Privacy Policy

BITS Pilani Digital hereinafter referred to as “BITS Digital” or “our” or “we” or “us”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Notice (“Privacy Notice”) describes how we collect, store, use, disclose and process the personal data of applicants, students and other users of our website (“you” or “your”) and tells you about your privacy rights.

1.1 Binding Nature

By accessing or using our website https://bitspilani-digital.edu.in/ and related services (collectively the “Services”) or otherwise giving us your information, you will be deemed to be an adult and have the capacity to enter into a legally binding contract in accordance with applicable law in the jurisdiction from which you are accessing our Services. You will consequently be deemed to have read, understood and agreed to the practices and procedures outlined in this Privacy Notice.

IF YOU ARE A MINOR (i.e. UNDER THE AGE OF 18 YEARS), WE REQUIRE THAT YOUR PARENTS OR LAWFUL GUARDIANS FILL IN YOUR INFORMATION ON OUR WEBSITE ON YOUR BEHALF.

1.2 Changes To The Privacy Notice

We review and update this Privacy Notice from time to time. When we do, we will note the date of the latest version on the Privacy Notice and post it on this website. You can tell when we last updated this Privacy Notice by checking the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Notice. You also may obtain historical versions of this Privacy Notice by contacting us.

1.3 Third-Party Links

Our Services may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. This Privacy Notice does not apply to information that is collected by any third-party website or service that you may access through our Services.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that individual can be identified. It does not include data where the identity has been removed (anonymous data). BITS Digital may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, middle name, last name, parents’ names, username or similar identifier, national identity number, title;
• Contact Data includes correspondence address, email address and telephone/mobile numbers;
• Profile Data includes your marital status, date of birth, gender, educational qualifications, work history, other personal data provided by you in your applications for courses offered by BITS Digital, courses opted by you, feedback and survey responses;
• Financial Data includes bank account details and/or payment instrument details;
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of fees you may have paid for courses or Services you may have purchased from us;
• Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website;
• Usage Data includes information about how you use our website, applications and Services;
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.

BITS Digital also collects, uses and shares aggregated data such as statistical or demographic data. Aggregated data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific feature within our Services.

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

• For creating your account, authenticating access to it and monitoring the security of our Services,
• To fulfil your purchases, send you updates related to your account, respond to your inquiries and provide you support,
• To verify your identity and evaluate you as a potential candidate for admission to the various educational courses offered by, on behalf of or in collaboration with BITS Digital,
• To make suggestions and recommendations to you about educational courses, that we believe, may be of interest to you,
• To analyse user behaviour for understanding demographics, preferences and trends to help improve our Services and take informed business decisions,
• To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you, and
• For fulfilling our obligations under applicable laws and regulations or as required under a judgement or order issued under any law for the time being in force.

4.1 Direct Interactions

We collect your personal data directly from you when you correspond with us, register on or visit our website, visit our campuses or attend events where you voluntarily provide your personal data to receive more information about the courses offered by or in collaboration with BITS Digital.

4.2 Cookies

We use cookies and similar tracking technology (collectively, “cookies”) to collect and use personal information about you, including to serve interest-based advertising. By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies, but you can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website or application may become inaccessible or not function properly.

4.3 Grounds of Processing

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in any of the following circumstances:

• Where you have provided your consent to use such personal data.
• Where you have voluntarily provided the personal data for a specified purpose
• For fulfilling a legal obligation
• Pursuant to any other legitimate uses prescribed under the applicable data privacy law.

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in Section 3 above.

• Other domestic or international universities, colleges or other educational institutions with whom we may collaborate to offer education programs or courses.
• Professional advisors, government/regulatory authorities and other parties as required under the applicable law.
• Third party service providers from whom we avail services for carrying out our business activities.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this Privacy Notice.

BITS Digital requires all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions unless the applicable law permits otherwise.

BITS Digital has put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being lost, used, accessed, altered or disclosed accidentally or in an unauthorized manner. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They are only permitted to process your personal data on our instructions and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials and other authentication involved in obtaining access to password-protected or secure areas of the Services. BITS Digital will treat access to the Services through your account credentials as having been authorized by you. We shall bear no liability in respect of such unauthorized use of your account. Unauthorized access to password-protected or secure areas is prohibited and may lead to prosecution under the applicable laws. We may suspend your use of all or part of the Services without notice if we suspect or detect any breach of security. If you believe that information you provided to us is no longer secure, please notify us immediately using the contact information provided below.

We retain the personal data collected or otherwise processed by us, (i) for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, (ii) for the purposes of satisfying any legal/regulatory, accounting, or reporting obligations, (iii) to resolve disputes, and (v) for such other purposes as are permitted under applicable law.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements that may require or permit retention for a longer duration.

8.1 Your Duty To Inform Us Of Changes

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Whenever there is a change, you must promptly make the changes by logging into your account on the website or the relevant mobile application. We will rely on the information made available by you to us as being accurate and current.