In short
This policy explains what personal information Institify, operated by Pxlhut, collects, why we collect it, who we share it with and what you can do about it.
In short: we use information only to run the service. We do not sell it, and we do not use it for advertising. If you are a student, your centre decides how your information is used, and you should contact your centre first.
Contents
- 1.Who we are
- 2.Words we use
- 3.Who is responsible for your information
- 4.What we collect
- 5.How we use information
- 6.Why we are allowed to use it
- 7.How AI is used
- 8.Who we share information with
- 9.Information sent to other countries
- 10.How long we keep it
- 11.How we protect it
- 12.Your rights
- 13.Children
- 14.Changes to this policy
- 15.Contact
1.Who we are
Institify is an online service that IELTS centres, language schools and similar organisations use to run mock tests and manage their students. It is operated by Pxlhut, based in Bangladesh ("we", "us", "our").
You can contact us about anything in this policy at [email protected].
2.Words we use
- Centre
- An organisation that uses the service to run tests or classes, such as a test centre, coaching centre, language school or university. Also called a customer.
- Agency
- An organisation that offers the service to centres under its own name.
- Student
- Anyone a centre adds to the service, including candidates who book a single mock test (walk-in candidates).
- Staff
- People who sign in to manage a centre or agency, such as owners, managers, teachers, examiners and invigilators.
- Personal information
- Any information about an identifiable person, such as a name, phone number, exam answer or recording.
- Data controller
- The organisation that decides why and how personal information is used. It is responsible for that use.
- Data processor
- An organisation that handles personal information on behalf of a data controller and only on its instructions.
3.Who is responsible for your information
Who is responsible depends on your relationship with us.
- Students' information. Your centre is the data controller. It decides what to collect about you and how to use it. We are its data processor: we store and handle your information only to provide the service to your centre, under our Data Processing Agreement with them. Please send requests about your information to your centre. If you contact us, we will pass your request to them.
- Staff, centre owners and agency owners. We are the data controller for the information we need to run your account, bill you and keep the service secure. Your organisation is the data controller for how it uses the service.
- Visitors to this website and people who book a demo. We are the data controller.
4.What we collect
Information about students, which centres add or students provide:
- Name, student ID, date of birth, nationality, phone number, email address and the branch and batch they belong to.
- Target band, attendance, course fees, instalments and payments.
- Exam answers, Writing essays, Speaking recordings and their transcripts, marks, bands, examiners' comments and score reports.
- What happens on the exam computer during a test, such as another program being opened, a second screen being connected or a blocked key being pressed, with the time it happened.
Information about staff and account holders:
- Name, email address, phone number, role, the branches you work at and your password (stored in a scrambled form we cannot read).
- Sign-in details, such as the time, IP address, browser and a code that recognises the device you use, so we can spot sign-ins from a new device.
- Billing details and payment history for subscriptions. Card details are handled by our payment provider, not stored by us.
Information from website visitors and people who contact us:
- What you type into the demo booking form or an email: your name, work email, phone or WhatsApp number, centre name, city, number of branches, the time you asked for and your notes.
- Basic technical information sent by every browser, such as IP address and browser type, which our servers and network providers log for security.
We do not use advertising or analytics trackers on this website. See our Cookie Policy for the small number of cookies we use.
5.How we use information
We use personal information only to:
- Provide the service: run tests, mark them, produce results and score reports, and manage batches, attendance, fees and messages.
- Suggest Writing and Speaking bands using AI, for a centre's examiner to confirm or change (see section 7).
- Keep tests fair, for example by recording unusual activity on the exam computer so a centre can review it.
- Keep accounts and the service secure, and find and fix faults.
- Send messages the service needs to send, such as sign-in codes, booking confirmations, absence alerts, fee reminders and receipts.
- Bill subscriptions and keep financial records.
- Reply to demo requests and other messages.
- Meet our legal obligations.
We do not sell personal information, and we do not use students' information for marketing.
We do not use students' information to train AI models. To keep the AI's suggestions accurate, we look at cases where an examiner changed a suggested band. Any essay we keep as an example for checking the AI has names and other details that could identify the student removed first.
6.Why we are allowed to use it
Where we are the data controller, we rely on one of these reasons:
- To perform our contract with you or your organisation.
- Our legitimate interest in running a secure, reliable service and replying to people who contact us, where this does not override your rights.
- To comply with the law.
- Your consent, where we ask for it. You can withdraw consent at any time.
Where we act for a centre, the centre is responsible for having a lawful reason to collect and use its students' information, including any consent needed from a parent or guardian for a student under 18.
7.How AI is used
AI helps with Writing and Speaking. It reads an essay, or listens to and reads a Speaking answer, and suggests a band with reasons. It can also act as the examiner's voice in a Speaking test.
AI never makes the final decision. A person at the centre reviews each suggested band and confirms or changes it before a student can see the result.
To do this, essays, Speaking recordings and transcripts are sent to the AI providers listed in section 8. Some of them are in other countries, including China and the United States.
Speaking recordings and the detailed readings taken from them are deleted after 90 days. The exception is a test where an examiner changed the AI's suggested band. That evidence is kept so the result can be checked if it is questioned. Transcripts and bands are kept with the result.
9.Information sent to other countries
We are based in Bangladesh, but the service is hosted in Australia, files are stored in Singapore, and some providers are in the United States, China and elsewhere. This means personal information leaves the country where it was collected.
We choose providers that protect information properly, and we send them only what they need for their task. Where the law requires it, we use contracts or other safeguards for these transfers.
10.How long we keep it
- Students' information is kept for as long as the centre keeps its account, or until the centre deletes it.
- Speaking recordings are deleted after 90 days, as explained in section 7.
- When a centre's agreement ends, we delete its information within 90 days, unless the centre asks for a copy first or the law requires us to keep something.
- Financial records are kept for as long as tax and accounting laws require.
- Demo requests and emails are kept for as long as we need them to reply and follow up, and no longer than two years without further contact.
- Backups are kept for a short time, currently up to 7 days, and then replaced.
11.How we protect it
We protect information with measures such as encrypted connections, scrambled passwords, checks on new devices, access limited by role, limits on repeated sign-in attempts, and regular backups. Our Security page describes these in more detail.
No system is perfectly secure. If a breach affects your information, we will tell the centre or you without undue delay, as the law requires.
12.Your rights
Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have the right to:
- Ask for a copy of the personal information held about you.
- Ask for wrong information to be corrected.
- Ask for your information to be deleted.
- Object to, or ask us to limit, some uses of your information.
- Withdraw consent you have given.
- Complain to a data protection authority.
Students should make these requests to their centre, which controls their information. We will help the centre answer. Everyone else can email [email protected]. We may need to confirm who you are before we act, and we will reply within one month.
13.Children
Some students are under 18. Centres are responsible for getting any permission needed from a parent or guardian before adding a child's information. The service is not meant for children to sign up to on their own.
14.Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the service changes. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change is important, we will tell account holders by email or in the service before it takes effect.
15.Contact
For questions about privacy, or to make a request, email [email protected]. Institify, operated by Pxlhut, Bangladesh.