UM collects and stores data concerning staff members’ and students’ health at the start of employment and at application stage through the Office for Human Resources Management & Development and the Office of the Registrar respectively, as well as through the ADSU, in order to fulfil its obligations under the Equal Opportunities Act (Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act 2000 (CAP. 413) and to provide necessary access arrangements. UM processes this special category data in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and all other applicable data protection legislation, including the Data Protection Act (CAP. 586) and the Processing of Personal Data (Education Sector) Regulations (S.L.586.07).

In its assessment of requests for access arrangements, the ADSC may require further information pertaining to students’ results and/or academic performance from other entities within the University, including the MATSEC Support Unit and the Office of the Registrar. Where such entities are not already aware that the concerned individual has requested access arrangements, or where such information is required from third parties, the ADSU will seek the explicit consent of such student or staff member to procure the required information.

Once access arrangements have been granted to a student or staff member by the ADSC, the ADSU will pass on relevant information relating to such access arrangements to those UM employees and/or third parties who, by virtue of their roles and responsibilities, are tasked with effecting such arrangements and with enabling the provision of the service. These recipients include relevant individual lecturers, Deans and/or Heads of Departments, Faculty and Scheduling Officers and exam invigilators. Information is disclosed on a need-to-know basis and on the strength of the student or staff member’s explicit consent as expressed in the relevant consent form. Information may, in exceptional cases of life-threatening emergencies or where there is a serious risk to a student’s health or the safety of other individuals, be disclosed without such individuals’ consent in accordance with the provisions of the Mental Health Act (CAP. 525).

Information pertaining to students’ and staff members’ access arrangements is retained by the ADSU throughout their period of studies and employment at UM respectively, and in the latter case, for a post-employment period as may be necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. This data may be further processed for research and statistics purposes, in accordance with Articles 5 and 89 of the GDPR, and Articles 5 (7) and 8 of SL 586.07.

 

Applicants with the ADSU and beneficiaries of access arrangements may withdraw the consent provided in their application forms at any time. Such individuals also have the right to request access to their personal data held and processed by the ADSC, its rectification if it is incorrect, restriction of processing, data portability and where applicable, the right to object to the processing and the right to erasure. Students and staff members may contact the University’s Data Protection Officer with any queries regarding the processing of their personal data, and may additionally seek redress with the Office of the Information and Data Protection Commissioner, Malta should they feel aggrieved by the ADSC or the University’s processing of their personal data.