Privacy policy

Who we are

The college is responsible for your information

This policy is published by College of Nursing Allied Health Sciences and Technology (CONAHST), Abu Sengbeh Street, St. Bombeh Village, Lungi, Rotifunk, Port Loko District, Sierra Leone. It covers this website, the CONAHST portal (where applicants, students and staff sign in) and the CONAHST Student app for iPhone and Android.

Questions about your information go to the Registrar's office: conahst@gmail.com, telephone +232 74 989 898 / +232 79 967 844 / +232 78 233 653.

What we collect

What we collect, and why

Visitors to this website

You can read the public pages without giving us anything. If you use the contact form, we receive your name, email address, the telephone number if you give one, and your message, and use them only to reply.

The public pages may use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are read. It is never used on the portal or in the app, where your records are.

Applicants

To consider an application we collect what the application form asks for: your name, date of birth, gender, nationality, region and place of birth, religion, marital status, addresses, telephone and email; your parent or guardian's contact details; your schooling, examination results and any previous study; your passport photograph and the documents you upload; and your application PIN. We use this to assess your application, invite you to interview, make an admission decision and, if you are admitted, to create your student record.

Students

As a student, the college holds your student ID, programme, year of study and contact details; the modules you are registered on and your timetable; your class attendance; the assignments you hand in and the marks and feedback you receive; your results; and your fees, invoices, payments and receipts. These are the college's academic and financial records, kept so that you can be taught, assessed, graduated and issued with transcripts, and so that fees are accounted for.

Signing in and keeping accounts safe

Passwords are stored only in scrambled (hashed) form; nobody at the college can read yours. We record failed sign-in attempts so that an account can be locked for a while after repeated wrong passwords, and we email you when your password changes.

The CONAHST Student app

What the app uses on your phone

The app is for enrolled students and shows the same records as the student portal. Accounts are issued by the college on admission; they cannot be created in the app.

• Signing in. The app keeps your sign-in in your phone's secure storage (the iPhone Keychain or Android Keystore). The college records which kind of phone signed in (iPhone or Android) and when the sign-in started and was last used, so that you stay signed in. A sign-in ends when you sign out, when your password changes, when your account is deactivated, or after 30 days without use.
• Camera. Used only to scan your class attendance code. The app does not take or keep photographs.
• Location. Asked for only when you check in to a class that requires it, and only while you are using the app. Your position is compared with the classroom's to confirm you are there, and is then discarded: the college keeps the time you checked in, not where you were.
• Face ID or fingerprint. If you turn on this lock, your phone checks your face or fingerprint itself. The app is told only whether the check succeeded and never receives your face or fingerprint.
• Phone alerts. If you turn alerts on, your phone gives the app an alert address (a push token), which the college stores so it can tell you when results are out, a deadline is close, work is marked or a payment is received. Turning alerts off in the app or in your phone's settings stops them.
• Files. Lecture notes and receipts you download are saved on your phone. Assignments you hand in are sent to the college and kept with your student record.

The app contains no advertising and no analytics, does not track you across other apps or websites, and does not read your contacts, photographs or other files except a file you choose to hand in.

Sharing

Who else sees your information

We do not sell personal information or use it for advertising. Within the college, staff see what their role requires.

We use service providers to run the system, who process information only on our behalf:

• a hosting provider, which runs the website and portal;
• a database provider, which stores the college's records;
• a file storage provider, which stores uploaded files and photographs;
• an email delivery service, which sends the college's emails;
• an alert delivery service, together with Apple's and Google's own phone alert services, which deliver alerts to the app (an alert carries a short message, such as "Your result is out");
• Google Analytics, on the public pages only.

These providers may store information on servers outside Sierra Leone. We may also share records with examining and accrediting bodies, such as the Nursing & Midwifery Council, where your studies require it, or where the law requires us to.

How long

How long we keep it

Student records are kept permanently by the college. This includes registrations, attendance, results, transcripts and fee and payment records, because former students need transcripts long after they leave and the college must account for fees. Application records are kept with the admissions records for that intake. Messages sent through the contact form are kept only as long as needed to deal with them.

Younger students

Students under 18

Some applicants and students are under 18. Their information is collected and used in exactly the same way as every other student's, only for their application and their studies, and never for advertising. A student under 18 may use the app like any other student. The website, portal and app are not designed for young children.

Your choices

Seeing, correcting and removing your information

You can ask the Registrar's office to:

• show you the personal information the college holds about you;
• correct details that are wrong;
• close your account. The college deactivates it: you can no longer sign in, every app sign-in on your phones ends, and phone alerts stop at once.

Academic, examination and fee records cannot be deleted, for the reasons above, but closing your account stops all access to them through the portal and the app.

To make a request, email conahst@gmail.com from the address the college has for you, or visit the Registrar's office. We will confirm it is you before acting. In the app you can also turn phone alerts off and sign out at any time.

Security

How we protect it

The website, portal and app connect over encrypted connections. Passwords and app sign-ins are stored in hashed form, accounts lock after repeated failed sign-ins, and staff access is limited by role. No system is perfectly secure; if you think your account has been misused, change your password and contact the Registrar's office.

Changes

Changes to this policy

When this policy changes, the new version is published on this page with a new date at the top.