This page explains the terms that govern your use of IOWL services and My World, how access to course content works, and how we collect, use, protect and retain personal data.
These terms set the baseline conditions for the IOWL public website, My World, course registrations, learning services, events, membership-related services and digital resources. Specific course, assessment, membership, fee or institutional policies may add further conditions.
These terms apply when you use the IOWL website, create or use an IOWL account, access My World, register for or participate in a course, attend an IOWL learning event, apply for membership or professional recognition, or purchase or receive an IOWL service.
Course registration, purchases and particular services may also be subject to terms, fee information, course requirements and institutional policies shown during registration, in My World or in the IOWL Document Library. Where a specific term applies to a particular service, it forms part of the agreement for that service.
Nothing in these terms excludes or restricts any statutory right or remedy that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.
Your IOWL account is personal to you. You must provide information that is accurate to the best of your knowledge, keep your account details reasonably up to date, protect your password and access credentials, and not permit another person to use your account as if they were you.
Registration for STM001 My World Aspirant Access creates an IOWL Aspirant relationship and an entry point into My World, the IOWL Employability Progression and Perpetual Calibre Development framework. An STM001-only account does not, by itself, create the same permanent institutional learner record that arises when substantive IOWL learning or assessment begins.
An STM001-only account holder may ask IOWL to close access to the account. Where closure is appropriate, the account may be placed into Dormant status for the applicable retention period. Dormancy disables normal account use but allows IOWL to retain the minimum record reasonably required for account history, security, duplicate-registration detection and lawful administration.
Once an account ceases to be STM001-only because the individual commences another IOWL course or assessment, enters membership or professional recognition, or establishes another substantive institutional relationship with IOWL, a permanent institutional record is created. Closing or deactivating My World access does not erase that historical institutional record.
IOWL may require reasonable identity, account or candidature verification where necessary to protect academic integrity, professional recognition, account security, payment integrity or the rights of other users.
You must not attempt to bypass access controls, interfere with platform security, impersonate another person, automate access in a way that places unreasonable load on the platform, or use another person's account or learning entitlement.
Registration on a paid course or service is subject to the applicable published fee and payment conditions, unless IOWL has approved a partner-funded, sponsored, bursary or other authorised payment arrangement.
Where payment is required as a continuing condition of registration, failure to maintain that condition may result in the candidature lapsing. A later payment does not automatically reactivate a lapsed intake.
Course-specific cancellation, refund, deferral, withdrawal, resit and administrative charge rules may apply and will be provided through the relevant registration or policy framework. Where you are acting as a consumer, any statutory cancellation or refund rights that apply to your contract remain unaffected.
If you request IOWL to begin providing a service or digital access during a statutory cancellation period, any effect on cancellation rights will be determined in accordance with applicable law and the confirmations or acknowledgements obtained during the transaction.
Unless expressly stated otherwise, IOWL course materials, Learning Smartboard content, learning activities, models, methodologies, assessments, question banks, graphics, documents, recordings, platform structures and associated resources remain the intellectual property of IOWL and/or the relevant rights holder.
Your registration grants you a personal, limited, non-exclusive and non-transferable licence to access and use the materials solely for your own authorised learning and professional development, for the period and purposes for which access is provided.
No ownership or intellectual property right is transferred to you. Except where expressly permitted by IOWL or by law, you must not copy, reproduce, republish, distribute, sell, sublicense, share, systematically extract, scrape, harvest, reverse engineer or make IOWL content available to another person.
You must not use IOWL course content, protected methodologies, assessments or substantial extracts to create competing learning materials, datasets, automated training corpora, or to train or fine-tune an artificial intelligence or machine-learning system without prior written permission.
Limited downloading, printing or local retention is permitted only where a resource is expressly made available for that purpose and remains subject to the same intellectual property restrictions.
For trademarks and protected names, see the IOWL Trademark Notice.
Course content is licensed for the duration and scope of a valid candidature. Continued access depends on maintaining the applicable conditions of registration, payment, participation, conduct and academic standing.
| Candidature position | Course-content position | What remains |
|---|---|---|
| Not Started / Started / In Progress | Active course access, subject to the normal release and progression rules. | Current learning and historical records. |
| Completed | Review access may continue where IOWL expressly provides it. Review access is read-only and does not reopen participation. | Historical learning and achievement records. |
| Deferred / Withdrawn / Abandoned / Lapsed / Suspended / Excluded / Incomplete | Current-intake Learning Smartboard and licensed course-content access is closed or restricted in accordance with the status. | Historical learning, attendance, payment and communication records may be retained. |
Suspended means IOWL has temporarily restricted the candidature while a matter is reviewed or resolved. Suspension does not automatically pause or extend the course timetable.
Lapsed means the current intake registration has ended because a required registration, payment or contractual condition was not maintained. Later payment does not automatically reactivate that intake.
Excluded means IOWL has formally closed the candidature. Deferred applies only where a deferral has been approved. Withdrawn records a learner's formal departure. Abandoned reflects closure following sustained non-participation. Incomplete records an intake that ended without completion where that status applies.
Closing current course access does not require IOWL to delete the historical evidence of what occurred during the candidature.
IOWL programmes may include required learning activity, reflective work, assignments, tutorials or other live learning, assessment, examination and professional-standing requirements. The applicable course and academic policies explain the requirements and consequences in more detail.
Learners are responsible for reviewing the policies and notices made available in My World and the IOWL Document Library. Policies on academic participation, academic integrity, fees and charges, assessment, professional conduct, membership and other institutional matters form part of the framework governing the relevant learner or member relationship.
IOWL may use learning evidence, attendance evidence, payment status, course progress and other relevant records when making academic, administrative or professional decisions. Historical evidence is not erased merely because a candidature later closes.
IOWL may maintain, update, secure or modify its website, My World and related systems. Temporary interruption may occur for maintenance, security, technical failure or events outside IOWL's reasonable control.
Where a material change affects an existing paid service, candidature or legal right, IOWL will apply the relevant contract, policy and legal requirements. Routine technical, security and presentation changes do not create a new ownership right in the platform or its content.
IOWL may update these public terms and privacy information when its services, policies or legal obligations change. The current version and update date are shown on this page.
Nothing on this page is intended to remove rights provided by applicable consumer law. Where the Consumer Rights Act 2015 or other mandatory consumer law applies, statutory requirements relating to services and digital content continue to apply.
The fact that IOWL intellectual property is supplied under a licence does not remove statutory rights that apply to the supply of the service or digital content.
If you have a concern about a purchase, service or course registration, contact IOWL using the contact route shown for that service or through My World so the matter can be reviewed against the applicable terms and evidence.
IOWL gives authorised learners permission to use protected course content for their own learning within the scope of their registration. That permission is a licence. Ownership of the content, methodology and intellectual property remains with IOWL and/or the relevant rights holder.
This privacy notice is intended to be concise, transparent and easy to navigate. It explains who controls your data, what we collect, why we use it, how long we keep it, who we may share it with and the rights available to you.
The Institute of One World Leadership (IOWL) is operated by One World Leadership C.I.C., registered in Northern Ireland under company number NI655262, with a registered office at 34B Main Street, Moira, Craigavon, BT67 0LE, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. IOWL's operational and public contact address is Custom House, Custom Square, Belfast, BT1 3ET, United Kingdom.
For the purposes of this notice, "IOWL", "we", "us" and "our" refer to the Institute of One World Leadership and the legal entity responsible for the relevant IOWL processing activity.
General data protection enquiries may be sent to dataprotection@owls.global.
IOWL is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under registration number ZB 305 876.
The personal data we collect depends on how you interact with IOWL. It may include:
Where relevant and lawful, we may also process special category personal data, such as ethnicity, belief, health, disability or support-related information. We only do so where there is a valid purpose and an appropriate legal condition in addition to the normal lawful basis for processing.
We may create aggregated or anonymised information that no longer identifies an individual. Data that is genuinely anonymous is not personal data.
We may collect personal data:
If we obtain personal data about you from another source, we will provide privacy information as required by law unless an exception applies.
We use personal data only where we have a lawful basis. Depending on the activity, this may include performance of a contract, taking steps at your request before entering a contract, compliance with a legal obligation, IOWL's legitimate interests or those of another party where those interests are not overridden by your rights, and consent where consent is the appropriate basis.
Our purposes may include:
Where special category data is processed, IOWL also identifies an appropriate additional condition under applicable data protection law.
IOWL systems may use automated or rules-based processing to support learning administration, engagement monitoring, security, payment controls, eligibility indicators, communication triggers and operational review.
Rules-based indicators can inform staff and learners, but they do not necessarily constitute the final academic or professional decision. Where a decision has a legal or similarly significant effect and applicable law requires safeguards, IOWL will apply the safeguards required by law, including human involvement or a route to challenge the decision where required.
IOWL may retain the evidence on which academic, assessment, access, payment or professional decisions were based so that decisions can be reviewed, verified and audited.
We do not sell your personal data.
Where necessary and lawful, personal data may be shared with:
Service providers are expected to process personal data only for authorised purposes and with appropriate security and contractual controls.
IOWL operates internationally and some service providers, partners or systems may process personal data outside the United Kingdom. Where personal data is transferred internationally, IOWL applies the transfer rules and safeguards required by applicable UK data protection law.
Depending on the destination and circumstances, safeguards may include an adequacy regulation, recognised contractual safeguards, another permitted transfer mechanism or a specific legal exception.
IOWL uses administrative, technical and organisational measures intended to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, misuse, alteration or disclosure. Access is restricted according to operational need and authorised roles.
No internet-based service can guarantee absolute security. IOWL maintains procedures for investigating suspected personal data breaches and will notify affected people and the Information Commissioner's Office where the law requires this.
We retain personal data only for as long as we can justify for the purpose for which it is held, taking account of legal, regulatory, accounting, contractual, academic, verification, evidential and security requirements. Different categories of information may therefore have different retention periods.
Where an individual has only STM001 My World Aspirant Access and has not commenced another IOWL course, assessment or substantive learning activity, the account is not treated as a permanent institutional learner record.
An inactive STM001-only account may be retained for up to seven years from the account holder's last substantive interaction with the account. Substantive interaction means activity initiated by the account holder, such as registration or activation, signing in to My World, updating account information, using an IOWL learner facility, registering for a learning activity or otherwise actively engaging with the account.
If an STM001-only account holder asks for the account to be closed, IOWL may place it into Dormant status. Normal account access is disabled while the minimum identifying and audit record required for lawful administration, account security and duplicate-registration detection is retained for seven years from the dormancy date. Where the account holder's last substantive interaction is later than the dormancy date, the later date applies. If the same email address is subsequently used to attempt another registration while that record remains, IOWL may identify the existing account and require recovery, review or reactivation rather than permit a duplicate account.
Automated activity initiated by IOWL - including anniversary messages, progression messages, attempted communications, delivery failures, security checks or other system-generated activity - does not count as substantive activity by the account holder and does not restart the seven-year retention period.
At the end of the applicable seven-year period, personal data held solely for the STM001-only account will be deleted or irreversibly anonymised unless another documented lawful reason requires particular information to be retained.
Once an account ceases to be STM001-only because the individual commences another IOWL course or assessment, enters membership or professional recognition, or establishes another substantive institutional relationship with IOWL, IOWL creates a permanent institutional record. The permanent institutional record is retained in perpetuity to preserve the authenticity, integrity and continuing verifiability of the individual's learning and institutional history.
The permanent record may include information necessary to evidence identity at the time of study, course and intake, candidature and progression status, participation and attendance, learning and reflective activity, submissions, assessment and examination evidence, results, Calibre Credits, awards, professional standing, material academic or professional decisions, material communications and financial or transactional evidence required to establish the history of the relationship.
Permanent retention of the institutional record does not mean that every item of personal information associated with the individual is retained forever. Temporary technical logs, obsolete preferences, marketing information, unnecessary support material and other peripheral information will be deleted, minimised or anonymised when no longer required under the applicable retention schedule.
Closing or deactivating My World access, ending a candidature, withdrawing from IOWL or making an erasure request does not require IOWL to destroy a permanent institutional record where IOWL continues to have a lawful and necessary reason to retain it. Erasure requests are considered individually in accordance with applicable data protection law.
If an email address becomes permanently undeliverable, IOWL may mark that contact method as uncontactable and suppress further sending to it. A hard bounce or other delivery failure does not itself close or delete an account and does not restart a retention period.
Where you unsubscribe, object to direct marketing or ask us not to send optional communications, we may retain the minimum information necessary on a suppression record so that your preference continues to be respected.
IOWL distinguishes between account and institutional communications, learner progression guidance, optional progression communications, and wider promotional communications.
For example, My World may tell an Aspirant which IOWL course or stage is the appropriate next step, and IOWL may answer a learner who asks what they should register for next, even if that person has chosen not to receive proactive progression emails. Sending proactive email announcements about a forthcoming relevant intake is governed by the progression communication preference. Wider news, events, services and offers are governed by the wider promotional preference.
You can change available communication preferences through My World or use the unsubscribe mechanism provided in optional communications. Refusing optional communications does not prevent IOWL from operating your account, providing current-service communications or giving you progression guidance when you use or request that service. IOWL does not sell personal data for third-party marketing.
IOWL websites and My World may use cookies and similar technologies to make the service work, maintain secure sessions, remember appropriate preferences, understand how the website is used and support services provided through third-party technology.
Cookies that are strictly necessary for a service may be used without optional consent where the law permits. Where consent is legally required for non-essential cookies or similar technologies, IOWL will seek that consent before using them.
You can control or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the website, My World or account-related services from working correctly. Where an IOWL cookie or privacy control is presented, you can also use that control to manage the choices it makes available.
Your rights depend on the circumstances and lawful basis for the processing. They are not all absolute, but IOWL will consider each valid request in accordance with applicable law.
Request access to your personal data and supplementary information. IOWL will carry out the reasonable and proportionate searches required by law.
Ask us to correct inaccurate personal data or complete information that is materially incomplete.
Ask for deletion where the legal conditions are met. Some records may need to be retained where a lawful reason continues to apply.
Ask us to restrict processing in circumstances recognised by data protection law.
Object to certain processing based on legitimate interests and object at any time to processing for direct marketing.
Receive or transfer certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable form where the legal conditions apply.
Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw that consent. Withdrawal does not make earlier lawful processing unlawful.
Where applicable, exercise the rights and safeguards provided by law in relation to significant decisions made using automated processing.
Raise a data protection complaint directly with IOWL and, where appropriate, with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Email dataprotection@owls.global and clearly state that you are making a data protection complaint. You do not need to quote legislation or use legal terminology.
Institute of One World Leadership
One World Leadership C.I.C.
Registered office: 34B Main Street, Moira, Craigavon, BT67 0LE, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
IOWL contact: Custom House, Custom Square, Belfast, BT1 3ET, United Kingdom
Data protection: dataprotection@owls.global
Subject access: legal@owls.global
Erasure requests: deletionrequest@owls.global
Company number: NI655262 | ICO registration: ZB305876 | Corporate & Legal Information
Version 2026.3 - last updated 14 September 2026