Privacy policy

The British Council collects your personal data through this website. This notice explains our privacy practices in connection with your use of the site.

Who we are

The British Council is the UK’s international culture and education organisation. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. We are a registered charity, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is our sponsoring department, and our Patron is His Majesty King Charles III.

Your right to privacy

We fully respect your right to privacy, and we are committed to complying with all relevant data protection legislation, including the UK Data Protection Act 2018, incorporating the UK GDPR as retained version of the General Data Protection Regulation EU 2016/679, the Data (Use and Access) Act, and e-privacy legislation.

What personal data we collect and why

We collect your personal details to manage event registrations and as part of your subscription to our newsletters to inform you about Erasmus+ related activities. Sometimes we may collect limited sensitive data where necessary to provide additional support.

We collect this information to carry out our core functions under the Erasmus+ programme. We operate as a Data Processor acting on documented instructions and under the supervision of the EU Commission a Data Controller.

The British Council is set to become the UK National Agency for the Erasmus+ programme. In our role as National Agency for Erasmus+, the processing of your data is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the Union institution or body pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1288/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing Erasmus+.

We may sometimes process your personal data based on your consent, for example for marketing purposes.

Who it is shared with:

We may share data with the European Commission as required under our Erasmus+ grant agreement. We may also share data with the Department for Education, as UK National Authority for Erasmus+.

To help deliver the programme, we engage third-party suppliers to provide services on our behalf, such as electronic communications and event registration. Where necessary, we share your information with these providers who are bound by contractual terms that meet applicable data protection requirements and act only on our documented instructions.

How long do we keep data for?

We follow the European Commission guidelines for retention of data, unless you ask us to remove them. We will keep your data for five years after the end date of our agreement with the European Commission for the delivery of the Erasmus+ programme. We will not process your data for longer than is necessary to meet the purpose for which we collect it.

Your rights

You have the right to ask for a copy of the data supplied via this website, to ask us to correct any inaccuracies or to delete any information we hold on you. Where we process your personal data based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time. Email your request to igdisclosures@britishcouncil.org and we will respond to you as soon as possible, within the maximum timeframe of 30 days to process.

You may also exercise your rights by contacting the Data Controller (eu-erasmus-esc-personal-data@ec.europa.eu)

Last revised: 13 May 2026