Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 2026Applies to: Higher Council for Distance Education (HCDE)

Who we are

Higher Council for Distance Education (HCDE) is a private, independent, non-governmental body. In this policy, we, us and our mean HCDE. You can reach us at the address and email addresses given on the Contact page.

This website

This website does not use advertising cookies, analytics scripts or third-party trackers. It does not ask you to create an account.

The service that delivers the website to you (Cloudflare) processes technical data such as your IP address and details of your request, in order to deliver pages, keep the site secure and limit abuse. We do not use that data to identify you.

Information you send us

When you write to us, use the contact form or start an application, the forms on this website prepare an email for you to send from your own email program. We receive only what you choose to send. We use it to answer you, to assess an application, and to keep a record of our dealings with you.

• Contact details you give us (name, organisation, email address, telephone number if you provide one)
• Information about your institution, program or qualifications that you include in an enquiry or application
• Documents you choose to attach

Why we use it

We use personal information only for the purpose for which you gave it: to respond to you, to carry out an accreditation or credential review you have asked for, to run and improve our services, and to meet legal obligations. We do not sell personal information.

The public registry

The registry shows the name of an accredited body, its registration and certificate numbers, status and dates. These are records of an organisation, not of an individual. Credential Review reports for individuals are not published in the registry.

Sharing

We share information only with people who need it to do the work: reviewers and committee members bound by confidentiality, service providers who help us run our systems, and authorities where the law requires. Where we use a provider outside your country, we take steps appropriate to the law that applies to protect the information.

How long we keep it

We keep enquiries only as long as needed to deal with them. We keep accreditation records for as long as they are needed to support the decision, the registry and any appeal, and then securely dispose of them.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information, to have it corrected or deleted, to object to or restrict our use of it, and to complain to a data protection authority. To exercise these rights, write to us. We will answer in line with the law that applies.

Changes

We will update this policy when our practices change. The date at the top of the page shows when it was last updated.

← All policies