Privacy Policy

GlobalStudyBoard does not require you to create an account, and we do not ask for personal details to browse. We collect information in the following ways:

• Information you choose to send — for example, if you email us or use the Ask GSB, your message is processed to answer you.
• Automatically collected usage data — standard analytics such as pages viewed, approximate region, device and browser type, used in aggregate to understand what’s useful.
• Your account, only if you choose to create one — an optional, free account that remembers your study destination, your saved pages and anything you enter into our tools. What it stores is set out in the “Your account” section below.
• Your email address, only if you ask to test the Android app — see the section below.
• Feedback and issue reports you choose to send — what you write, the page link, any screenshot or PDF you attach, and an email address only if you add one. See the section below. Nothing else on the site asks you for personal details.

You never need an account to read GlobalStudyBoard. If you create one, it is passwordless: you sign in with a one-time code or link that we e-mail you or, where we offer it, with your Google account. Here is exactly what an account involves.

• What we store — your e-mail address; a display name (one you enter, or, if you sign in with Google, the name on your Google account until you change it); the study destination and the domestic/international view you last chose; the pages you save (each page’s title, address, study destination and the time you saved it); everything you enter into the Application Planner (the universities and programmes you add, their status, your own safe/target/reach estimate, the deadlines, documents and test dates you record, and your private notes — please do not record sensitive personal details in notes); everything you enter into the Cost & Funding Planner (each budget’s name, destination, currency, programme length and intake, every cost and funding line with its amount, period and note, and your private notes — again, please do not record bank or card details); everything you enter into Compare Universities (each comparison’s name, destination and notes, the universities you put in it, the criteria you name and the weight you give each, the scores you give each university, and any note you add — please keep personal details out of them); everything you enter into the Test Score Tracker (the test, the score exactly as you received it, any section scores, the date you sat the test — a sitting you have only booked belongs in the Application Planner instead — and your private note; please keep registration numbers, dates of birth and ID numbers out of it); for every entry in these four tools, when you first saved it and when you last changed it; the date and time you accepted our Terms and read this policy; and, only if we ever had to suspend your account, a short note explaining why (see “How long we keep it”). We never ask for a password, your date of birth, your nationality, a phone number or a photo.
• Reports and PDFs — each tool can lay your own entries out as a printable report and save them as a PDF. Both are built in your own browser, from data your browser already holds; nothing is sent to us to make them, they never include your e-mail address, and your private notes go in only while you tick the box for that report.
• Google Sign-In — if you use it, Google shares your Google account e-mail address, the name on that account, a link to its profile picture and a Google account identifier with us. They sit only inside your sign-in record; we display the name (as your editable display name) and never show or use the picture. We never see your Google password. Google’s own privacy policy governs what Google does on its side.
• Why — solely to run your account: to sign you in, keep your saved pages, planner, budgets, comparisons, test scores and preferences across devices, and answer your requests. We do not use your account for marketing, and we never sell or share it.
• Where and who processes it — your account data is held for us by Supabase (our authentication and database provider) in its Mumbai, India data-centre region. The website itself is hosted by Vercel, whose servers handle your sign-in, data-download and deletion requests on the way to Supabase. Sign-in e-mails are currently sent by Supabase’s own e-mail service; we are moving them to Resend, a transactional e-mail provider, and will update this sentence when that happens. Whichever sends the e-mail sees only the address it delivers to and the code or link in the message. Each of your records is only ever readable by you (row-level security) and, for support, by us.
• Cookies — signing in sets a first-party session cookie on your device so you stay signed in; it is strictly necessary, is never used for tracking or advertising, and is removed when you sign out or delete your account. While you start a sign-in, a short-lived first-party cookie records only that you ticked the consent box. See our Cookie Policy.
• Security logs — to protect accounts, our authentication provider records each sign-in (the e-mail address, IP address and browser) in its own security logs. Those logs are held by the provider under its retention policy — a matter of days, not months — and we cannot lengthen or shorten it. The provider also keeps a record of each active session until you sign out while connected, use “Sign out everywhere”, or your account is deleted; sessions have no fixed expiry. A sign-out that cannot reach the provider (for example, while you are offline) still removes the session from this device, but the provider keeps that record until you use “Sign out everywhere” or your account is deleted. Sign-in requests are rate limited in two places: our own servers limit requests per network address with counters that live in memory for minutes and are never stored, and our sign-in provider limits how often an address can be e-mailed, recording the time it last e-mailed you as part of your sign-in record (deleted with the account).
• International transfers — your account data is stored in India (Supabase, Mumbai) and passes through Vercel’s systems — and, once we move sign-in e-mail to Resend, Resend’s — which may process it in the United States. If you use the site from the EEA, the UK or another jurisdiction with transfer rules, those transfers take place under each provider’s data-processing agreement and standard contractual clauses.
• How long we keep it — for as long as your account exists. Delete the account and everything above is erased immediately; there is no deactivated state and no recovery period. If we ever had to suspend an account — or deleted one by e-mail at its owner’s request — we keep the action, its time and an internal account identifier — the note explaining it (which you can see in your data download while the account exists) is deleted with the account, and never your e-mail address — for up to 12 months for safety and dispute purposes; a scheduled job removes older records automatically. Provider security logs are kept by the provider for days, as described above.
• Your controls — from Your account you can download everything we hold about you as a file, change your display name, remove saved pages, sign out, or delete the account permanently. The Delete your account page explains the same steps for the Android app and for requests by e-mail.
• Age — you must be 18 or older to create an account (see “Children’s privacy” below). Younger students can read every page without one.
• Security — there is no password to leak; sign-in requests are rate limited; and we may suspend an account that is used to attack or abuse the site.

The GlobalStudyBoard Android app is in a closed beta on Google Play. Google Play can only send an invitation to a specific Google account, so if you use the “Get the Android app” button we ask for one thing: the email address of that account.

• What we store — your email address, plus the page you were on, the study destination you had selected, and the date. Nothing else, and no name or account.
• Why — solely to add you to the tester list in the Google Play Console so that Google Play can email you the invitation.
• Where — a private Google Sheet that only we can open. We do not sell, rent, share or publish it, and we do not use it for marketing or newsletters.
• How long we keep it — only while the beta needs it. We delete the list once the app is publicly available on Google Play, and we remove any individual address sooner on request.
• Removal — email us at any time and we will delete your address from the sheet and from the Play tester list.

Adding you as a tester also means Google receives that email address as part of running Google Play; Google’s own privacy policy governs what it does with it.

Every page has a “Share feedback” / “Report an issue” option. It is open to everyone — no account, and no email address unless you want a reply.

• What we store — the title and description you write, the page link, the study destination and domestic/international view you had selected, the date, and any screenshot or PDF you attach (up to two files). The “include browser details” box (ticked by default for issue reports, off for suggestions — you can change it) adds your screen size, browser language and browser user-agent string, which help us reproduce a problem; the form shows you exactly what it will send. If you enter an email address we keep that too.
• Why — solely to understand and fix the problem or consider the suggestion, and, if you gave an email address, to reply to you about it.
• Where — a private Google Sheet and a private Google Drive folder that only we can open, plus a notification emailed to our own inbox (text only; attachments stay in the Drive folder). We do not sell, rent, share or publish reports, and we never use an email address given here for marketing.
• How long we keep it — while a report is still useful for improving the site. On request we delete the report, its attachments and any email address — including the copy in our notification inbox.
• Removal — email contact@globalstudyboard.com with the reference shown after you send a report (or the page and date) and we will delete it.
• Unsent drafts — while you are writing, the text is saved only in your own browser so you can finish later; it never leaves your device until you send it, and it is cleared when you send or discard it (or after seven days). An email address you type is not saved in the draft.

Please do not include anyone else’s personal details, or sensitive information such as identity documents or health information, in a report or a screenshot.

We use privacy-respecting analytics (Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights) to measure traffic and performance in aggregate.

We also display advertising through Google AdSense. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to show ads based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet.

You can opt out of personalised advertising in Google Ad Settings, read how Google uses information from sites that use its services at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, and opt out of personalised ads from many vendors at aboutads.info. You can also control or disable cookies in your browser settings.

Cookie-consent requirements vary by region — for example, the EEA and the UK require consent for non-essential cookies. You can accept or refuse non-essential cookies using your browser settings and the opt-outs above. For a fuller breakdown of the cookies we use and how to manage them, see our Cookie Policy.

Questions you send to Ask GSB are processed by a third-party service solely to generate a response. Please don’t share sensitive personal information in your queries.

• To operate, maintain and improve the site.
• To respond to your messages and corrections.
• To measure traffic and performance in aggregate.
• To show advertising that helps keep the site free.

We do not sell your personal information for money. Some privacy laws (such as California’s CCPA/CPRA) treat the use of advertising cookies for personalised ads as a “sale” or “share” — you can limit this through the choices in our Cookie Policy.

Our pages link to official university and examination websites and other third parties. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, not ours.

The site is intended for prospective students and their families, and every page can be read without giving us any personal details. Because the laws that protect younger people differ by country (for example, India’s DPDP Act treats anyone under 18 as a child), accounts are for people aged 18 or over: you confirm this when you sign in for the first time. We do not knowingly create accounts for, or collect personal information from, anyone under 18; if you believe we hold such information, contact us and we will delete it.

You can browse without providing personal details and control or disable cookies through your browser. If you have an account, you can download, correct or delete your own data yourself at any time from Your account. For any other information you have sent us (for example, an email), you can ask us to confirm what we hold, correct it, or delete it — just contact us using the details below and we’ll respond within a reasonable time. We may need to verify your identity, and we may keep information where the law requires. Depending on where you live, data-protection laws such as the GDPR (UK/EU), CCPA (California) and India’s DPDP Act may give you additional rights; wherever practical, we extend the same choices to all our users.

GlobalStudyBoard is an independent educational guide, operated from India, and is the party responsible for (the data controller of) the information described in this policy. For any privacy question, or to exercise a data right, email us at contact@globalstudyboard.com or use the contact page. We may update this policy as the site evolves; the date above reflects the latest revision.