Privacy Policy

Onward Edu ("Onward", "we", "us", or "our") is a career development platform designed to help students and early-career users understand their strengths, build career roadmaps, improve their profiles, create CVs, and discover relevant opportunities.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, store, and protect personal data when users access or use our mobile application, website, administrative dashboards, institutional dashboards, employer tools, advisor tools, and related services (collectively, the "Platform").

This Privacy Policy applies to students, job seekers, early-career users, educational institutions, advisors, employers, company representatives, administrators, visitors, and any other users who access the Platform.

By using the Platform, creating an account, submitting information, applying to an opportunity, or participating in an Onward Edu pilot, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Onward Edu is based in Qatar and aims to process personal data in a transparent, fair, secure, and lawful manner. Where applicable, we aim to align our practices with Qatar Law No. 13 of 2016 on Protecting Personal Data Privacy and related guidance issued by the competent authorities in Qatar.

Depending on where users, partners, cloud providers, or service providers are located, additional data protection or consumer protection laws may apply. If a specific law gives you additional rights, we will take reasonable steps to respect those rights where legally required.

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, "personal data" means information that identifies, relates to, or can reasonably be linked to an individual. This may include data provided directly by users, data generated through use of the Platform, and data derived from AI-assisted analysis where such data can be linked to a user.

The Platform may be used by several types of users and partners, including:

• Students and early-career users who create profiles, complete onboarding, generate career roadmaps, build CVs, complete milestones, take skills assessments, upload documents, and apply to opportunities.
• Employers and company representatives who post opportunities, review eligible applicants, communicate with Onward Edu about partnerships, and manage recruitment-related activity within the Platform.
• Educational institutions and advisors who support student career development, monitor assigned student progress where authorized, and participate in pilots or institutional partnerships.
• Administrators and internal team members who manage Platform operations, user approvals, partner relationships, moderation, security, and support.

4.1 Account and Profile Information

When you create an account or profile, we may collect information such as:

• Full name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Date of birth or age range
• Country or location
• School, university, or educational institution
• Education level, major, field of study, graduation year, or academic stage
• Career interests, preferred industries, goals, and availability
• Skills, experience, achievements, certifications, projects, volunteering, internships, and work history
• Profile photo, avatar, or other optional profile content

4.2 Onboarding and Career Development Information

To personalize the Platform, we may collect and process information provided during onboarding or career development activities, including:

• Responses to onboarding questions
• Career preferences and uncertainty areas
• Career roadmap stage and roadmap outputs
• Milestone and micro-step progress
• Profile completion status and readiness indicators
• Profile analysis results, including strengths, gaps, recommendations, and suggested next steps
• Skills assessment results or test responses, where available
• CV builder information, CV drafts, and structured CV inputs
• Career goals, opportunity preferences, and learning interests

4.3 Documents and Uploaded Materials

Users may upload documents or materials such as CVs, certificates, achievements, supporting documents, portfolios, or other career-related files. We use these materials to provide Platform features, verify or structure profile information where applicable, support CV-building or profile-building tools, and help users apply for opportunities.

Users are responsible for ensuring that they have the right to upload any document or content they submit to the Platform and that the information is accurate and not misleading.

4.4 AI Interaction and AI Analysis Data

When users interact with AI-supported features, we may collect prompts, responses, generated outputs, selections, edits, feedback, profile inputs, and other interaction data needed to provide and improve the relevant feature.

AI-supported features may include career roadmap generation, Profile Analysis, CV Builder, career recommendations, opportunity recommendations, skill-gap analysis, career guidance, and future AI coach features.

4.5 Opportunity, Application, and Event Data

When users apply to opportunities or participate in Onward Edu programs, events, workshops, competitions, or partner activities, we may collect and process:

• Applications submitted through the Platform
• Opportunity preferences and saved opportunities
• Application status, progress, or related activity
• Event registrations and participation details
• Workshop, competition, or program participation information
• Information needed to coordinate with partner organizations, event organizers, employers, or institutions

4.6 Employer, Institution, Advisor, and Partner Data

For employers, institutions, advisors, and partners, we may collect:

• Organization name and contact details
• Representative name, title, email address, and phone number
• Job postings, internships, events, workshops, or partnership information
• Hiring, applicant review, or partnership activity data
• Institutional participation, advisor assignment, and student-support activity
• Communications, meeting notes, agreements, and collaboration materials relevant to the partnership

4.7 Usage, Device, and Technical Data

We may automatically collect certain technical and usage information, including:

• Device type, operating system, browser type, and app version
• IP address and approximate location derived from technical signals
• Login activity, session activity, and authentication-related logs
• Feature usage, clicks, page views, screen activity, and interaction behavior
• Error logs, performance data, crash reports, and security logs
• Cookie, analytics, and similar tracking data where applicable

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• Creating, verifying, and managing user accounts
• Providing and operating the Platform and its features
• Personalizing career roadmaps, CV suggestions, Profile Analysis, recommendations, and opportunity matching
• Helping students and early-career users track progress, complete milestones, and improve readiness
• Supporting applications to internships, jobs, volunteering, events, competitions, workshops, and related opportunities
• Enabling employers, institutions, and advisors to use authorized Platform features
• Managing pilots, partnerships, institutional programs, employer relationships, and support requests
• Improving the Platform, user experience, AI outputs, recommendations, security, and product performance
• Sending important service communications, notifications, updates, and account-related messages
• Preventing fraud, misuse, unauthorized access, harmful behavior, or security incidents
• Complying with legal, contractual, regulatory, accounting, and operational obligations

We do not sell personal data.

Onward Edu uses artificial intelligence and automated analysis to support career development features. This includes analyzing information that users provide or generate on the Platform in order to produce career roadmaps, Profile Analysis results, CV suggestions, skill-gap recommendations, opportunity recommendations, readiness indicators, and other guidance.

AI-generated outputs are designed to support users, advisors, institutions, and employers; they are not intended to replace human judgment. AI outputs may be incomplete, inaccurate, biased, outdated, or unsuitable for a particular user or situation. Users should review, edit, and verify AI-generated content before relying on it or sharing it externally.

Onward Edu does not guarantee that AI-generated recommendations will result in employment, admission, interviews, partnerships, scholarships, academic success, or any specific outcome.

Onward Edu does not represent AI outputs as final hiring decisions, legal advice, financial advice, academic advice, or professional advice. Employers, institutions, advisors, and users remain responsible for their own decisions.

Where we use AI to analyze student data, we aim to be transparent about that use and avoid misleading users about what the AI can and cannot do. Users may choose not to use optional AI-supported features where the Platform provides such choice, but some personalization features may depend on automated analysis.

Where required by applicable law, we rely on one or more lawful bases to process personal data, including:

• Consent, such as when a user chooses to create an account, complete onboarding, enable profile visibility, upload documents, or use optional AI-supported features.
• Performance of a service or agreement, such as providing the Platform, managing accounts, supporting pilots, or enabling applications to opportunities.
• Legitimate operational interests, such as improving security, maintaining the Platform, preventing misuse, analyzing product performance, and communicating with users and partners.
• Legal and regulatory obligations, such as accounting, compliance, dispute resolution, law enforcement requests, or data protection requirements.

Users may withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, subject to legal, contractual, technical, or operational limitations. Withdrawing consent may affect the availability or quality of certain Platform features.

8.1 Student Profiles Are Private by Default

Student and early-career user profiles are private by default. A user profile will not be broadly visible to employers unless the user takes steps to make relevant profile information visible, applies to an opportunity, participates in a program where sharing is required, or otherwise authorizes sharing.

8.2 Employer Visibility

Employers may only access student information in limited situations, such as when a user applies to an employer opportunity, is matched to an opportunity, participates in an employer-related program, or chooses to make relevant profile information available. Employer access may be limited by Platform role, partnership terms, and product stage.

8.3 Institution and Advisor Access

Educational institutions and advisors may access student information only where authorized, such as through a pilot, partnership, student assignment, consent, or institutional arrangement. Advisors should only be able to view students assigned to them or otherwise authorized for their role.

8.4 Administrator Access

Authorized Onward Edu administrators and team members may access personal data where necessary to operate the Platform, provide support, approve or manage accounts, moderate content, troubleshoot technical issues, protect security, or comply with legal obligations. Access is intended to be role-based and limited to business need.

We may share personal data in the following circumstances:

• With employers when a user applies to an opportunity, is matched, or authorizes sharing.
• With educational institutions or advisors where required for an authorized pilot, student support program, dashboard, assignment, or institutional partnership.
• With event organizers, workshop providers, competition organizers, or program partners where necessary for registration, participation, attendance, or follow-up.
• With service providers who support hosting, databases, authentication, cloud infrastructure, analytics, security, communications, AI infrastructure, document processing, or other operational needs.
• With professional advisors, legal counsel, auditors, or insurers where necessary for business, legal, risk, or compliance purposes.
• With authorities, regulators, or other parties where required by law, legal process, regulatory obligation, or to protect rights, safety, security, or integrity.
• In connection with a business transaction, such as a merger, investment, acquisition, restructuring, or transfer of assets, subject to appropriate safeguards where required.

We require service providers to process personal data only for authorized purposes and to apply appropriate safeguards, subject to the limitations of the applicable contract and law.

We may use third-party providers for cloud hosting, database services, authentication, analytics, communication, AI infrastructure, payment processing if introduced, document handling, and other Platform operations. These providers may process personal data on our behalf.

Onward Edu currently uses cloud-based infrastructure and may use providers such as Supabase or similar services to store and manage Platform data, authentication, and backend services. The specific providers may change as the Platform evolves.

The Platform may contain links to third-party websites, job postings, employer pages, event pages, or resources. We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or security of third-party websites or services that are not controlled by Onward Edu.

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include:

• Encrypted transmission where appropriate, such as HTTPS
• Secure authentication and account access controls
• Role-based access control and least-privilege access principles
• Database security controls and access restrictions
• Security monitoring, error logging, and incident review
• Internal confidentiality requirements for team members and interns
• Review of privacy and security measures when introducing new processes or features
• Reasonable backup, availability, and recovery practices where appropriate

No platform, application, or online service can guarantee 100% security. Users should protect their login credentials, use secure devices, and notify us if they suspect unauthorized access to their account.

We retain personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Platform, maintain user accounts, support partnerships, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, improve services, and protect security.

Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data, purpose of processing, legal requirements, user requests, and operational needs.

If a user requests account deletion, we will take reasonable steps to delete or anonymize personal data within 30 days where technically and legally feasible, unless we are required or permitted to retain certain information for legal, regulatory, security, dispute, backup, accounting, or legitimate operational purposes.

Some information may remain in backups or logs for a limited period before deletion or overwriting in accordance with our technical processes.

Depending on applicable law and your relationship with Onward Edu, you may have rights to:

• Request access to personal data we hold about you
• Request correction or updating of inaccurate or incomplete personal data
• Request deletion of personal data, subject to lawful exceptions
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent
• Object to or restrict certain processing activities where applicable
• Request information about the purposes of processing and categories of data processed
• Request a copy or transfer of certain personal data where applicable

To exercise privacy rights, contact us using the details in the Contact Us section. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within a reasonable period and in accordance with applicable law.

Onward Edu is intended for students and early-career users aged 15 and above. Users aged 15 to 17 may use the Platform only where they have appropriate parent, guardian, school, or institutional consent where required by applicable law or partnership arrangements.

If you are under 18, you should not submit information that is unnecessary, excessive, or unrelated to your career development use of the Platform. Parents, guardians, or authorized institutions may contact us to request review, correction, or deletion of personal data where legally appropriate.

If we become aware that personal data has been collected from a minor without required consent, we will take reasonable steps to delete or restrict that data where required.

We may use cookies, local storage, device identifiers, analytics tools, and similar technologies to keep users signed in, maintain session security, remember preferences, improve performance, understand Platform usage, detect errors, and protect against misuse.

Users may control certain cookies through browser or device settings. Disabling cookies or similar technologies may affect Platform functionality.

Because Onward Edu may use cloud providers, technology vendors, AI infrastructure, or partners located outside Qatar, personal data may be processed, stored, or accessed in countries outside the user's country of residence.

Where required, we aim to apply reasonable safeguards to protect personal data during international transfers, such as contractual obligations, access controls, security measures, and provider due diligence.

Users are responsible for providing accurate, complete, and up-to-date information. Inaccurate information may affect career recommendations, CV outputs, Profile Analysis, opportunity matching, applications, and advisor or employer review.

Users should not upload documents or content that contain sensitive information unless it is necessary for the relevant Platform feature. Users should also avoid uploading information about other people unless they have the right to do so.

Onward Edu does not require users to provide sensitive personal data unless it is necessary for a specific feature, program, legal requirement, accessibility request, or user-chosen upload. Sensitive personal data may include information about health, disability, religion, race or ethnicity, biometric data, precise location, or other specially protected categories under applicable law.

If a user voluntarily includes sensitive personal data in a CV, certificate, document, message, profile, or AI prompt, we may process it only as needed to provide the relevant feature, unless another legal basis applies. Users should avoid submitting sensitive personal data unless necessary.

We may contact users by email, phone, in-app notification, or other communication channels for account-related messages, security alerts, service updates, partnership coordination, opportunity updates, event information, support, and important Platform communications.

Where marketing or promotional communications are used, users may opt out where required by applicable law. Some operational or security communications may still be sent even if a user opts out of marketing communications.

We may review, restrict, remove, or moderate content, profiles, applications, job postings, events, or accounts where necessary to protect users, prevent misuse, enforce terms, improve safety, respond to complaints, or comply with law. This may involve automated tools, human review, or both.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the Platform, legal requirements, technology, AI features, partnerships, or business operations.

If changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to notify users, such as through the Platform, email, or other appropriate channels. The updated version will indicate the latest update date.

For privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints, please contact:

• Onward Edu
• Email: hello@onwardedu.net
• Business Address: Doha, Qatar

If you are contacting us about access, correction, deletion, withdrawal of consent, or another privacy right, please include enough information for us to verify your identity and locate your account.