Privacy notice for FH Vorarlberg students
Version 3.6, updated on 29.09.2022
Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences (FH Vorarlberg) will handle your personal data carefully and conscientiously. We comply with statutory data protection regulations at national and European level when processing data and are providing you with the following information in accordance with EU GDPR article 13.
Purpose of data processing, data categories
When you have been admitted to your programme and have signed your learning agreement, the personal data provided in your online application will continue to be stored at FH Vorarlberg and processed with the assistance of automated technology. The same applies to documents sent to us with your application. The data of your application will be transferred to the student file.
The data processed includes personal details (such as your name, current academic degree, title, gender, place and country of birth, date of birth, citizenship), photograph, addresses, contact details (email and mobile telephone number). Furthermore, details about admission requirements will be stored (type of degree, graduation date, institution name, institution address and professional experience) along with information about your language abilities.
To administer your studies, we are required to process and store data about your studies, such as your enrolment number or personal identifier, study programme, programme identifier, admission status, course data, work placement data, academic results, examination and assessment data, data connected to your ÖH membership (payment of ÖH membership dues, ÖH elections etc.) and social security number or substitute identification number.
If you do not have an Austrian social security number, the Documentation in Education Act (Bildungsdokumentationsgesetz, BilDokG) requires that you have a substitute identification number. If you already have the latter, you are required to provide it to FH Vorarlberg. If you do not have such a number yet, a substitute identification number will be requested for you via ‘Portal Austria’, operated by the Austrian Federal Computing Centre. If you later obtain an Austrian social security number, you are required to forward it to FH Vorarlberg immediately. Your substitute identification number will cease to be effective as of that time and replaced by your social security number. Your substitute identification number is used exclusively for the purpose of reporting student data in line with BilDokG and does not play any role under Austrian social security law.
FH Vorarlberg and its subsidiary Schloss Hofen Science & further education, Hofer Straße 26, 6911 Lochau, Austria (hereinafter referred to as Schloss Hofen) use a common campus management system for study administration. For the regulation of the related data protection aspects, an agreement was concluded in accordance with Art. 26 GDPR. The administrative areas are managed separately as far as possible. The contact point for enquiries from those affected is the FH Vorarlberg. However, in order to avoid duplicates, if a company has already created a personal profile, this personal data is transferred if the other company creates the same person.
Oral examinations can be conducted by means of video conferencing in compliance with the regulations existing for this purpose.
Incoming study abroad students in addition to other data will also have data processed in respect of their emergency contact, home university, courses attended and details required for the civil registration office (passport number, passport issue date, passport issuing authority and intended duration of stay). If you are studying abroad, you must provide the International Office with additional information. The exact information required will depend on the foreign university you have chosen. You will receive a corresponding privacy statement once you have done this.
FH Vorarlberg library will create your Campus Card containing your photograph, name, date of birth, programme, enrolment number/personal identifier and expiry date. This Campus Card will also contain an RFID code and ID number as well as information concerning your access privileges and usage rights for the library. The library stores and processes this information and basic personal details (name, title, date of birth, gender, language, contact details, programme and membership cancellation date/graduation date) and, further, data about your user status and loans (items, borrow dates, reservations, extensions, requests, payment demands, fines etc.). This data will in all cases remain stored in the library’s system for five years after your last date of contact.
The Campus Card is also to stored individual access privileges and photocopier credit. Moreover, you can also use the card to store credit for snack/beverage/coffee vending machines. This means that the Campus Card acts as a student identification card, key to FH Vorarlberg buildings, library card and payment card for printers, photocopiers and snack/beverage/coffee vending machines.
Your portrait photo, which you have given us, will also be used for activities that are necessary for carrying out your studies, such as for your profile in the campus management system, for the student file, for course lists or for interviews.
External systems may be used for individual courses or classes; the respective data protection regulations will then be communicated accordingly.
If you write a master’s thesis as part of your studies, a copy must be provided to the library in accordance with Polytechnic University Studies Act (Fachhochschul-Studiengesetz, FHStG) section 19(3), where it will be published.
The above mentioned processing activities are carried out on the legal basis of art. 6 sub-section 1 letter b GDPR for the fulfilment of the training contract.
FH Vorarlberg has a legitimate interest in recording classes or other public events held in connection with study programmes in photographic, video and/or audio form. Such recordings will be published in places such as the Internet and/or intranet and the FH Vorarlberg e-learning platform. In addition, such recordings as well as videos created by students on the occasion of courses and projects will also be used for marketing and PR purposes and may be published on social media accounts such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and similar as well as in local newspapers. You will be specifically notified of the recordings on each occasion. If you do not want to appear on/in recordings, we ask you that you speak with the person responsible before they are created. Marketing activity such as this is a legitimate interest of FH Vorarlberg as it assures substantially the university’s competitiveness and place among the competition on the open market.
If you wish to attend the official graduation ceremony after successfully completing your studies, you will be personally named at it. Your completed studies, programme and academic degree awarded will be recited and your photograph projected onto the screen. We can already tell you that a video recording will be made of the graduation ceremony and that that recording will be available to interested persons as a download. Furthermore, photographs will be taken at the graduation ceremony and published on FH Vorarlberg websites, social media and print media. As the graduation ceremony will be an event of public interest, this also gives FH Vorarlberg a legitimate interest in the event in order to assure the university’s competitiveness and place among the competition on the open market. If you object to these activities involving the processing of your data, you will not be able to attend the official graduation ceremony.
You further have the option of joining the FH Vorarlberg alumni association after completion of your studies and your personal data will be transferred to this association. This also takes place on the basis of the legitimate interest of the FH Vorarlberg in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR, which results from the interest of the FH Vorarlberg to remain in contact with the graduates and to provide them with a platform for professional, cross-degree exchange beyond the studies.
On the premises of the FH Vorarlberg there is video surveillance at building entrances and at the laboratories in Building U. If you have access to laboratories using your Campus Card, your access history (day, time and card number) will also be stored. This is also carried out on the basis of the legitimate interest of the FH Vorarlberg in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) DSGVO. This interest is based on the preventive protection of persons and property in publicly accessible places which are subject to the householder's rights of the person responsible.
In order to carry out your studies and for communication between you and the staff of the FH Vorarlberg as well as the students among each other, an e-mail account will be set up for you by Microsoft 365. For this purpose, it is necessary that your first name and surname are transmitted to the Microsoft Corporation. This transmission is based on the legitimate interest of the FH Vorarlberg in providing a modern and efficient study operation with up-to-date means of communication for the implementation of the studies.
Information is provided to authorities in accordance with the legal provisions, and in the event of litigation or other proceedings, the data and documents may be transmitted to the authorities, courts and arbitration tribunals.
The provision of your personal data for your studies is on the one hand provided for by law and on the other hand is absolutely necessary for the conclusion of the training contract and the implementation of your studies. If you do not provide us with the necessary data, your studies cannot be carried out.
Legal basis:
As already explained in detail above, the individual processing activities are carried out either to fulfil the training contract (Art. 6 Para. 1 letter b GDPR) or to safeguard the legitimate interests of the FH Vorarlberg (Art. 6 Para. 1 letter f GDPR). In some cases, consents (art. 6 sub-section 1 letter a GDPR) for the performance of processing activities may also be obtained during the course of studies.
Recipients:
Students’ personal data will be used by employees of FH Vorarlberg to carry out tasks required for the administration of your studies and forwarded internally to the persons responsible. Due to the fact that Schloss Hofen uses the same campus management system, access to the data can, if necessary and with your consent, also be provided by authorised employees of Schloss Hofen.
Personal data may be disclosed to external bodies if it is required to perform the learning agreement we have with you, to fulfil legal obligations or for the legitimate interests of FH Vorarlberg.
Most importantly, this includes mandatory reporting to the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ), Renngasse 5, 1010 Vienna, telephone: 0043-1-532-02 20-02, email: office@ac.ac.at. The agency will receive your name, enrolment number/personal identifier, date of birth, gender, social security number or substitute identification number, nationality, address, information about admission requirements, programme commencement and completion dates, programme semesters, student status, data about your participation in international study programmes, place of study, organisational format of your programme, occupation if studying a professional programme, federal funding and any data concerning regular joint studies. Through the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ), the specified data will also be given to the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research; Minoritenplatz 5, 1010 Vienna, ministerium@bmbwf.gv.at and Statistics Austria, Guglgasse 13, 1110 Vienna, info@statistik.gv.at.
Moreover, to hold student representative elections and provide evidence of your student union membership, the required personal data (e.g. your name, institution-specific personal identification number (enrolment number, personal identifier etc.), social security number or substitute identification number, date of birth, gender, nationality, addresses (home address and semester address), email address, institution name, institution code and programme) will be forwarded to the Austrian Federal Computing Centre, Hintere Zollamtsstraße 4, 1030 Vienna, telephone +43 1 71123-0, the Austrian National Union of Students Federal Body of Representatives, Taubstummengasse 7-9, 4th floor, 1040 Vienna, telephone: +43 1 310 88 80-0, email: oeh@oeh.ac.at and the FH Vorarlberg Student Union, email: oeh@fhv.at.
If you book an appointment for a counselling session with the Scholarship Centre or for other appointments offered by the FHV with external organisations, this is possible using the Microsoft Booking App and the data processing is carried out using this app. In particular, the names, e-mail address, telephone number and appointment booking data are processed, as well as other data entered by the data subjects themselves. Information on Microsoft's data protection can be found at https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement. This processing is carried out on the legal basis of your consent in the respective case.
If you receive a scholarship, the scholarship body and the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation Austria (AQ) will use automated technology to send the required personal data to the Student Finance Authority. This data includes, for example, your name, (programme) semesters, year of study, enrolment number/personal identifier, social security number or substitute identification number, role (applicant/relative), student status, completion date, programme fees/ÖH dues, regular re-enrolment, academic performance (ECTS) and organisational format of the programme.
To receive a merit-based scholarship or other subsidies pursuant to the TDBG 2012, your first name, surname, date of birth, gender, nationality, postal code, town of residence, address, scholarship offer, amount, period, date of offer receipt and date of disbursement must be reported to the Transparency Database via FinanzOnline.
If you participate in a facilitated programme for study abroad, the OeAD (Austrian Exchange Service), Ebendorferstraße 7, 1010 Vienna, telephone: +43 1 53408-0, email: info@oead.at or institutions partnered with the FH Vorarlberg International Office will transfer the relevant, required data to the European Commission, telephone: 00 800 67 89 10 11 (from EU countries) or 00 +32 2 299 96 96 (from non-EU countries). The data subject to transfer will be based on relevant legislation and the requirements of the relevant international study programme. Further information can be obtained from the International Office of the FH Vorarlberg.
If FH Vorarlberg nominates you for an award or honour, you will be asked beforehand if you consent to the nomination. If that is the case, the relevant, required documentation and information will be transferred to the institutions giving out the award or honour.
As a student you will receive a Microsoft 365 account, which requires you to send your name, surname and e-mail address to Microsoft Corporation. The FH Vorarlberg will communicate with you via this account (by email and via Microsoft teams). Communication between students as well as with lecturers and other FH Vorarlberg-staff is also permitted. Further services according to Microsoft 365 Education A3 are available for your studies, but the FH Vorarlberg can neither offer support for the further services nor can it guarantee the availability or assume liability for them. Microsoft Education A3 365 is licensed by Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited, One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown Dublin 18, Ireland. Further information on Microsoft 365 can be found at https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement and https://support.microsoft.com/de-de/privacy. We would like to inform you, that the parent company, Microsoft Corporation, is based in the USA, which from a data protection perspective is considered a third country with an inadequate level of data protection. FH Vorarlberg has agreed the standard contractual clauses with Microsoft Corporation. The standard contractual clauses are available as parts of the Online Service Terms on Microsoft's website at https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/licensing/product-licensing/products.aspx as Annex 2 of the Addendum to the Data Protection for Online Services.
If you participate in courses at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences within the framework of the "RUN European University" project, data on the courses, including assessment data, may be transmitted to the leading university in the project in order to issue certificates, if necessary.
FH Vorarlberg will be required to assign you an enrolment number if you are being admitted to study in Austria for the first time and have not previously been admitted to a university, teacher training college, institution conducting vocational education programmes or private university. To this end, your personal data (e.g. name, academic degree, addresses, gender and date of birth) will be reported to the Data Network for Universities, Teacher Training Colleges and Vocational Colleges and you will be assigned an enrolment number. If you are admitted to a joint programme, it will also be required to report programme fee data, programme details and academic performance data to the Data Network. Furthermore, any data pertaining to university entrance examinations will be reported if necessary.
You will be informed on any other occasions where your data is transferred and, if required, we will seek your consent.
Retention periods:
Below we give you a short overview of the most important planned storage periods:
Social security number or replacement number plate: 2 years after graduation or exmatriculation;
Education contract and other agreements as well as data and documents on the completion of studies 80 years after completion of studies or exmatriculation;
Data and invoices for the ÖH contribution: 7 years after the end of the year in which the study was completed or exmatriculation took place.
If you work on a research project during your studies, the personal data processed in this context will be stored together with the research documents for as long as is necessary for the respective research project due to legal or contractual provisions or due to predominantly legitimate interests of the FH Vorarlberg (to prove the correctness and scientific nature of the data or to defend against legal claims).
Other data and documents: essentially three years after graduation or exmatriculation.
Your data protection rights according to GDPR:
Please be aware that you generally have rights to access, rectify and erase your personal data, to restrict its processing, to obtain it in a portable format, to withdraw your consent and to object to its processing. You may address enquiries and requests on this topic to datenschutz@fhv.at.
If we process your personal data based on your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time by sending an email to datenschutz@fhv.at, If data processing is based on the legitimate interests of FH Vorarlberg, you may object to this processing and include your reasons for the objection, however the lawfulness of data processing activity conducted prior to withdrawal or objection shall remain unaffected. If you believe data processing to be unlawful, we ask that you contact us by emailing datenschutz@fhv.at. Moreover, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, the Austrian Data Protection Authority.
Data controller:
Fachhochschule Vorarlberg GmbH, Campus V
Hochschulstraße 1, 6850 Dornbirn
info@fhv.at, +43 5572 792-0
Data protection officer: available at datenschutz@fhv.at
Should you have any questions or comments in relation to data protection at FH Vorarlberg, our internal contact person – who can be reached by email at datenschutz@fhv.at – will be happy to assist you.
This text is published in German and English. In case of ambiguities or disputes the German version shall be binding.