PGIHS Email User Policy and Conditions

Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS)

University of Peradeniya

The PGIHS Email User Policy and Conditions

1. Introduction

The Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS) of the University of Peradeniya will provide official email accounts for its students, teaching and supervisory staff, office staff, members of the Board of Management and Boards of Study, programme coordinators, other resource persons and members of the PGIHS Alumni Association  in collaboration with the Google Mail System. The objective of the provision of official email accounts is to facilitate efficient communication among stakeholders of the Institute. The purpose of this policy document is to set out the policy framework and conditions of the PGIHS Email Accounts in line with the conditions and requirements of the Google Mail System.  

2. Beneficiaries of the PGIHS Email Accounts

The PGIHS official email accounts will be provided for the following categories of individuals with the given order of priority:

• Members of Board of Management and Boards of Study;
• Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Philosophy degree students;
• Administrative staff of the PGIHS;
• Postgraduate Programme Coordinators;
• Members of teaching and supervisory panels;
• All other registered students of the PGIHS;
• Other resource persons; and
• Members of PGIHS Alumni Association.

3. Ownership and Legislation of the PGIHS Email Accounts

Every email address and associated account provided by the PGIHS shall be the property of the Institute. The Email accounts provided by the Institute are subject to the general laws that apply to communication including defamation, harassment, copyright and data protection. Users are solely responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable laws and regulations in the relevant jurisdiction(s).  The PGIHS shall respect the privacy of all email accounts and confidentiality of data in email accounts.

4. The User Name and Password

The User Name of a PGIHS Email account contains maximum of eight (08) characters followed by the extension @pgihs.ac.lk, e.g. xxy2&z@pgihs.ac.lk. A User Name will be assigned based on the choice given by the intended user and on the availability of such usernames. The User Name is not allowed to be changed once the account is activated.  At the time of registration, a user will be given a password by the PGIHS for the first time login and the user will be given an opportunity immediately after the login to change the initial password.   

5. Personal data

The PGIHS will maintain its email accounts in the Google Mail System and use related applications of the Google Mail System (e.g. Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Hangouts, etc.). All PGIHS email accounts given under this policy and their data will also be subject to the Google Email Privacy Policy (www.google.co.uk/policies/privacy/) and European Union Privacy Shield (www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US-framework). In addition, Google has agreed not to use the personal information of PGIHS Email Users to provide customized advertising during their period of engagement at the Institute; users may, however, receive advertisements from the Google. The PGIHS acts as the domain administrator for the Google facilities and administers all email accounts in accordance with Data Protection Policy of the Google. (For details, please see www.google.co.uk/policies/privacy/).

6. User Responsibility

The users of the PGIHS Email accounts should be responsible for the security and protection of their email accounts and all transactions occurring through their accounts. They should refrain from Unacceptable Use and Prohibited Use of their accounts and should use the email accounts responsibly, complying with all relevant domestic and international policies and laws.

7. Security of Email Accounts

• The users are responsible for the security of their accounts and are not allowed to disclose their user password to any others. The PGIHS strongly recommends the use of two-factor authentication for their accounts (https://www.google.com/landing/2step ).
• Users are expected to take reasonable measures to prevent the creation and transmission of computer viruses and other destructive items by maintaining the following practices: refrain from opening of attachments received from unsolicited or untrusted or unknown sources; refrain from transmitting corrupted or infected material; install and update antivirus / anti-spyware software on computers used to gain access to the PGIHS IT facilities.
• The user is required to notify the PGIHS Email Account Administrator (admin@pgihs.ac.lk) immediately if he /she becomes aware that any unauthorized access has been taken place through his/her account.

8. Unacceptable Use

PGIHS Email Account holders must comply with the Google Suite Acceptable Use Policy (available at www.google.com/apps/intl/en/terms/use_policy.html) . The Policy requires users not to:

• Generate or facilitate unsolicited bulk commercial email;
• Violate or encourage the violation of legal rights of others;
• Use the services for any unlawful, invasive, infringing, defamatory or fraudulent purposes;
• Intentionally distribute viruses, worms, Trojan horses, corrupted files, hoaxes, or any other items of a destructive or deceptive nature;
• Interfere with the use of services, or the equipment used to provide services by customers, authorized resellers or other authorized users;
• Alter, disable, interfere with or circumvent any aspect of the services;
• Test or reverse-engineer the services in order to find limitations, vulnerabilities or evade filtering capabilities;
• Grant multiple individuals to access an Individual User Account other than via the delegation features provided within the services;
• Sell User Accounts or parts thereof as added into a commercial product offered to third parties; and
• Record audio or video communications without consent if such consent is required by applicable laws and regulations.

9. Prohibited Use

The PGIHS Email Accounts shall not be used for:

• the creation, transmission or storage of text, images and other material that is offensive, obscene, indecent, discriminatory, harassing or libelous;
• the transmission of material that infringes the intellectual property rights of another person including copyright;
• activities that corrupt or destroy other users’ data or disrupt the work of others;
• activities that violate the privacy of others or unfairly criticize or misrepresent others;
• unauthorized personal financial gain or a commercial or profit making nature, e.g. trading on eBay;
• the creation and transmission of deceitful or erroneous material and information that brings the PGIHS and the University into disrepute and disgrace;
• Incitement of violence;
• Political campaign of an individual or a party; and
• Engagement in crime.

10. Managing Email Accounts

Each email account provided under this policy has unlimited storage space. However, users are requested to archive messages which may be needed for future reference in order to avoid unnecessary space consumption and send messages that are no longer needed to the ‘Bin’. Users should be aware that all items placed in the ‘Bin’ will be automatically deleted after thirty days and cannot be recovered. Further, users are advised to save all email attachment files in a separate folder/ folders to avoid the risk of the items getting lost. (For further guidance on managing emails, please see http://mail.google.com/support/?hl=en).

11. Monitoring of Email Accounts

The PGIHS Email Accounts and their activities will be monitored by the PGIHS Email Administrator and the Google Mail System. Messages and information therein are routinely scanned for viruses, spam and other security threats to assist the effective operation of the email system. In addition, users should be aware that the Google automatically may scan the content of emails to add context sensitive advertisements, but the Google assures users that the process is completely automated and no humans will read the content of emails. The use of all personal information by Google is governed by its Privacy Policy (www.google.co.uk/policies/privacy/) and other applicable specific privacy policies.

The PGIHS as the domain administrator for Google’s facilities may have access to information held in an email account. The PGIHS reserves the right to access this information in the following circumstances: to investigate a reasonable suspicion or a complaint/ complaints of unacceptable and/or prohibited use of email accounts and/or to cooperate with another institution in the investigation of a crime.

12. Suspension of User Accounts

• On the instructions of the Director/PGIHS, the PGIHS Email Administrator shall advice / warn a Email Account User if there is sufficient evidence of unacceptable use of the Email Account. The continuation of the unacceptable use of the email account disrespecting the advice/warning will lead to suspension of the email account.
• On the instructions of the Director/PGIHS, the PGIHS Email Administrator shall suspend an email account immediately with the evidence of prohibited use.
• The user will be required to enter into a new agreement with additional conditions on unacceptable use and prohibited use in order to remove the suspension and reactivate the Email account.

13. Termination of User Accounts

• An Email Account of the PGIHS will be terminated automatically if the account is inactive for a period of three months.
• The email account of a student who successfully completes the degree programme at the PGIHS will be terminated six months after the date of releasing of Senate approved final results.
• An email account of a student, Board member, teaching and supervisory panel member, programme coordinator, any other resource person, member of PGIHS Alumni Association and office staff member whose studentship/membership/post has been suspended/ terminated due to disciplinary reason shall be terminated immediately
• A suspended email account will be terminated automatically if the user is unable to remove the suspension and reactivate the account within one month from the date of suspension of the account.
• In addition to the termination of the Email Account, the PGIHS reserves the right to take disciplinary actions under the Bylaws of the PGIHS and Rules and Regulations of the University or legal action for activities listed under the prohibited use of PGIHS email accounts.

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Postgraduate Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (PGIHS)

University of Peradeniya

Application for a PGIHS Email Account

I request the Director/PGIHS to grant me an Email Account of the PGIHS to facilitate my communication with the Institute, students and staff. I furnish the following information in support of my application.

           *in case Option 1 is not available.

Further I hereby declare that I read and understood the PGIHS Email Policy and Conditions therein available on the PGIHS Website ( www.pgihs.ac.lk ) and agree to use the PGIHS Email Account assigned to me under the above Email Policy and Conditions.

Date: ……………………………………                                            Signature: ………………………………………….

Name: Ven./ Prof./Dr./Mr./Ms.……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Download Application Form