University retention schedules

These retention schedules ares intended for staff working in areas that hold information about the University's students, staff and finance who are responsible for setting up records management systems in their business areas. The schedule sets out the minimum amount of time that the University needs to keep records, with the exception of Disclosure Scotland information where the retention period is mandatory. The recommendations set out here have been produced in consultation with relevant departments.

The University's recommendations for how long you should keep your student records are set out in the student records retention schedule spreadsheets. Colleges and Schools should take this schedule as a guide to create their own definitive retention schedules. Records Management have produced a guide on how to create retention schedules, which should be used in conjunction with the post-EUCLID Retention Schedule for Student Records:

Please note the post-EUCLID student records retention schedule has been updated in 2018/19, following changes to data protection law. This means some recommended retention periods have changed and have been aligned with the relevant privacy notices.

For records that were created before 2009/10, you will need to consult and adhere to the pre-EUCLID retention schedule; for records created after that time, consult and adhere to the post-EUCLID retention schedule.

Pre-EUCLID:

Post-EUCLID:

The core archival student record will enable the University to answer any enquiry concerning the identity of a student, the topics and subjects studied, the results of all assessments counting towards a qualification, and details of the award achieved.

It should also support the production of management information and the conduct of academic research on the University's student population.

For records that were created before 2019/10, you will need to consult and adhere to the pre-EUCLID core archival student record, for records created after that time, consult and adhere to the post-EUCLID core archival student record.

Pre-EUCLID:

Post-EUCLID:

The retention schedule for staff records can be found here:

Staff records retention schedule

The Finance retention schedule can be found here:

Finance records retention schedule

Retention schedules for health and safety documents held by Schools or equivalent can be found here:

Health and safety retention schedules

A model retention schedule for non-personal data, which schools can use as a starting point for their own schedules, adding and deleting categories of records as necessary, can be found here: