Privacy Statement

 

Introduction

This privacy statement explains the reason for the processing, the way we collect, handle and ensure protection of all personal data provided, how that information is used and what rights you may exercise in relation to your data (the right to access, rectify, block etc.).

This statement concerns www.studyinswitzerland.plus. study in switzerland+ aims at facilitating the mobility of international students to Switzerland. It is managed under the authority of the Rectors’ Conference of the Swiss Higher Education Institutions, hereinafter referred to as either “we” or “swissuniversities”. Thank you for taking interest in studying in Switzerland and for visiting our website.

 

Why do we process your data?

Purpose of the processing operations: swissuniversities (referred to hereafter as Data Controller) collects and uses your personal information to promote the Swiss Higher Education to prospective international students.

The processing is lawful because:

  • Your data are processed only after you have accepted the provisions of this privacy statement, published on the web-portal;
  • It is necessary for the performance of a public interest tasks, namely helping mobility of students to Switzerland.

In any case, the data are collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purpose and not further processed in a way incompatible with this purpose.

 

Data protection

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We process your personal data confidentially and in compliance with statutory data protection regulations and with this Privacy Policy.

Various pieces of personal data are collected when you use this website. Personal data is deemed to be any data that enables you to be personally identified. This Privacy Policy sets out what data we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and why this takes place.

Please note that data transmission over the internet (for example, when communicating by e-mail) may not be completely secure. Complete protection of data from access by third parties is not possible.

 

Information on the responsible entity

The entity responsible for data processing on this website is:

swissuniversities
study in switzerland+
Effingerstrasse 15, PO Box
CH-3001 Bern
Switzerland

The responsible entity is the natural or legal person who, alone or together with others, decides on the purposes for and means of processing personal data (such as names, e-mail addresses, etc.).

 

Withdrawal of your consent to process data

Many data processing procedures are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke any consent that you have previously given at any time. All that is required is a simple e-mail addressed to us. The legality of any data processing carried out before withdrawal of permission shall not be affected by this.

 

Right to lodge an appeal with the competent supervisory authority

In the event of non-compliance with data protection legislation, you shall have a right to lodge an appeal with the competent supervisory authority. The supervisory authority responsible for data protection matters is the Swiss Data Protection Officer.

 

Right to data portability

You shall have the right to have transferred to you or to a third party, in a standard, machine-readable format, any information that we automatically process based on your consent or in performance of a contract. If you insist on the direct transfer of data to another controller, this shall only be done to the extent that is technically feasible.

 

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or enquiries that you send to us as the site operator. You can recognise that a connection is encrypted by the change from “http://” to “https://” in your browser address line and the appearance of the lock symbol in your browser line.

When SSL or TLS encryption is triggered, the data that you transfer to us cannot be read by a third party.

 

Information, blocking, deletion

You shall have the right to free-of-charge information on your stored personal data, its origin and recipients and the purpose of such data processing and, if necessary, a right to rectification, blocking or deletion of that data. You can obtain further details on this and other questions on data protection by contacting us at the address set out on the contact page.

 

Objection to e-mail advertising

The use of the contact information published in the context of website legal notice requirements for sending unsolicited advertising and information material is hereby rejected. The website operators expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the event that unsolicited advertising information is sent out, such as through e-mail spamming.

 

Operation of the web solution by third parties (hosting)

We have commissioned OptimaNet Schweiz AG, whose registered office is located in Switzerland at Stationsstrasse 56, 8472 Seuzach with the provision of and technical support for our platform (web server operation, hosting). Insofar as data is transmitted, stored and processed, this is done in accordance with instructions given by the platform operator and as part of order processing in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP)/EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The servers used for the operation are in Switzerland.

Order processing

The contractual relationship with the processor is governed by written contracts and the data protection regulations outlined herein are transferred to said processor. We regularly monitor the measures taken by OptimaNet Schweiz AG, to protect your data.

 

Statutory Data Protection

We have appointed a Data Protection Entity for our organisation.

swissuniversities
Data Protection
study in switzerland+
Effingerstrasse 15, PO Box
CH-3001 Bern
Switzerland
E-mail: privacy@studyinswitzerland.plus

 

Which data do we collect and process?

We process this data on the basis of GDPR Article 6 (1) point f, as they are required for us to provide the service, to ensure technical operation and to investigate and remove malfunctions. It is in our interest to ensure the use and technical operability of our website. This data is automatically processed when our website is accessed.

Cookies
In certain circumstances, these web pages use Cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain viruses. Cookies make our offer more user-friendly, effective and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies that we use are “session cookies”. They are automatically deleted at the end of your visit. Other cookies stay on your device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognise your browser the next time that you visit our website.

You can set your browser to let you know when cookies are installed and only allow cookies in individual cases. You can prevent the acceptance of cookies for certain cases or as a general rule, and enable automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser. If you disable cookies, this may restrict some functions of this website.

Cookies that are necessary to operate the electronic communication process or provide certain functions that you have chosen (e.g. shopping cart) are stored on the basis of Art. 6 Para. 1 (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in storing cookies to provide an optimised service that is free of technical errors. Insofar as other cookies (such as cookies for analysing your browser behaviour) are stored, these shall be treated below in this Privacy Statement.

How to control cookies
Most browsers will allow you to control whether or not they accept cookies. Instructions for configuring cookie settings in some of the most popular browsers are available from these pages:

Detailed step by step guidance on how to control and delete cookies is also available from www.aboutcookies.org . For a cookie opt-out, check below.

Server log files
The provider of this website automatically collects and stores the following information in server log files, which your browser automatically transfers to us:

  • Type and version of web browser used
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL (= page previously visited )
  • Host name of the accessing computer
  • Date and time of the server request, duration of visit
  • Volume of data transferred
  • IP address
  • Name of the requested page/file

The provider uses the protocol data exclusively for statistical analysis for the provision, security and improvement of the services that it offers. However, the provider reserves the right to subsequently review the log data if, on the basis of concrete evidence, a legitimate suspicion of unlawful use exists.

This data shall not be merged with other data sources.

The basis for the data processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 (b) GDPR, which permits the processing of data for the performance of contractual or pre-contractual duties.

Matomo

This website uses the open-source web analytics service Matomo. Matomo uses “cookies”. These are text files that are stored on your device and enable an analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie about the use of this website is stored on our server for this purpose. The IP address is anonymised before it is stored.

Matamo cookies stay on your device until you delete them.

The information generated by the cookie about the use of this website shall not be communicated to third parties. You can prevent the storage of cookies by adjusting your browser settings; however, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use all the features of this website to the fullest extent.

You can disable storage and use here if you do not agree with the storage and use of your data. If this is the case, then an opt-out-cookie is uploaded to your device to prevent Matamo from storing browsing data. When you delete your cookies, the Matamo opt-out-cookie will also be deleted. Opt-out must then be re-activated on your next visit.

Social Plugins
This website uses social plug-ins from the social media Facebook and Twitter operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA, and Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA, respectively. You will find two buttons on our website, enabling you to share content on Facebook and Twitter, so that you can conveniently recommend our website to friends on your preferred social media platforms.
When you click on a social media button, your browser uses this social plug-in to set up a direct connection to the server of the relevant social network. We have no influence on the scope of the data which is collected by the social media operators in this way. The operators process the information that you have called up our website. If you are also logged into one of the social media platforms at that time, the operator can match up your account with the relevant social media site. If you then also interact with the social plug-in by clicking “Like” or “Share”, the relevant social media site will process that information. Even if you are not a member of one of these social media platforms, it is possible for them to find out your IP address through the social plug-in and then possibly store this information. Further information about the scope and purpose for which data is processed, collected and used by Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as your rights in this respect and the setting options, can be found in each company’s data protection policy:

www.facebook.com/policy.php
www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/ 
www.twitter.com/privacy 
www.whatsapp.com/legal/ 

If you do not want social media to collect data via our website, make sure you do not click on the relevant buttons. In addition, you can block social plug-ins via add-ons in your browser.

YouTube
Our website uses plug-ins of the Google-operated website YouTube. The YouTube website operator is YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.
A connection is made to the YouTube servers when you access one of our pages that contains a YouTube plug-in. The YouTube server is then told which pages you have accessed.
If you have logged in to your YouTube account, this allows YouTube to assign your browser behaviour directly to your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.
We use YouTube to make our online offers appealing. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6, Para. 1 (f) GDPR. Further information on handling user data is available in the YouTube Privacy Policy at: www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

 

How long do we keep your data?

User data is retained as long as the user continues to use study in switzerland+. We usually erase these data after 50 months, unless, under exceptional circumstances, we need them for a longer period for the above-mentioned purposes. In such a case we erase the data as soon as they are no longer required for the relevant purpose.

 

Who has access to your data and to whom is it disclosed?

Access to your data is provided to authorised staff of the Controller and its Processors according to the “need to know” principle. Such staff abide by statutory, and when required, additional confidentiality agreements and contractual provisions.
The information we collect will not be given to any third party, except to the extent and for the purpose we may be required to do so by law.

 

What are your rights and how can you exercise them?

According to Regulation (EC) n°45/2001, you are entitled to access your personal data and rectify and/or block it in case the data is inaccurate or incomplete. You can exercise your rights by contacting the data protection entity, or in case of conflict the Data Protection Officer of Switzerland.

 

Contact information

If you have comments or questions, any concerns or a complaint regarding the collection and use of your personal data, please feel free to contact the Data Controller using the following contact information:

swissuniversities
Effingerstrasse 15
PO Box 3001 Bern

privacy@studyinswitzerland.plus

Please take note that the Data Controller will only handle requests explicitly referring to data controlling.

 

Update status

The latest version applicable: update 21 August 2018.

 

More information

You will find more information on the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) under: https://www.eugdpr.org/.