VivaMSc Privacy Policy

Last updated: 18 August 2026

VivaMSc respects your privacy. Our Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how we use and disclose it, and the rights available to you. If you do not agree with our Policy, do not use VivaMSc.

1. Personal Data Collected

We collect only the personal data necessary for our services. This may include:

• Account data: Your email address, used to create or identify your account and send requested emails such as sign-in links. If you sign in with Google, we may receive information that Google makes available to us for authentication.
• Service data: Information you save on the platform, including programmes you bookmark, application status, checklist progress and other information you choose to enter into the tracker.
• Where you are applying from: The country you provide when VivaMSc asks. We do not treat this as your nationality, residence or device location.
• Communications and contributions: Information you voluntarily send to us through email, contribution forms and media channels.
• Guide messages: Text you submit to the VivaMSc guide. Do not include sensitive or confidential personal information unless it is necessary for your question.
• Technical and analytics data: Information generated when you use VivaMSc, such as page views, IP information processed by our hosting providers, browser information, and security logs where needed to operate and protect the service.
• Cookies and similar technologies: Technologies used to maintain sessions, remember preferences or referrals, and understand site usage.
• Referral information: If you arrive through a society or ambassador referral link, a referral code may be stored and, if you create an account, we may record which partner referred you.

2. Purposes of Processing and Legal Bases

We process personal data only for specified purposes connected with operating VivaMSc, including:

• Providing the service: To create and maintain accounts, save your tracker information, and provide the features you request.
• Communications: To send account-related messages, respond to questions, support requests or feedback, and communicate with contributors.
• Guide responses: To process text you submit to the VivaMSc guide and return a response.
• Referrals: To administer society, ambassador or other referral arrangements and measure aggregate referral performance.
• Analytics and improvement: To understand how VivaMSc is used, diagnose issues, improve features and maintain service quality.
• Security and legal compliance: To prevent misuse, protect the service and users, enforce our terms, and comply with legal obligations.

3. Cookies

We use cookies and similar storage or access technologies only for purposes connected with operating and improving VivaMSc. One of these is a first-party cookie holding a randomly generated identifier, which lets us count how many separate browsers visit and how many return. It is not derived from your account, your email address or your device, and it is not shared with anyone. Strictly necessary technologies may be used without consent. Where VivaMSc provides cookie controls, you can use those controls to accept, reject or change your preferences for non-essential technologies.

4. Service Providers and Sharing

We use service providers to run VivaMSc, such as providers of hosting, authentication, databases, email delivery, analytics or related infrastructure. They process personal data for the purposes of providing those services, subject to their contractual and legal obligations.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, where reasonably necessary to protect the security or legal rights of VivaMSc or others.

5. Aggregated Reports for Universities and Education Partners

VivaMSc intends to provide universities and education partners with reports about demand for postgraduate programmes. Those reports are built only from aggregated, anonymised statistics.

• What a report can contain. Counts and summaries, for example how many

people saved a programme in a given week, or how long applicants typically take between saving a programme and applying to it.

• What a report can never contain. Anything that identifies you. We do not

provide your email address, your account, your tracker, your notes, your messages to the guide, or any row that describes one person.

• No individual leads. We do not pass your details to a university as a

prospective applicant, whether or not you have saved their programme. This applies now and it applies to any future paid arrangement.

• A minimum group size. No figure is published unless at least ten distinct

people sit behind it. Where fewer than ten do, the figure is withheld rather than rounded or estimated, so a small group cannot be identified by elimination.

We do not sell or share personal data in a form that identifies you.

6. Optional Details You Give Us

VivaMSc may ask for a small number of optional details about your situation, such as the country you are applying from. Each of these is optional, each can be skipped, and each can be changed or cleared later in your account settings.

We ask for them so the site can show you information that fits your circumstances, and they also contribute to the aggregated statistics described in section 5. We do not ask for your grades, your nationality, your passport details, your gender, your date of birth, or the institution you currently attend.

7. Deleting Your Account

You can delete your account from your account settings. Deleting it removes your account, the optional details described in section 6, your saved programmes and their status history, and any notes you have written.

Aggregated statistics that were already calculated before you deleted your account cannot be separated back out into individual records, so those remain. They do not identify you.

8. International Transfers

Some service providers may process personal data outside the country where you are located. Where the UK GDPR applies to a restricted transfer, we use an available lawful transfer mechanism, appropriate contractual safeguards or a permitted exception. Where Singapore’s PDPA applies, we take steps to ensure a comparable standard of protection.

9. Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or processed, including to provide VivaMSc, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes, maintain security and manage backups.

Your account and tracker data are generally kept while your account is active and until you ask us to delete them, subject to limited retention where needed for security, legal obligations, dispute handling or backups. Logs, correspondence, referral records and analytics data are kept only for as long as reasonably necessary for their purpose.

10. Your Rights

Your rights depend on the law that applies and the circumstances. Under UK GDPR, these can include rights of access, correction, erasure, restriction, objection, portability and withdrawal of consent. Under Singapore’s PDPA, rights include access and correction and the ability to withdraw consent, subject to its exceptions.

11. Security and Data Breaches

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse or alteration. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

If a personal data breach occurs, we will assess it and notify the relevant regulator and affected individuals where applicable law requires us to do so.

12. Children

VivaMSc is intended for people aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

13. Links to Other Sites

VivaMSc may link to university websites and other third-party websites. We do not control those websites and are not responsible for their content, availability or privacy practices. You should review their privacy information separately.

14. Changes and Contact

We may update this Privacy Policy as VivaMSc changes or as legal requirements develop. We will update the date above and take appropriate steps to bring material changes to users’ attention.

For privacy questions, rights requests or complaints, contact hello@vivamsc.com .