Our commitment
At Kenya National Qualifications Authority, your privacy is a top priority. We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Notice (together with any other documents referred to herein) sets out the basis on which the personal data collected from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us in connection with our Alignment and Validation processes. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.
We appreciate that you put your trust in us when you provide us with your information and we do not take this lightly. We do not compromise with your privacy. We design all of our products and services with your privacy in mind. We involve experts from various fields, including legal, security, engineering, product design and others to make sure that no decision is taken without respect for your privacy.
We strive to be transparent in the way we process your data. Because we use many of the same online services you do, we know that insufficient information and overly complicated language are common issues in privacy policies. We take the exact opposite approach: we have written our Privacy Policy and related documents in plain language. We actually want you to read our policies and understand our privacy practices.
We work hard to keep your information secure. We have teams dedicated to keeping your data safe and secure. We constantly update our security practices and invest in our security efforts to enhance the safety of your information.
Privacy Policy
Welcome to KNQA's Policy. Thank you for taking the time to read it. We appreciate that you trust us with your information and we intend to always keep that trust. This starts with making sure you understand the information we collect, why we collect it, how it is used and your choices regarding your information.
Where this privacy policy applies
This Privacy Policy applies to websites, apps, events and other services operated by Kenya National Qualifications Authority. For simplicity, we refer to all of these as our "services" in this Privacy Policy. To make it extra clear, we've added links to this Privacy Policy on all applicable services.
Some services may require their own unique privacy policy. If a particular service has its own privacy policy, then that policy — not this Privacy Policy — applies.
What information do we collect
We collect personal information that you provide to us. We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when registering at the Services, expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services, when participating in activities on the Services or otherwise contacting us. You choose to give us certain information when using our services. This includes:
- When you create an account, you provide us with at least your login credentials, as well as some basic details necessary for you to submit your application and for us to process your application, such as identification documents and academic qualifications.
- When you complete your profile, you can share with us additional information, such as details on your academic qualifications and copies of your certificates.
- Some of the information you choose to provide us may be considered "special" or "sensitive" in certain jurisdictions — for example your identification number or document, or your contact details. By choosing to provide this information, you consent to our processing of that information.
- When you subscribe to a paid service or make a payment directly to us, you provide us or our payment service provider with information such as your debit or credit card number or other financial information.
- If you contact our customer care team, we collect the information you give us during the interaction. Sometimes, we monitor or record these interactions for training purposes and to ensure a high quality of service.
All personal information that you provide to us must be true, complete and accurate, and you must notify us of any changes to such personal information.
Information automatically collected
Some information — such as IP address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Services. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Services and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Services, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.
Like many businesses, we also collect information through cookies and similar technologies — devices, applications, tools and protocols, such as IP addresses, cookie identifiers, or others such as the ones used for analytics and marketing, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, device geolocation, and other similar data.
Information collected from other sources
We may collect limited data from public databases, marketing partners, and other outside sources. Examples of the information we receive from other sources include social media profile information and search results and links, including paid listings (such as sponsored links). We will inform you about the source and type of information we have collected about you within a reasonable period after obtaining the personal data, but at the latest within one month.
How do we use your information
We process your information specifically for purposes based on processing your applications and the fulfillment of our contract with you, compliance with our legal obligations, and/or your consent. We use the information we collect or receive to:
- Facilitate account creation and the logon process — including, if you link your account with a third-party account (such as Google or Facebook), using the information you allowed us to collect from that third party.
- Process your application.
- Send administrative information, including product, service and new feature information, and information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.
- Fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Services.
- Post testimonials — with your prior consent to use your name and testimonial. To update or delete a testimonial, contact us at qav@knqa.go.ke with your name, testimonial location, and contact information.
- Request feedback and contact you about your use of our Services.
- Protect our Services — for example, for fraud monitoring and prevention.
- Enforce our terms, conditions and policies for business, legal and contractual purposes.
- Respond to legal requests and prevent harm — if we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.
- Manage user accounts and keep them in working order.
- Deliver the services you have requested.
- Respond to your inquiries and resolve any issues you might have with the use of our Services.
Will your information be shared with anyone?
We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations. We may process or share data based on the following legal basis:
- Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.
- Legitimate interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.
- Performance of a contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfill the terms of that contract.
- Legal obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so — to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
- Vital interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
Do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. Specific information about how we use such technologies and how you can refuse certain cookies is set out in our Cookie Policy.
How long do we keep your information?
We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this policy will require us to keep your personal information for longer than one year past the termination of your account.
When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymise it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.
How do we keep your information safe?
We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organisational and technical security measures. We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our Services is at your own risk. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.
What are your privacy rights?
You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time. If you would like to review or change the information in your account, or terminate your account, contact us using the details below. Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases — though some information may be retained in our files to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with investigations, enforce our Terms of Use, and/or comply with legal requirements.
Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually set your browser to remove or reject cookies. If you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Services.
Data breach
A privacy breach occurs when there is unauthorised access to, or collection, use, disclosure or disposal of, personal information. You will be notified about data breaches when KNQA believes you are likely to be at risk of serious harm — for example, where a breach may be likely to result in serious financial harm or harm to your mental or physical well-being. Where KNQA becomes aware of a security breach which has resulted or may result in unauthorised access, use or disclosure of personal information, KNQA will promptly investigate the matter and notify the applicable Supervisory Authority not later than 72 hours after becoming aware of it, unless the personal data breach is unlikely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons.
Controls for Do-Not-Track features
Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track ("DNT") feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. No uniform technology standard for recognising and implementing DNT signals has been finalised. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you of that practice in a revised version of this privacy policy.
Do we make updates to this privacy policy?
Yes, we will update this policy as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Revised" date and will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy policy, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to stay informed of how we are protecting your information.
How can you contact us about this policy?
If you have questions or comments about this policy, you may reach us using any of the details below.