A number of students have approached the Union with concerns over extra questions being asked when registering or re-registering with College.

Students registering for the new academic year will be prompted to answer questions on religion, sexual orientation and gender identity when updating the online Student e-Service. These questions were added in order to monitor equal opportunities in the higher education sector, to help institutions meet their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and also to help plan service provision.

Although there is a ‘I would prefer not to say’ option for all of these questions, some students were still concerned about why they were being asked to provide this information and who would be able to see the data. The Deputy President (Welfare) contacted Registry with these concerns and Registry quickly responded, assuring Imperial College Union of the purposes of the data collection and also that this information is provided on a confidential basis.

Imperial College Union have asked Registry to add the fact that the information is kept confidential somewhere within the e-Service system in response to student feedback so that future users won’t share these concerns.

UPDATE: Registry are now adding the following paragraph into the student e-Service: "The College has introduced some new questions to enable us to monitor equal opportunities and thereby to meet our obligations under the Equality Act 2010. We recognise that the information is sensitive and we have phrased the questions following advice from Stonewall. All information is provided on a confidential basis and is not shared with academic departments. Aggregated returns are made to the Higher Education Statistics Agency but without identifying individuals. The College is committed to equality and valuing diversity.  We are also an Athena Silver SWAN Award winner, a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Two Ticks Employer."