STC Higher Education Website Privacy Policy

Effective date: 27th January 2026

At STC Higher Education, we are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, and protect personal information when you visit our website or interact with our online services.

1. WHO WE ARE

STC Higher Education and its subsidiaries (hereafter “STC”, “we”, “us”, “our”) are the data controllers of personal information collected via this website.

We are responsible for ensuring that your personal data is collected, stored, and used in compliance with applicable data protection laws, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and under Cap. 586 of the Laws of Malta.

2. OUR APPROACH TO PRIVACY

The privacy and security of your personal information is very important to us. We want to assure you that your information will be properly managed and protected whilst in our hands.

3. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

• Personal details such as name, email address, address, phone number, date of birth, nationality, gender, and marital status.
• Academic information including qualifications, achievements, and transcripts
• Employment history, both current and previous
• Identification documents like passport, ID, and visa
• Financial information including bank account details
• Health information, where relevant, to safeguard students on-site
• Website usage information including IP address, browser type, operating system, pages visited, time spent on pages, navigation paths, and cookies/tracking data
• Information you provide voluntarily such as enquiries via contact forms, newsletter subscriptions, application forms, and other online registrations

4. HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We collect and process personal information for the following purposes:

• To preparing your acceptance letter, registration and administering your academic progression
• To communicate with you regarding your enquiries, quotes, and registrations
• Where we need to perform the contract we have entered into with you.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
• For internal business purposes, including staff training and service improvement.
• To provide marketing communications only if you have given consent.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests; and/or for training purposes, to improve our services and their delivery, including by recording telephone calls.

We may also use your personal information in the following situations, which are likely to be rare:

• Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests).
• Where it is needed in the public interest (or for official purposes).

5. COOKIES AND ONLINE TRACKING

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to improve your experience, analyse site usage, and support our services. By using our website, you agree to the use of cookies.

You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings, but please note that some features of the website may not function properly if cookies are disabled.

6. HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITHIN STC

We may share and aggregate information about you from STC, including personal information held within the STC relating to other courses and programmes you enrolled with us, depending on your preferences, we may use this information to:

• Help us identify products and services that may be of interest to you, to tailor and package our products and services.
• To determine pricing and/or offer available discounts.
• Conduct customer research and develop marketing campaigns.
• If you request a quote, or purchase a product or service from us, your personal information will be used and shared within STC for the purposes of administration.
• We will use your information to communicate with you about your quote, product or service.

We may, as a matter of law, and without requiring notice or consent, use your information for crime and fraud prevention, systems administration within STC and to monitor and/or enforce STC’s compliance with any regulatory rules and codes.

7. HOW WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION OUTSIDE OF STC

We will ensure that your personal data is processed in a manner that is compatible with the purposes indicated above. For the stated purposes, your personal data may be shared with and processed where applicable by:

Our associated companies, introducers, intermediaries and agents

• The student
• Your agent
• For the purposes of administration, including third parties providing services to them.

Your information may be disclosed when we believe it is in good faith that the disclosure is:

• Required by law.
• To protect the safety of our employees, the public or STC property.
• Required to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order or legal process.
• In the event of a merger, asset sale, or other related transaction.
• For the prevention or detection of crime (including fraud).

In order to prevent and detect fraud we may share your information with regulatory bodies in Malta or if applicable, overseas, as well as with other educational institutions (directly or via shared databases), public bodies including the Police and other organisations and may undertake fraud searches with relevant agencies.

We may disclose your information to third party suppliers or service providers to conduct our business, including to help administer your academic progression, to help us manage and store data, provide data analytics, conduct market research and to communicate with you effectively. This may include any online or digital partners we work with, so we, or our online or digital partners on our behalf, can communicate with you through their platforms. This may also include appointed consultants and educational/ subject matter experts.

In addition, depending on your marketing preferences, we may share your information with third parties who help run our marketing campaigns. We do not share personal data with non-affiliates third parties for their own marketing use without your permission. We may also share your personal data:

• In the event of any contemplated or actual reorganisation, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock.
• To meet any legal obligation, including to the relevant ombudsman if you make a complaint about the product or service we have provided to you.

8. FORMS AND ONLINE APPLICATIONS

When you submit forms (e.g., enquiry, application, contact us form), the information is used for:

• Responding to your request
• Managing your registration or application
• Administrative purposes within STC

By submitting forms, you consent to the processing of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy.

9. WHERE WILL MY PERSONAL DATA BE PROCESSED?

Your personal data may be processed both inside and outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) by the parties specified above, subject always to contractual restrictions regarding confidentiality and security in line with applicable data protection laws and regulations. We will not disclose your personal data to parties who are not authorised to process them.

10. DATA SECURITY

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to safeguard your data, including:

• Encryption of sensitive information
• Access controls and secure storage
• Regular data security audits

We require third-party service providers to implement similar safeguards.

11. DATA RETENTION

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the Personal Information and Sensitive Personal Information processed is reliable for its intended use and is accurate and complete for carrying out the purposes described in this Notice. We will retain Personal Information and Sensitive Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Notice unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law.

12. THIRD-PARTY LINKS

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these websites and recommend reviewing their privacy policies.

We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.

13. CHILDREN’S DATA

Our website is not intended for children under 18 (“Children”).
We do not knowingly collect data from children without parental consent. If you are a parent or guardian and you are aware that your Child has provided us with Personal Data, please contact us. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Data from children without verification of parental consent, we take steps to remove that information from our servers.

14. YOUR RIGHTS

Where permitted by applicable law or regulation, you have the right to:

• Access your personal data held about you and to learn the origin of the data, the purposes and ends of the processing, the details of the data controller(s), the data processor(s) and the parties to whom the data may be disclosed.
• Withdraw your consent at any time where your personal data is processed with your consent e.g., direct marketing.
• Update or correct your personal data so that it is always accurate.
• Delete your personal data from our records if it is no longer needed for the purposes indicated above.
• Restrict the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where you have contested the accuracy of your personal data, for the period enabling us to verify its accuracy.
• Obtain your personal data in electronic format for onward transmission by you to another entity without hindrance from us.
• File a complaint with us and/or with the competent data protection supervisory authority (i.e., the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner)

To exercise your rights, contact us:

STC Higher Education
Block D, Giorgio Mitrovich Street, Pembroke, PBK1014
Email: info@stcmalta.edu.mt

15. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be available on our website. If a change reduces your rights, we will notify you where legally required.

16. CONTACT AND COMPLAINTS

If you have questions or wish to make a complaint about how your data is handled, please contact us at:

Email: info@stcmalta.edu.mt
Address: Block D, Giorgio Mitrovich Street, Pembroke, PBK1014

You may also file a complaint with the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner in Malta.