MILLIONS SPIED ON BY GREEDY TOP UNIVERSITIES
They secretly hire investigators to snoop on ex-students’ salaries, pensions and even friends in drive for donations
TOP universities have secretly hired investigators to snoop on millions of former students, the Daily Mail can reveal.
In an aggressive drive for donations, they have paid wealth screening firms – including one called Prospecting for Gold – to trawl for information about their alumni’s worth.
This has included sensitive details about their incomes, investments, pensions, value of their homes and even friendship circles.
A number of victims, targeted for two decades, have been ranked according to wealth, class and whether they are likely to leave money to the universities in their wills.
Some of the 24 institutions – all members of the elite Russell Group – are very likely to have broken the law if they wealth-screened
supporters without their consent, or without them reasonably expecting that this would happen.
While some of the universities admit they have not explicitly sought permission, they justify themselves by saying relevant details are provided online.
Charities that used a similar operation were fined last year because they had not asked for donors’ permission.
Last year, universities brought in more than £1billion in new donations, with more than 80 per cent going to the Russell Group, including Oxford and Cambridge.
Given that just over £1billion was raised by universities between 2000 and 2005, it means they are now raising in a year what they used to make in five.
An investigation into the Mail’s findings was launched last night by the Information Commissioner’s Office, backed by the Department for Education.
All 24 Russell Group universities will be investigated and could face huge fines.
Last year, the ICO fined ten charities for illegally wealth- screening donors without their permission.
Elizabeth Denham, the Information Commissioner, said last night: ‘Personal data belongs to the individual. That means telling people what it’s going to be used for and who it’s going to be shared with. This is what the law requires.
‘We will look carefully at the evidence provided by the Daily Mail to see if and where any rules have been broken.’
The Mail reveals today that universities have been secretly snooping on former students’ finances since 1997. Some have information on the value of alumni’s bequests, stocks, properties and ‘generous pensions’. Alumni are ranked by their ‘net wealth’ and the ‘likelihood of leaving a gift in their will’.
They are also screened for previous charity donations, so the university can appeal to their ‘interests’. Some former students have been hounded for donations despite being on the official ‘no-call’ list.
Universities have faced furious criticism in recent months for paying staff huge salaries while students are taking on increasing debt.
In 2015/16, university heads reportedly received an average pay package, including benefits, of £277,834. The Mail revealed how Craig Calhoun, the former vice-chancellor of the London School of Economics, was paid £1.7-million over four years.
Meanwhile, the typical graduate today will leave university with debts of around £46,000 and eight in ten will never fully repay their tuition fee loans.
Universities are partly funded by the taxpayer and student fees of £9,250 a year. But in an attempt to top up their incomes, many have adopted a more aggressive US- style approach to fundraising.
All 24 Russell Group universities admitted to the Mail that they have sent alumni’s data to wealth screening firms. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by these firms, but any organisation that uses this service must clearly tell people their data will be passed on like this.
Examples of the process include Cambridge having 301,769 alumni records screened by sending names and contact details to companies, including one named Prospecting for Gold. The university admits it has shared data without asking for written permission but says it has posted online a ‘data protection statement for alumni’ which explains that people’s details can be passed on.
Oxford, meanwhile, has screened 199,369 alumni records since August 2007, assessing information including ‘estimated wealth band’, using companies including WealthEngine. It said that in emails to alumni there is a link to its data protection statement, which explains how it collects ‘wealth assessment information’.
The universities had to release the information to the Daily Mail under the Freedom of Information Act. The Russell Group has previously campaigned to be exempted from the Act, because its members are private institutions and not public bodies, even though they receive public money.
Andrew Allison, from the Freedom Association, said: ‘This is outrageous. If you can’t trust universities with your personal data, who can you trust? I am pleased the ICO is mounting a major investigation.’
Stephen Dunmore, of the Fund-
‘We will look carefully at the evidence’
raising Regulator, said: ‘Universities have a responsibility to maintain public trust – they must review how they use personal data.’
The universities said they follow ‘best practice’ requirements set by watchdogs and are reviewing their fundraising methods. A spokesman for the Russell Group added: ‘Our members are hugely grateful for the ongoing commitment to higher education shown by so many alumni and take their privacy very seriously.’
Prospecting for Gold denied snooping on students, saying: ‘We are totally transparent about the work we do.’ WealthEngine, a US company, has stopped working in the UK. It did not provide wealth estimates and a spokesman said: ‘Our relationships with our UK clients were not secret.’
The Department for Education said: ‘Fundraising must be done in line with the law. An individual’s personal data is protected by statute, and I understand the Information Commissioner, as the responsible regulator, is looking into this issue.’