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 1. QS Quacquarelli Symonds
 2. Our Policies and Guidelines


Articles in this section
 * 2025 Rankings Cycle
 * Autonomous Campuses
 * 2025 Global MBA and Business Masters Rankings Cycle
 * Privacy Policy
 * Guidelines for QS Global Academic and Employer Survey
 * Inclusion Criteria 入选标准
 * Paper thresholds by subject
 * All Science Journal Classifications: ASJC Codes
 * QS Global Rankings Advisory Board
 * Screening Policy

See more


PRIVACY POLICY

 * 2 years ago
 * Updated

 


PRIVACY POLICY

Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd (“QS”) is committed to ensuring that your privacy is
protected. Should we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be
identified when using any of our websites then you   can be assured that it will
only be used in accordance with this privacy statement. QS may change this
policy from time to time.

 

Changes to our policy will be updated on our Websites and/or Services only. You
should check our policy from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any
modifications. This policy was last updated on May 24 2018.

 


WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We may collect the following information:

 

 

 * Name and job title

 

 * Gender and date of birth

 

 * Contact information including email address

 

 * Demographic information such as postcode, preferences, and interests

 

 * Other information required or relevant to registrations for our events and/or
   products

 

 * Other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers All data
   collected by QS is stored in a one database environment, regardless of which
   QS site you contacted us through.

 

 

Due to the communications standards on the internet, when you visit our Websites
or Services we also automatically receive the URL of the site from which you
came and the site to which you are going to when you leave our Websites or
Services.

 

QS receives the internet protocol (“IP”) address of your computer, your computer
operating system and type of web browser you are using, email patterns, your
mobile device and mobile operating system (if you are accessing our Websites or
Services using a mobile device), as well as the name of your ISP or your mobile
carrier.


WHAT WE DO WITH THE INFORMATION WE GATHER

 

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a
better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

 

By providing information to QS for the purposes of becoming a Site User,
creating your QS User account or adding any additional details to your QS User
profile, you are expressly and voluntarily accepting the terms and conditions of
this Privacy Policy and QS’s User Agreement that allow QS to process information
about you.

 

Supplying information to QS, including any information deemed “sensitive” by
applicable law, is entirely voluntary on your part. You have the right to
withdraw your consent to QS’s collection and processing of your information at
any time, in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the User
Agreement, by changing your Settings, or by closing your account, but please
note that your withdrawal of consent will not be retroactive.

 

In order to become a QS User, you must provide us the following information to
create an account: first name, last name, email address and password. Without
this minimal amount of information, you cannot create an account. QS may request
other information from you during the account creation process, (e.g., gender,
location, etc.) that QS uses to provide better, more customized marketing
services such as updates, better ads, and more valuable information. You
acknowledge that this information is personal to you, and by creating an account
on our websites, you allow QS and selected third parties, to identify you and to
allow to use your information in accordance with our User Agreement.

 

This means we’ll create a profile about you to help us understand you as a
customer and tailor the communications we send you; tell you about other
products and services you might be interested in; try to identify products and
services you’re interested in; and

 

 

We’ll send you information (about the products and services we provide) by
phone, post, email, text message and online banner advertising. We also use the
information we have about you to personalise these messages wherever we can as
we believe it is important to make them relevant to you. We also check that you
are happy for us to send you marketing messages before we do so. In each message
we send, you also have the option to opt out.

 

We’ll only market other organisations’ products and services if you have said it
is OK for us to do so.

 

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing information or withdraw your
permission at any time.

 

 * Details of the products and services you’ve bought and how you use them

 

We use the following for marketing and to identify the products and services
you’re interested in.

Your contact details. This includes your name, of birth and email address.
Information from cookies and tags placed on your connected devices.

 


SECURITY

 

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to
prevent unauthorized access or disclosure, we safeguard and secure the
information we collect online via electronic and managerial procedures.

 

To protect any data you store on our servers, QS also regularly audits its
system for possible vulnerabilities and attacks. However, since the internet is
not a 100% secure environment, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any
information you transmit to QS. There is no guarantee that information may not
be accessed, disclosed, altered, or destroyed by breach of any of our physical,
technical, or managerial safeguards.

 


LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

 

Our websites may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you
have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any
control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the
protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such
sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should
exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in
question.

 


WHAT WE USE COOKIES FOR

 

QS use cookies to check whether or not you are logged in and to identify which
of our high availability servers you are looking at. We also use cookies to help
collect analytics data to constantly improve your on-site experience. It is your
legal right to opt-out of this data collection if you so wish.

 

Like most websites, we use cookies and web log files to track site usage and
trends, to improve the quality of our service, to customize your experience on
our Websites and Services, as well as to deliver QS and third-party advertising
to Site Users and QS Users both on and off our Websites and Services. A cookie
is a tiny data file which asks  permission to be placed on your computer’s hard
drive. Once you agree, this small file resides on your computer, mobile phone,
or other device, and allows us to recognize you as a Site User or QS User when
you return to our Websites or Services using the same computer and web browser.
A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about
you, other than the data you choose to share with us. You can remove or block
cookies using the settings in your browser, but in some cases doing so may
impact your ability to use our Websites or Services.

 

In the course of serving advertisements or optimizing the services to our Site
Users or QS Users, we may allow authorized third parties to place  or recognize
a unique cookie on your browser. Any information provided to third parties
through cookies will not be personally identifiable but may provide general
segment information (e.g. your industry or geography or information about your
professional or educational background) for the enhancement of your user
experience by providing more relevant advertising. Most browsers are initially
set up to accept cookies, but you can reset your browser to refuse all cookies
or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. Our Websites and Services do not
store unencrypted personally identifiable information in the cookies.

 


ADVERTISING

 

To support the services we provide at no cost to our Site Users and QS Users, as
well as provide a more relevant and useful experience for our Site Users and QS
Users, we target and serve our own ads and also ads from third-parties.

 

We target ads to Site Users and QS Users based on general profile information or
on non-personally identifiable information inferred from a Site User’s or QS
User’s profile (e.g. industry, school, gender, age, nationality, or other
relevant information). QS does not provide personally identifiable information
to any third party ad network.

 

Third party advertisers may use cookies to track the number of anonymous users
responding to their campaigns. We will not have access to or control of cookies
placed by third parties.

 

You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying your browser
preferences. You can accept all cookies, be notified when a cookie is set, or
reject all cookies.

 

Exponential Interactive, Inc, as our partner, have a legitimate interest to
collect and profile personal data in the form of IP address and cookie ID from
users on our website in order to provide targeted online advertising and ad
measurement. For more details, access requests or complaints, please review
their privacy policy or contact their data protection officer via
privacy@exponential.com . If you would like to opt out of Exponential’s
advertising, please use this link: http://exponential.com/ privacy/opt-out/.

 

Admedo, as our partner, have a legitimate interest to collect and profile
personal data in the form of IP address and cookie ID from users on our website
in order to provide targeted online advertising and ad measurement. For more
details, access requests or complaints, please review their privacy policy
(https://www.admedo.com/privacy-policy) or contact their data protection officer
via privacy-request@admedo.com . If you would like to opt out of Admedo
advertising, please use this

link: https://www.admedo.com/advertising-preferences

 

We may also show you advertising on our site based on your behaviour on other
sites. Behavioural retargeting allows us and some of our advertising partners to
show you ads based on your browsing patterns and interactions with a site away
from our site. Our behavioural retargeting partner is Criteo. To read their
privacy policy and to opt out of their services, please click here:
www.criteo.com/en/privacy-policy

 


REMOVING A COOKIE

 

Removing a cookie varies depending on which browser you are using.

 

Firefox

To remove a cookie, Right Click on the page you are looking at and select ‘View
Page Info’. A dialogue window will then open. Choose the security tab from the
top of the window and then choose ‘View Cookies’. You are then able to remove
any cookies you wish from your machine. To prevent cookies from being set on
your machine, chose ‘Menu->Options’. A dialogue window will open. Choose
‘Privacy’ from the tabs at the top and choose the checkbox that says ‘Do not
allow sites to track’.

 

Internet Explorer

To prevent a current page from tracking choose ‘Tools

-> Safety -> Tracking Protection’ from here you can set your preferences for
analytics tracking. Choose ‘Tools -> Internet Options -> Privacy’   From here
you can set your preferences for the types of cookies that you will accept and
from where.

 

Safari

To prevent tracking if you are using Safari choose ‘Tools -> Preferences ->
Security’ and then choose your preferences from the ‘Accept Cookies’ section.

 

Chrome

To manage your cookie options in Google Chrome choose ‘Tools -> Settings ->
Advanced Options -> Privacy -> Content Settings’. Then choose the options that
you would like for cookies on your machine and then select ‘Ok’ to save.

 


ANALYTICS

 

We use two analytics packages in order to constantly improve your browsing
experience on TopMBA.com, TopUniversities.com, qs.com and some of our other web
properties.

 

These packages are:

 

Google Analytics IBM CoreMetrics 1 Tranley Mews

 

London NW3 2DG

 

United Kingdom

 

Phone: +44(0) 207284 7200

 

Email: dpo@qs.com

 

Although you should submit a request in writing, if you would like to  speak to
someone in person, you can contact the Data Protection Officer using the
following details:

 

Data Protection Officer

 

QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd

 

We may need to ask you to provide proof of your identity proof of your home
address any information that we reasonably need to locate the information you
have requested (for example the website or event you registered for)

Under the law any individual has a right to ask for a copy of the personal
information held about them. This means that you can ask for the information
that the QS holds about you. This is known as the right of ‘subject access’.

 

When making a request you will need to give us a request in writing (by post or
by email)

 

To opt out of Google Analytics data collection, you will need to remove all
cookies which begin with two underscore characters. Examples include:

 

 

    utma      utmb     utmc     utmz

 


RIGHTS CONCERNING THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

 

 1. i) Right to restrict processing of personal information

 

In some situations, you have the right to require us to restrict the processing
of your personal information. We may restrict your personal information by
temporarily moving the information to another processing system, making the
information unavailable to users, or temporarily removing published information
from a website.

 

We may also use technical methods to ensure the personal information is not
subject to further processing and cannot be changed. When we have restricted
processing of personal information, this will be clearly indicated on our
systems.

 

You can require us to restrict processing in the following circumstances:

 

You are concerned that the information we hold about you is inaccurate. You can
ask us to restrict the information until we are able to determine whether the
information is accurate or inaccurate; We are processing your personal data
unlawfully and you do not want us to delete the information but restrict it
instead. We no longer need the information for the purposes for which we
collected it, but they are needed by you for the establishment, exercise or
defence of legal claims; You have objected to the processing (see below), and we
need to decide whether the legitimate grounds we have to process the information
override your legitimate interests.

 

 

For contact details of national data protection regulators in the EU and EEA,
please use the following link:

 

https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en

 

You should be aware that from 25 May 2018 onwards, the EU or EEA regulator you
first contact may not be the regulator that deals with your complaint. They may
refer your complaint to another data protection regulator, and a number of
regulators may work together to determine the outcome of your complaint. The
overall handling of your complaint will be dealt with by a “lead supervisory
authority”, which will be allocated during the complaint handling process.

 

If you live outside the EU or EEA, and the data protection issue you are
concerned about relates to the processing of personal data in the country you
live in, you may be able to complain to your national data protection or privacy
regulator. Details of some national data protection or privacy regulators are
detailed in the above link. Alternatively, you may be able to find details of
your national privacy or data protection regulator by searching the internet.

 

If you have a concern about how we have processed your personal data, many data
protection/privacy regulators will ask that you contact us first, outlining your
concerns, allowing us to try and put the issue right, prior to contacting them
with your complaint or concern.

 

If you wish to exercise any of the above rights concerning the way in which we
process your personal information, please contact:

 

Data Protection Officer

 

QS Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd 1 Tranley Mews

London NW3 2DG

United Kingdom

 

Phone: +44(0) 207284 7200

 

Email: dpo@qs.com

 

vii) Your right to complain to a national data protection regulator (data
protection supervisory authority)

 

If you think we have processed your personal information unfairly or unlawfully,
or we have not complied with your rights under GDPR, you have the right to
complain to a national data protection regulator.

 

Complaints about how we process your personal information can be considered by
the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The ICO can be contacted using the following details:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House

Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

UNITED KINGDOM

 

Website: www.ico.org.uk. Email: casework@ico.org.uk.

If you live in a country or territory located in the European Union (EU) or
European Economic Area (EEA), and you think that some, or all, of the issues you
are concerned about have taken place in your country of residence, you can
complain to your national data protection regulator.

 

If you have provided your information to QS, you have the right to request and
receive a copy of that information in a structured, commonly-used and
machine-readable format.

 

There are some situations in which the right to data portability does not apply.
For further information, please contact: dpo@qs.com

 

 1. vi) Exercising your rights concerning the processing of your personal
    information

If we are using your personal information to send you direct marketing, you have
the right to object at any time. If you exercise this right, we will stop
processing your personal information for direct marketing purposes. However, we
may keep your information on a “suppression list” to   ensure your information
is not added to any marketing lists at some point in the future.

 

Right to data portability

You have the right to object to QS processing your personal data in the
following circumstances:

 

Personal information used for direct marketing

If you think any of the above situations apply, we may ask you for an
explanation and further information to verify this.

 

 1. v) Right to object to processing

In the following circumstances, you have the right to require that QS securely
deletes or destroys your personal information:

 

If the personal information we hold about you is no longer necessary for the
purposes for which we originally collected it. The processing is based on
consent - if you have previously given your consent to QS collecting and
processing your personal information, and you notify us that you withdraw your
consent. If you think QS has processed your personal information unlawfully.

If you tell us that you think we are processing your personal information
unlawfully, but you do not want the information to be erased, you have the right
to require us to restrict the processing of that information.

 

We will ask you for an explanation about why you think the processing is
unlawful, and may also ask that you provide evidence to support this view.

 

 * Processing of personal information you think is inaccurate

 

You can tell us if you think the personal information we are processing about
you is factually inaccurate.

 

If we find that personal information we are processing about you is inaccurate,
we will take appropriate steps to correct the information.

 1. Right to erasure of personal data (“the right to be forgotten”) ii)
    Processing you think is unlawful

 


YOUR OBLIGATIONS

 

As a Site User or QS User, you have certain obligations to other Site Users and
QS Users. Some of these obligations are imposed by applicable law and
regulations, and others have become commonplace in user-friendly communities of
like-minded members such as QS:

 

 1. You must, at all times, abide by the terms and conditions of the then-
    current Privacy Policy and User Agreement. This includes respecting all
    intellectual property rights that may belong to third parties (such as
    trademarks or photographs). b) You must not download or otherwise
    disseminate any information that may be deemed to be injurious, violent,
    offensive, racist or xenophobic, or which may otherwise violate the purpose
    and spirit of QS and its

 

 

Any violation of these guidelines may lead to the restriction, suspension or
termination of your account at the sole discretion of QS.

 

 * c) You must not provide to QS and/or other Site Users and/or QS

 

Users information that you believe might be injurious or detrimental to your
person or to your professional or social status.

 

 * d) You must keep your password confidential and not share it with

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