Privacy Policy

This privacy notice for UniApplyForMe (‘we‘, ‘us‘, or ‘our‘), describes how and why we might collect, store, use, and/or share (‘process‘) your information when you use our services (‘Services‘), such as when you:

• Visit our website at https://apply.org.za, or any website of ours that links to this privacy notice
• Download and use our mobile application (UniApplyForMe), our Facebook application (UniApplyForMe), or any other application of ours that links to this privacy notice
• Engage with us in other related ways, including any sales, marketing, or events

 Questions or concerns? Reading this privacy notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at security@apply.org.za.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS

This summary provides key points from our privacy notice, but you can find out more details about any of these topics by clicking the link following each key point or by using our table of contents below to find the section you are looking for. What personal information do we process? When you visit, use, or navigate our Services, we may process personal information depending on how you interact with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. Learn more about personal information you disclose to us. Do we process any sensitive personal information? We may process sensitive personal information when necessary with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law. Learn more about sensitive information we process. Do we receive any information from third parties? We may receive information from public databases, marketing partners, social media platforms, and other outside sources. Learn more about information collected from other sources. How do we process your information? We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your information only when we have a valid legal reason to do so. Learn more about how we process your information. In what situations and with which types of parties do we share personal information? We may share information in specific situations and with specific categories of third parties. Learn more about when and with whom we share your personal information. How do we keep your information safe? We have organisational and technical processes and procedures in place to protect your personal information. However, no electronic transmission over the internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Learn more about how we keep your information safe. What are your rights? Depending on where you are located geographically, the applicable privacy law may mean you have certain rights regarding your personal information. Learn more about your privacy rights. How do you exercise your rights? The easiest way to exercise your rights is by visiting https://apply.org.za/mydata/, or by contacting us. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws. Want to learn more about what we do with any information we collect? Review the privacy notice in full.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?3. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?4. WHAT IS OUR STANCE ON THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES?5. DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?6. HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS?7. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?8. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?9. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?10. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES11. DO OTHER REGIONS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?12. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?13. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?14. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?15. VOLUNTEERS

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you disclose to us In Short: We collect personal information that you provide to us. We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you register on the Services, express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and Services, when you participate in activities on the Services, or otherwise when you contact us.  Personal Information Provided by You. The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the Services, the choices you make, and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following:

• names

 

• phone numbers

 

• email addresses

 

• mailing addresses

 

• usernames

 

• job titles

 

• passwords

 

• contact preferences

 

• contact or authentication data

 

• billing addresses

 

• id numbers

 

• demographic information

 Sensitive Information. When necessary, with your consent or as otherwise permitted by applicable law, we process the following categories of sensitive information:

• financial data

 

• information revealing race or ethnic origin

 

• information revealing religious or philosophical beliefs

 

• student data

 

• social security numbers or other government identifiers

 Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment if you make purchases, such as your payment instrument number, and the security code associated with your payment instrument. All payment data is stored by Yoco. You may find their privacy notice link(s) here: https://www.yoco.com/za/terms/.  Social Media Login Data. We may provide you with the option to register with us using your existing social media account details, like your Facebook, Twitter, or other social media account. If you choose to register in this way, we will collect the information described in the section called ‘HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS?‘ below.  Application Data. If you use our application(s), we also may collect the following information if you choose to provide us with access or permission:

• Geolocation Information. We may request access or permission to track location-based information from your mobile device, either continuously or while you are using our mobile application(s), to provide certain location-based services. If you wish to change our access or permissions, you may do so in your device's settings.

 

• Push Notifications. We may request to send you push notifications regarding your account or certain features of the application(s). If you wish to opt out from receiving these types of communications, you may turn them off in your device's settings.

This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our application(s), for troubleshooting, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.  All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete, and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.  Information automatically collected In Short: Some information — such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Services. We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use, or navigate the Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services, and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.  Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies. You can find out more about this in our Cookie Notice: https://apply.org.za/legal/cookies.  The information we collect includes:

• Log and Usage Data. Log and usage data is service-related, diagnostic, usage, and performance information our servers automatically collect when you access or use our Services and which we record in log files. Depending on how you interact with us, this log data may include your IP address, device information, browser type, and settings and information about your activity in the Services (such as the date/time stamps associated with your usage, pages and files viewed, searches, and other actions you take such as which features you use), device event information (such as system activity, error reports (sometimes called ‘crash dumps'), and hardware settings).

 

• Device Data. We collect device data such as information about your computer, phone, tablet, or other device you use to access the Services. Depending on the device used, this device data may include information such as your IP address (or proxy server), device and application identification numbers, location, browser type, hardware model, Internet service provider and/or mobile carrier, operating system, and system configuration information.

 

• Location Data. We collect location data such as information about your device's location, which can be either precise or imprecise. How much information we collect depends on the type and settings of the device you use to access the Services. For example, we may use GPS and other technologies to collect geolocation data that tells us your current location (based on your IP address). You can opt out of allowing us to collect this information either by refusing access to the information or by disabling your Location setting on your device. However, if you choose to opt out, you may not be able to use certain aspects of the Services.

 Information collected from other sources In Short: We may collect limited data from public databases, marketing partners, social media platforms, and other outside sources. In order to enhance our ability to provide relevant marketing, offers, and services to you and update our records, we may obtain information about you from other sources, such as public databases, joint marketing partners, affiliate programs, data providers, social media platforms, and from other third parties. This information includes mailing addresses, job titles, email addresses, phone numbers, intent data (or user behaviour data), Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, social media profiles, social media URLs, and custom profiles, for purposes of targeted advertising and event promotion. If you interact with us on a social media platform using your social media account (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), we receive personal information about you such as your name, email address, and gender. Any personal information that we collect from your social media account depends on your social media account's privacy settings. Information collected when you use our Facebook application(s). We by default access your Facebook basic account information, including your name, email, gender, birthday, current city, and profile picture URL, as well as other information that you choose to make public. We may also request access to other permissions related to your account, such as friends, check-ins, and likes, and you may choose to grant or deny us access to each individual permission. For more information regarding Facebook permissions, refer to the Facebook Permissions Reference page.

2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We process your information to provide, improve, and administer our Services, communicate with you, for security and fraud prevention, and to comply with law. We may also process your information for other purposes with your consent. We process your personal information for a variety of reasons, depending on how you interact with our Services, including:

• To facilitate account creation and authentication and otherwise manage user accounts. We may process your information so you can create and log in to your account, as well as keep your account in working order.

 

• To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may process your information to provide you with the requested service.

 

• To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may process your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the requested service.

 

• To send administrative information to you. We may process your information to send you details about our products and services, changes to our terms and policies, and other similar information.

• To protect our Services. We may process your information as part of our efforts to keep our Services safe and secure, including fraud monitoring and prevention.

 

• To comply with our legal obligations. We may process your information to comply with our legal obligations, respond to legal requests, and exercise, establish, or defend our legal rights.

3. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In Short: We may share information in specific situations described in this section and/or with the following categories of third parties.  Vendors, Consultants, and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors, or agents (‘third parties‘) who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. The categories of third parties we may share personal information with are as follows:

• Website Hosting Service Providers

 

• Data Storage Service Providers

 

• Universities and Colleges

 

We also may need to share your personal information in the following situations:

• Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

 

• When we use Google Analytics. We may share your information with Google Analytics to track and analyse the use of the Services. The Google Analytics Advertising Features that we may use include: Google Analytics Demographics and Interests Reporting, Remarketing with Google Analytics and Google Display Network Impressions Reporting. To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across the Services, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. You can opt out of Google Analytics Advertising Features through Ads Settings and Ad Settings for mobile apps. Other opt out means include http://optout.networkadvertising.org/ and http://www.networkadvertising.org/mobile-choice. For more information on the privacy practices of Google, please visit the Google Privacy & Terms page.

 

• When we use Google Maps Platform APIs. We may share your information with certain Google Maps Platform APIs (e.g. Google Maps API, Places API).

 

• Affiliates. We may share your information with our affiliates, in which case we will require those affiliates to honour this privacy notice. Affiliates include our parent company and any subsidiaries, joint venture partners, or other companies that we control or that are under common control with us.

 

• Business Partners. We may share your information with our business partners to offer you certain products, services, or promotions.

4. WHAT IS OUR STANCE ON THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES?

In Short: We are not responsible for the safety of any information that you share with third parties that we may link to or who advertise on our Services, but are not affiliated with, our Services. The Services may link to third-party websites, online services, or mobile applications and/or contain advertisements from third parties that are not affiliated with us and which may link to other websites, services, or applications. Accordingly, we do not make any guarantee regarding any such third parties, and we will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by the use of such third-party websites, services, or applications. The inclusion of a link towards a third-party website, service, or application does not imply an endorsement by us. We cannot guarantee the safety and privacy of data you provide to any third parties. Any data collected by third parties is not covered by this privacy notice. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of any third parties, including other websites, services, or applications that may be linked to or from the Services. You should review the policies of such third parties and contact them directly to respond to your questions.

5. DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES?

In Short: We may use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect and store your information. We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Notice: https://apply.org.za/legal/cookies.

6. HOW DO WE HANDLE YOUR SOCIAL LOGINS?

In Short: If you choose to register or log in to our Services using a social media account, we may have access to certain information about you. Our Services offer you the ability to register and log in using your third-party social media account details (like your Facebook or Twitter logins). Where you choose to do this, we will receive certain profile information about you from your social media provider. The profile information we receive may vary depending on the social media provider concerned, but will often include your name, email address, friends list, and profile picture, as well as other information you choose to make public on such a social media platform. If you log in using Facebook, we may also request access to other permissions related to your account, such as your friends, check-ins, and likes, and you may choose to grant or deny us access to each individual permission. We will use the information we receive only for the purposes that are described in this privacy notice or that are otherwise made clear to you on the relevant Services. Please note that we do not control, and are not responsible for, other uses of your personal information by your third-party social media provider. We recommend that you review their privacy notice to understand how they collect, use, and share your personal information, and how you can set your privacy preferences on their sites and apps.

7. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law. We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than   the period of time in which users have an account with us.  When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymise such information, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.

8. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organisational and technical security measures. We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organisational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorised third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.

9. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short:  You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time. Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, which may be express and/or implied consent depending on the applicable law, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section ‘HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?‘ below. However, please note that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal nor, when applicable law allows, will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent. Account Information If you would at any time like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can:

• Log in to your account settings and update your user account.

 

• Contact us using the contact information provided.

 

• Visit https://apply.org.za/mydata to request data deletion

 Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. However, we may retain some information in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with any investigations, enforce our legal terms and/or comply with applicable legal requirements. Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services. You may also opt out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our Services. For further information, please see our Cookie Notice: https://apply.org.za/legal/cookies. If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at security@apply.org.za.

10. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (‘DNT') feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. At this stage no uniform technology standard for recognising and implementing DNT signals has been finalised. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.

11. DO OTHER REGIONS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: You may have additional rights based on the country you reside in. Republic of South Africa At any time, you have the right to request access to or correction of your personal information. You can make such a request by contacting us by using the contact details provided in the section ‘HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?‘ If you are unsatisfied with the manner in which we address any complaint with regard to our processing of personal information, you can contact the office of the regulator, the details of which are: The Information Regulator (South Africa)General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.zaComplaints (complete POPIA/PAIA form 5): PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za & POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

12. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws. We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated ‘Revised' date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

13. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO), Mthokozisi Dhlamini, by email at mthokozisi@apply.org.za, by phone at 0628037717, or contact us by post at: UniApplyForMeMthokozisi DhlaminiAiry CrescentBram FischervilleSoweto, Gauteng 1875South Africa

14. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?

You have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please visit: https://apply.org.za/mydata/.

15. VOLUNTEERS

We understand that access to certain data may be necessary for volunteer activities. This section outlines how volunteers can access data and what they can use it for:

a. Data Access: Volunteers who are granted access to certain data, including information related to students, bursaries, and other UniApplyForMe activities, will be provided with the necessary access credentials and training to use our systems and databases. Access to data is granted on a need-to-know basis to ensure the privacy and security of sensitive information.

b. Data Usage: Volunteers are expected to use the data they access exclusively for the purpose of supporting UniApplyForMe’s mission. This may include tasks such as offering guidance to students, assisting with bursary applications, and providing general support and information. Data should not be used for any other purposes, including marketing or personal gain.

c. Data Security: Volunteers are responsible for maintaining the security and confidentiality of the data they access. Any concerns or potential breaches should be reported to UniApplyForMe’s data protection officer promptly.

d. Consent: By becoming a volunteer with UniApplyForMe, you agree to abide by these data access and usage guidelines.

e. Training and Support: UniApplyForMe will provide volunteers with the necessary training and support to ensure they are well-informed about data access and usage policies.