Privacy Policy
How we handle your information
What we collect, why we collect it, who sees it, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it.
Last updated: 29 September 2026. This policy covers the Tech Asia website, enquiries sent to us, and the Tech Asia learning platform.
Who we are
TechAsia Online College Ltd is a company registered in England and Wales under company number 15657352, based in Hayes, London. We trade as Tech Asia Online College and provide online tutoring, digital skills training, and related education services. We are the data controller for the personal information described in this policy, which means we decide how and why it is used. We are registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office under registration ZC146108.
What this policy covers
This policy applies to our public website at techasia.co.uk, to enquiries you send us, and to our learning platform at lms.techasia.co.uk. It explains what we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have over it. Please read it alongside any course agreement or terms you have signed with us.
Information we collect
The information we hold depends on how you interact with us.
- Enquiries and website visits: your name, email address, phone number, organisation, the topic and content of your message, and the IP address the message was sent from.
- Account and profile: your name, email address, a securely hashed password, your role, and optionally a phone number, gender, photograph or generated avatar, biography, timezone, and student or employee reference number. For learners we also record the class and batch you belong to, and any linked parent or guardian account.
- Learning activity: assignment submissions and the files attached to them, quiz and test answers, marks, feedback, peer reviews, notes and bookmarks you save, course progress, and certificates issued to you.
- Attendance: when you join a live class we record that you attended and how long you stayed. Tutors may also mark attendance manually.
- Live classes: audio, video, screen shares, in-class chat, polls, questions, and whiteboard snapshots. Classes may be recorded — see the separate section below.
- Online assessments: for monitored coding tests we record your camera and screen for the duration of the test, and log events such as switching away from the test window. See the separate section below.
- Messages and community: direct messages, discussion forum posts, and announcements you send or receive through the platform.
- Technical and security: sign-in times, failed sign-in attempts, an administrative audit log of significant actions together with the IP address they came from, and error diagnostics that help us keep the service working.
Why we use your information, and our lawful basis
Under UK data protection law we must have a lawful basis for everything we do with your information. Ours are:
- To deliver the courses, tutoring, and platform access you have signed up for, including marking work, tracking progress, and issuing certificates — because it is necessary to perform our contract with you.
- To respond to your enquiries and arrange consultations — because it is in our legitimate interests to answer people who contact us, and yours to receive a reply.
- To keep the platform secure, prevent misuse, and investigate academic integrity concerns — because it is in our legitimate interests to run a safe and fair service.
- To record live classes for learners who could not attend or who want to revise — with notice to participants, on the basis of our legitimate interests in supporting learning.
- To monitor invigilated assessments — because it is necessary to perform our contract to deliver a credible assessment, and in our legitimate interests to protect its integrity.
- To send you service messages such as class reminders, deadline notices, and account notifications — because it is necessary to perform our contract with you.
- To send marketing about our courses — only with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.
- To meet legal, accounting, safeguarding, and regulatory obligations — because we are required to comply with the law.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered whether our interests are overridden by your rights, and you can object at any time using the contact details below.
Recording of live classes
Live classes may be recorded so that learners can revisit the material or catch up on a session they missed. Recordings capture audio, video, shared screens, and the in-class chat, which means your voice, image, and anything you type may be included. Recordings are available to the tutors and administrators responsible for the class and to enrolled learners in that class. They are not published publicly.
If you do not want to appear in a recording, you can turn off your camera and microphone and take part through the chat instead. Tell your tutor before the session if you have concerns, and ask us if you want a recording you appear in reviewed or removed.
Monitored assessments
Some coding assessments are invigilated. When you sit one of these, the platform records your camera and your screen for the length of the assessment and logs events such as moving away from the test window. This is to confirm that the work is your own and that the result is credible.
- You are told before an invigilated assessment starts, and you choose whether to begin it.
- Recordings and monitoring logs are seen only by the tutors and administrators responsible for that assessment.
- We do not use facial recognition, biometric identification, or automated decision-making. A person reviews anything flagged and decides what to do about it.
- If a session is locked because of a flagged event, you can ask a tutor to review it and explain what happened.
If invigilated monitoring is a problem for you — for health, accessibility, religious, or personal reasons — contact us before the assessment and we will discuss an alternative.
Children and young people
We provide courses to learners under 18. Where a learner is a child, we ask a parent or guardian to enrol them, and we link the parent or guardian to the learner's account so they can see progress, attendance, and results.
- We collect only the information we need to teach and support the learner and to keep them safe.
- We do not send marketing to children.
- A parent or guardian can exercise the learner's rights on their behalf, including asking for a copy of their information or asking us to delete it.
- Safeguarding concerns are handled under our safeguarding procedures, and may require us to share information with the appropriate authorities.
Where your information is held
Our platform, database, and recordings are hosted in the United Kingdom. Some of the providers listed above may process information outside the UK. Where that happens, we rely on the safeguards UK law requires — such as an adequacy decision covering the destination country, or the International Data Transfer Agreement or UK Addendum with the provider — so that your information keeps the same protection it has here. Contact us if you would like details of the safeguards for a particular transfer.
How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as we need it, then delete it or make it anonymous. In general:
- Enquiries: 24 months from your last contact with us.
- Account and profile information: the life of your account, and 12 months after it is closed.
- Learning records, marks, and certificates: 6 years after a learner leaves, so we can reissue certificates and answer queries.
- Live class recordings: 12 months from the date of the class.
- Monitored assessment recordings and logs: 6 months after the assessment, or until any academic integrity question is resolved.
- Security and audit logs: 12 months.
We may keep information for longer where we have to for legal, accounting, safeguarding, insurance, or dispute reasons.
How we protect your information
Access to the platform requires an account, and accounts are locked temporarily after repeated failed sign-in attempts. Passwords are stored only as a secure hash, never as readable text. Traffic to and from our site is encrypted in transit. Tutors and administrators see only the learners and classes they are responsible for, and significant administrative actions are recorded in an audit log. No service can promise perfect security, but we review these measures and act on problems we find.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you have the right to:
- Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
- Ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete.
- Ask us to delete information where we no longer have a good reason to keep it.
- Ask us to restrict how we use your information while a concern is looked into.
- Object to us using your information where we rely on legitimate interests, including for marketing.
- Ask us to transfer certain information to you or another provider in a portable format.
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.
To exercise any of these rights, email us at info@techasia.co.uk. We will respond within one month, and we will not charge you. If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or by calling 0303 123 1113. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.
Changes to this policy
We review this policy regularly and will update it when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. If we make a change that materially affects how we use your information, we will tell account holders directly rather than relying on this page alone.
Contact us
For any question about this policy, or to exercise your rights, email TechAsia Online College Ltd at info@techasia.co.uk. If you need a postal address for a formal request, ask us and we will provide it.