. If you were not assigned a password when creating your account, you can request a new password online by selecting the 'forgotten password' option.
In line with the privacy regulations across the world, including GDPR (United Kingdom and European Economic Area) and CPRA (California, USA), you have the following rights:
You have the right to be informed why and how we collect your personal data, how we will use this information, who we share it with, what are the security measures we take to protect this information and what are your individual rights. We will publish this information in this Privacy Notice.
You have the right to access the information we hold for you by clicking here or logging into your online profile, if you require a permanent record you can download this information in PDF format from our website. Alternatively you can make an offline Subject Access Request by contacting the Privacy Manager.
You have the right for inaccurate or incomplete data we hold to be updated. You can make a request to have your data updated through the Privacy Manager.
You have the right to be forgotten at any point by sending an email to our Privacy Manager or to delete@hotcourseabroad.com. At your request, we will remove all the data we have for you which we are not required legally to retain.
You have the right to restrict processing when you have exercised one of the above rights and it may take some time to process that request. For example: when you contact us to update your details you have the right to request restriction until your details are updated.
For the processing activities where we have asked you for consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any point by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any email we send you, or by updating your profile in the application or by contacting the Privacy Manager.
You can object to the processing of your personal data at any point by contacting the Privacy Manager. There may be instances where we may not be able to fulfil those requests, but we will provide you with explanations.
You will not be subject to decisions which will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making, unless we have obtained your explicit consent.
If you have provided us with your personal data with consent or for the performance of a contract, you have the right to request the data you have provided to us in a machine-readable format should you decide to move to another data controller.
When you use our applications you may also be invited to subscribe to our partners' (Universities) marketing directly. When this option is available there will be a consent box on the relevant form with a link to the partner's Privacy Notice. Before subscribing please read the Privacy Notice of the partner as they are acting as a separate data controller and may have different processing activities and retention schedules to our own.
If you give consent to a university, you will need to contact the university directly to subsequently withdraw your consent or change your preferences. You can find out which universities you have subscribed to by accessing your profile page when you are logged in to your account.
For more details please contact us via the contact details provided in this Notice.
Your contact details are shared with the education institutions where you have made an enquiry with or request a prospectus from so that they can accommodate your request directly.
Any review you have supplied will be posted on IDP Hotcourses Abroad and associated social media channels (Facebook, X, Instagram).
If you engage with the counselling services on the IDP Hotcourses Abroad site, your data will be shared with our parent company, IDP Education, which operates our counselling services. Privacy Policy of IDP Education: https://www.idp.com/privacy-policy/.
We work with a range of learning providers that either advertise courses on our platforms or offer services relevant to your educational research journey.
Your personal data will only be shared with learning providers you have chosen to engage with via our websites. For example, when you make an enquiry or a prospectus request to an institution, your details relating to that enquiry will be provided to the institution so that they may answer your enquiry directly.
We also provide aggregated site usage data to providers to enable them to monitor enrolment from users who use our websites.
If you take part in one of our market research campaigns or surveys, we will never share your personal data with our partners, we only share aggregated data that cannot identify you individually. Our data handling procedures ensure your personal data is protected through the service you receive from us. Furthermore, we have data sharing agreements in place with our partners to make sure they apply security operational and technical measures when processing your personal data.
On our website there are lots of links to course provider websites. This privacy notice does not cover these links. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.
The date of the most recent version will appear on the top of this page. From time to time we may be updating this Privacy Notice, please review it each time you are to submit personal data. If we make any significant changes to this notice we will send you an email informing you of these amendments. If you do not agree with these changes please do not use our websites to provide personal data. You can also delete your account at any time – please see your rights section.
If you have any questions or complaints regarding your personal data, please contact the Privacy Manager at the address below:
Privacy Manager
IDP Connect Ltd
First Floor, Bedford House, Fulham Green
69-79 Fulham High Street
London
SW6 3JW
If you feel the Privacy Manager has not dealt with your enquiry promptly or correctly, you have the right to complain to the ICO https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.
We have appointed IT Governance Europe Limited to act as our EU Representative. If you reside in EU and prefer to raise your queries with our EU Representative, please email our Representative at eurep@itgovernance.eu or post your request or query to: EU Representative, IT Governance Europe, The Mill Enterprise Hub, Stagreenan, Drogheda, Co. Louth, A92 CD3D, Ireland.
When contacting our Representative please ensure you include our company name in any correspondence.
The following section provides information on the collection and processing of personal data specific to the Hotcourses Abroad website.
This site is available at https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/.
The site is intended for use by users aged 16 years and over. Users under this age are not allowed to create an account on the website.
You will need to register with Hotcourses Abroad to get a full range of services such as sending enquiries, ordering prospectuses, downloading e-books, adding favorites universities, saving search results or leaving reviews. To get the most appropriate search results, advice and guidance, we strongly recommend you register with us and provide the information requested within your profile.
You can access all personal data we have collected about you from your Hotcourses Abroad profile page.
The following items of personal data are collected as part of the registration process:
Under your user profile, you can choose to add additional information:
Hotcourses Abroad allows you to log in to the website using your Facebook account. The following items of personal data are collected if you use Facebook to register or login on Hotcourses Abroad website:
We collect your search history and the articles you have read. We use this information to suggest courses you may be interested in or are eligible to apply to.
Each time you access our website we will receive your IP Address. We keep this information for 3 months only and use it for analytics purposes only.
While using the Hotcourses Abroad website, you can carry out the following interactions where we process your personal data:
We use your personal details to respond to your enquiry i.e. create an account for you; answer your question, contact you if you are one of a prize draw winner (when taking part in a competition) or send you newsletters if you have subscribed.
We also use your personal data and search history to suggest tailored content such as posts, universities and courses.
As part of the registration process, you have the choice to opt-in to the following:
When the option is available you can also consent to be contacted further from Hotcourses Abroad for editorial purposes.
All consent except the marketing options from our partner institutions can be withdrawn at any point by contacting the Hotcourses Abroad Privacy Manager, by updating your mailing preferences available within your profile online or clicking on the unsubscribe link available in every email you receive from us.
To withdraw your consent for marketing from one of our partner institutions (when given on Hotcourses Abroad) you will need to contact the institution directly. You can view which institutions you have consented to via your Hotcourses Abroad profile page.
When using Facebook to login to Hotcourses Abroad, you have the option to share your activity on Hotcourses Abroad with your Facebook friends.
Your contact details are shared with the education institutions where you have made an enquiry with or request a prospectus from so that they can accommodate your request directly.
Any review you have supplied will be posted on Hotcourses Abroad and associated social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
If you engage with the counselling services on the Hotcourses Abroad site, your data will be shared with our parent company, IDP Education, which operates our counselling services.
