Can any university types help ?

[GospelOakCloak]

I left a university under bad circumstances in the summer of 1995 when I had mental health problems

I later joined a completely different university when I was in a better frame of mind and graduated successfully

However I’ve recently received communications from my initial university which I’m really surprised about considering I’ve never kept in touch with them? They’ve written to my current address where I’ve only lived since 2020 - I’m really surprised about this because there’s NO WAY I’d have told my old university my new address!! Even the university I graduated from doesn’t know it so how on earth are they writing to me?

there’s no one at my old address that would’ve given it to them either I’m stumped

AIBU to feel stumped ?

I would email and ask them how they accessed your current address.

Student finance? If you’re still paying it off they might have got your address from there, don’t know if that breaks GDPR rules. Email them and ask how they got your address.

Thank you - good idea

No im DEFINITELY not paying anything at all off and not in touch at aim with student finance

Thanks all btw for contributing to this thread

Electoral register?

Just a guess, but when I needed to support my son’s student finance, I had to login to my student finance account. The address they had on record for me was the one I had when I was at uni. I graduated in 1997. Your student finance account stays with you for life apparently.

If you subsequently updated your student finance account with your new address for your second uni and are still paying off loans they may have got your address through there, but I would have thought that would be against gdpr as it’s not being used for the purpose it was provided.

Hmm I’m not on it - also my names very common

Definitely not paying anything of so no finance connection

How can you not be on the electoral register?

You can opt to not be public on it

anyway I’ve got a VERY common name - think ‘Emma Smith’ and live in
a completely different part of the country to my uni days

I live in Belgium. When you move, you have to prove where you live and then every thing linked to your ID card also moves. I now find it weird that you are worrying about about how someone knows your address.

Do a subject access request and you can find out all the info they have about you.

Thank you !!

Google?

Good idea

Could they have asked someone else for it? Are you still friends with others from your course?

No that’s the thing !! I’m not in contact with ANYONE from that uni and haven’t been since 1995!!!’

A university would not be able to do this, not GDPR compliant.

Why did they contact you? If it was a standard alumni mailing and you have a common name, perhaps a different"Emma Smith" lived at your address in the past? Sounds like a coincidence rather than anything sinister. Or are you famous and they want you to get involved with their fundraising?

Deffo not famous - and my name is common - but not where I’m living now iyswim it’s a regional name that’s common in one area of the uk but not another

Standard alumni mailing yes

I used to work in a university until very recently and the system we used for a lot of communications had a feed in from the main student records system. So very occasionally things like this would happen and students/ applicants who shouldn't have been, ended up on mailing lists etc. If they contacted us we would just remove them.

Ah thanks makes sense