Introduction

Being the operator of this website, CHE Gemeinnütziges Centrum für Hochschulentwicklung GmbH (CHE), are the data controller in charge of processing personal data of any users of such website. You can find our contact details in the imprint of the website, while the contacts for questions concerning the processing of your personal data are provided directly in this Privacy Statement.

We are strongly committed to protecting your privacy and your private and personal data. We collect, save, and use your personal data strictly in accordance with the provisions of this Privacy Statement and the applicable data protection provisions, including without limitation the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national data protection provisions.

With this Privacy Statement, we wish to inform you to what extent and for what purpose your personal data is processed in connection with the use of our website.

Personal data

Personal data is all information about an identified or identifiable individual. This includes information about your identity such as your name, your e-mail address, or your postal address. Any information that cannot be directly linked to your identity (e.g. statistical details such as the number of users of the website) is, however, not considered to be personal data.

You can essentially use our website without disclosing your identity and without providing any personal data. In that case, we will merely collect general information about your visit to our website. However, some of the services offered require you to provide certain personal data. As a rule, we will process such data only for purposes connected with the use of this website, including without limitation for the provision of the desired information. Whenever personal data is collected, you are only required to provide the data that is absolutely essential. Also, you may be asked to provide additional details, which is optional information provided voluntarily. We let you know in each case whether the input fields are for mandatory or optional details. More specific details are provided in the relevant section of this Privacy Statement.

There is no automated decision-making on the basis of your personal data in connection with the use of our website.

Processing personal data

We store the information provided by you on protected dedicated servers located within the European Union. Technical and organisational measures are taken to protect such servers against loss, destruction, access, modification, or dissemination of your data by unauthorized persons. Access to your data will be permitted only to a limited number of persons in charge of the technical, commercial, or editorial support of the servers. Notwithstanding regular controls, full protection against all risks cannot be provided.

Your personal data is transmitted over the Internet in encrypted form. We use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption for transmission of data.

Disclosure of personal data to third parties

As a rule, we use your personal information exclusively for providing the services that you have requested from us. Insofar as we use external service providers in performing the service requested, such external service providers will also access the data exclusively for the purpose of performing the service. By taking the necessary technical and organisational measures we ensure compliance with data protection policies and we demand the same of our external partners.

Moreover, we will not disclose the data to any third parties, including without limitation for advertising purposes, without your express consent. We will disclose your personal data only if you have given your consent to disclosure of the data or insofar as we are entitled or obligated to do so under legal provisions and/or administrative or judicial orders. This may include, without being limited to, giving information for purposes of criminal prosecution, in order to avert danger, or in order to enforce intellectual property rights.

If we transfer your personal data ourselves or through service providers to countries outside the European Union, we comply with the special provisions of Article 44 et seq. of the GDPR for this purpose and also oblige our service providers to comply with these regulations. We will therefore only transfer your data to countries outside the European Union subject to the level of protection guaranteed by the GDPR. This level of protection is ensured in particular by an adequacy decision of the EU Commission or by appropriate safeguards pursuant to Article 46 of the GDPR.

Legal basis of data processing

Insofar as we obtain your consent to processing your personal data, Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR constitutes the legal basis for such data processing.

Insofar as we process your personal data because processing is necessary for the performance of a contract or is necessary under a quasi-contractual relationship with you, the lawfulness of data processing is based on Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.

Insofar as we process your personal data because processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation, the lawfulness of data processing is based on Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR.

Furthermore, Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR may constitute the legal basis for data processing, if processing of your personal data is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by our company or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by your interests or your fundamental rights and freedoms which require protection of personal data.

Throughout this Privacy Statement, we refer to the legal basis on which we process your personal data.

Deletion of data and duration of storage

We invariably delete or block any personal data provided by you as soon as the purpose of storage of such data has ceased to apply. However, we may continue to store your personal data beyond that, if such storage is governed by legal provisions to which we are subject, including without limitation the legal obligation to retain business records and documentation. In such a case, we will delete or block the personal data after the prescribed period of time has expired.

Use of our website

Information relating to your computer

Every time you access our website, we will collect the following information relating to your computer, regardless of whether or not you have registered: the IP address of your computer, the inquiry of your web browser, and the time stamp of that inquiry. In addition, the status and the amount of data transmitted in the course of the inquiry are collected. We also collect product and version information about the web browser used and the operating system of the computer. Furthermore, we record the website from which our own website has been accessed. The IP address of your computer is stored only for the duration of your use of our website; afterwards, it is deleted or anonymised by truncation. The remaining data is stored for a limited period of time and then anonymised.

We use this data to operate the website, more specifically for troubleshooting, or in order to assess the degree of utilisation of the website, or to carry out adjustments or improvements thereof. Such purposes also constitute our legitimate interest in data processing in accordance with Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR.

Use of cookies

Like many other websites, our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and store certain settings and data of your web browser for the exchange with our website. As a rule, a cookie contains the name of the domain from which the cookie file has been sent as well as information about the age of the cookie and an alphanumeric identifier.

Cookies enable us recognise your computer and make any default settings immediately available. The cookies we use are – as far as possible – so-called session cookies, which are automatically deleted at the end of the browser session. Occasionally, cookies with a longer storage period can also be used so that your settings and preferences can also be taken into account the next time you visit our online offering.

Most web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. However, you can disable the storage of cookies or set up your web browser to inform you when you receive a cookie. It is also possible to manually delete stored cookies in the browser settings. Please note that your use of our website may be limited or restricted if you refuse to save cookies or delete necessary cookies.

If cookies are not necessary for our online offer, we ask you for your consent to the use of cookies when you access the online offer for the first time. With regard to the non-essential cookies of third-party providers, you will find a more detailed description of the services of these third-party providers used by us below. The legal basis for the associated data processing, including any data transfer, is in each case your consent within the meaning of Article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR. Once given, consent can be revoked at any time with effect for the future, in particular by changing the selected settings.

The legal basis for the use of necessary cookies is our legitimate interest in the proper provision of our online offer within the meaning of Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR and – insofar as contracts are concluded or fulfilled via our online offer – the fulfillment of the contract within the meaning of Article 6(1)(b) of the GDPR.

Integration of third-party services

For some functions in our online offer, we use services from third-party providers. The corresponding services are mainly optional functions that must be explicitly selected or used by you. We have concluded contractual agreements with the respective providers for the provision or integration of their services and, within the scope of our possibilities, we are committed to ensuring that the third-party providers also provide transparent information about the scope of the processing of personal data and comply with the provisions of data protection law.

Google Maps

We use the map service Google Maps for our online offer. Google Maps is a service provided by Google. If you call up a web page of our online offer on which a map is integrated, a connection is established to the Google servers, meaning that Google always additionally receives your IP address as part of the display of the map. For the various services, Google may use cookies which can also be used to evaluate your user behavior. In doing so, the Google server is informed which Internet pages of our online offer you have visited.

If you are logged into your Google account during the page view, you enable Google to assign your surfing behavior directly to your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your Google account.

In order to comply with data protection regulations, the terms of use for the map service contain data protection provisions that serve to protect you. Google’s terms of use for the map service can be found at https://www.google.com/intl…, general explanations from Google on data protection can be found at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de&gl=de.

The legal basis for the integration of the map service is Art. 6 (1)(f) of the GDPR; our legitimate interest lies in the provision of map material for your orientation. Our legal basis for setting cookies in connection with the use of Google Maps is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1)(a) of the GDPR.

Your rights; contact

We are strongly committed to explaining how we process personal data and to inform you about your rights as transparently as possible. If you want more detailed information or wish to exercise your rights, you can contact us at any time so that we can take care of your concerns.

Rights of persons concerned

You have extensive rights with respect to the processing of your personal data. First of all, you have an extensive right to information and under certain circumstances may demand correction and/or deletion or blocking of your personal data. You can also demand restriction of processing and you have a right of objection. You also have a right to data portability with a view to personal data that you have transmitted to us.

If you wish to assert any of your rights and/or want more detailed information concerning your rights, please contact our customer service. Alternatively, you may contact our data protection officer.

Revocation of consent and objection

You may at any time revoke your consent with future effect. Revocation of the consent does not affect the legality of any processing performed on the basis of such consent given up until the revocation thereof. In such cases as well, please contact our customer service and/or our data protection officer.

Insofar as the processing of your personal data is not based on consent given by you but on another legal basis, you can object to the data processing. Your objection will lead to a review and, if necessary, to termination of the data processing. You will be informed of the outcome of the review and – if the data processing is to be continued nonetheless – you will receive further information from us on why the data processing is admissible.

Data protection officer; contact

We have appointed an external data protection officer who supports us in data protection issues and who you can contact directly. If you have questions regarding our handling of personal data or if you require other information on data protection issues, please do not hesitate to contact our Data Protection Officer and his team:

RA Dr. Sebastian Meyer, LL.M.
c/o BRANDI Rechtsanwälte
Adenauerplatz 1, 33602 Bielefeld
Phone: 0521 / 96535-812
E-mail: datenschutz@che.de

Complaints

If you are of the opinion that the processing of your personal data does not comply with this Privacy Statement or the applicable data protection provisions, you have the right to file a complaint with a supervisory authority. You can file a complaint with our data protection officer. Our data protection officer will review the matter and inform you of the outcome of the review.

Further information; amendments

Links to other websites

Our online service may contain links to other websites. Generally, these links are identified as such. We cannot control to what extent linked websites comply with the applicable data protection provisions. We therefore recommend that for other providers’ data protection statements, you refer to the information given on their respective websites.

Amendments of this Privacy Statement

Any revision of this Privacy Statement is identified by the date specified (see below). We reserve the right to amend this Privacy Statement at any time with effect for the future. Amendments will be made, among other things, in case of technical adjustments of the website or changes of the data protection laws. The Privacy Statement as amended from time to time is always made available directly through our website. We recommend obtaining information on any changes of this Privacy Statement on a regular basis.

This Privacy Statement was last revised in: September 2021