Data protection statement

The University of Vaasa (business ID 0209599-8) collects personal data from users of its website uwasa.fi. We are committed to following the requirements of data protection legislation in the processing of personal data.

This data protection statement may be updated in the future. The current version can always be found on this page. See also the general terms of use of this website.

1. The purpose for the processing of personal data

Your personal data is collected and processed on the uwasa.fi website because it is necessary for your use of the site as well as the technical maintenance, communications and marketing of the site, and the analysis, development and improvement of the user experience on the site. In addition, we process your personal data to protect the information security of the site and prevent and investigate possible misuse.

2. Legal bases for the processing of personal data

  • Legal obligation: The University of Vaasa may process your personal data to comply with its legal obligations. Such bases include the fulfilment of an employer's obligations for staff, the organisation of teaching and its support functions for students, ensuring the security of the university and the continuity of operations, the fulfilment of statutory reporting obligations, and the meeting of official requirements.
  • Legitimate interest: The University of Vaasa can store and process your personal data when it is necessary to realise the interests of the university. On this basis, we may, for example, send you information about university operations and manage the analysis, maintenance and development of the university operations and services.
  • Tasks in the public interest or exercise of official authority: The University of Vaasa may process your personal data when the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest, such as scientific or historical research, statistics or archiving, or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.
  • Consent: The University of Vaasa may process your personal data based on your explicit consent, for example, in data files for newsletter recipients. In such cases, you can withdraw your consent at any time. The processing of your personal data must then be terminated unless the university has another legal basis for processing your data.
  • Vital interest: In exceptional circumstances, the University of Vaasa may process your personal data in situations where the processing is necessary for addressing an urgent problem or reducing potential damage to you. This processing serves your vital interests.

3. What data do we collect?

  • Data you have provided to the University of Vaasa: For example, the feedback forms on the site ask for your contact information, so that we can, if necessary, respond or ask for further information concerning your feedback. However, providing such data is voluntary.
  • Data on the use of services: We collect data on the users of the uwasa.fi website, for example, by using cookies (see the following section). Data such as the number of users, the user’s country, time spent, the browser used and the content visited and whether the site is used on the campus's internal or external network are stored on the use of the site. Individual users are not identifiable through these data.

4. Cookie policy of the uwasa.fi website

Our online service uses cookies, which are small text files sent to and stored on a user's computer. Cookies do not damage users' computers or files. The data is used for analysing the use of the service, for developing the service and for online marketing.

Upon your arrival at uwasa.fi, you can use CookieBot to opt out of receiving and using cookies, other than those necessary for the operation of the website, according to the purpose of the cookies. See Cookies for more information on the cookies we use and to modify your preferences. Alternatively, you can also manage cookies through your browser settings by disabling cookies or clearing cookies from your browser history.

Some cookies on our website are provided by third-party services. Depending on your preferences, we use not only technical cookies but also collect statistics and information to develop the user experience and target marketing.

The University of Vaasa does not use its own or third-party cookies to identify you. Nor does the University of Vaasa connect your IP address to you or collect any other data that would reveal your identity, unless you voluntarily provide us with these data.

Third-party services or applications on the uwasa.fi website are subject to the third-party's own terms of use or other terms and conditions.

5. Do we disclose personal data?

We only transfer personal data within the organisation of the University of Vaasa and only to the extent necessary for the technical maintenance and development of our sites and the communication, marketing, maintenance, analysis and development of content.

The University of Vaasa will disclose your personal data to third parties in the following situations only.

  • Your consent: Your personal data may be disclosed with your explicit consent, for example, in connection with a service provided by a third party.
  • Service providers: We disclose the personal data we are processing only to the extent that third parties need to be able to provide services to the University of Vaasa for the purposes defined in this data protection statement. This refers to, for example, Google Analytics provided by Google. We have taken the appropriate measures to ensure that your personal data will only be processed for the purposes mentioned in this data protection statement and in accordance with current legislation. The processing of personal data is conducted on behalf of and for the account of the University of Vaasa.
  • Research purposes: In some cases, we may disclose data for scientific or other research purposes (e.g. student projects) in accordance with the requirements of data protection legislation.
  • Legal reasons: The University of Vaasa may share your personal data with third parties if access to the personal data or any other processing is necessary to (i) comply with applicable law and/or court order; (ii) detect, prevent or deal with any misuse, security risk or technical problem. The University of Vaasa will inform of such use of personal data when it is possible.

6. International data transfers

The server of uwasa.fi is located in the EEA. We aim to implement all the services related to our site using operators and services located within the EU or the EEA. However, in some cases, services related to the use of our site may also be performed by third-country operators and servers, and your personal data may also be transferred outside the EU or EEA territory in accordance with the legislation in force at the time. If the transfers concern third countries that do not ensure an adequate level of data protection, such transfers shall be protected by appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission or supervisory authority or binding corporate rules.

7. The storing period for personal data

Personal data will be stored for the duration of the legal basis for processing for as long as necessary for the purposes mentioned in this data protection statement.

8. Data protection

Data protection is an integral part of the information security and general administration of the University of Vaasa. Personal data processed by the University of Vaasa is collected and processed only in such systems and databases which comply with the information security policy of the university. The personal data is located in locked and secured premises or in systems and databases with restricted access. Access to the data is restricted to those who need to process the data in their duties or for the provision of university service. Prying or any use of the information for purposes other than those specified by the university is strictly prohibited.

9. Automated decision-making

No automatic decisions are made

10. Amendments to the data protection statement

The University of Vaasa may make changes to this data protection statement. We will notify you of any changes in this data protection statement.

11. Your rights

  • Right to rectification: You have the right to request incorrect, inaccurate, incomplete, outdated or unnecessary data to be rectified or completed by contacting the University of Vaasa.
  • Right to erasure: You can request us to erase your personal data from our systems. We will take the requested measures if we do not have a legitimate reason not to erase the data. The data is not necessarily immediately erased from all backup or other similar systems.
  • Right to object: You may request restrictions on the processing of your personal data if your data is processed for purposes other than the provision of our service or the fulfilment of legal obligations. You may also object to the processing of your personal data, even if the processing is based on earlier consent. Objection to the processing of personal data may result in more limited use of our website. You have the right to object to online direct marketing by following the instructions included in all marketing messages we send.
  • Right to restrict the processing of data: You may request the University of Vaasa to restrict the processing of certain personal data. A request to restrict data processing may result in more limited use of our website and services.
  • Right to data portability: You have the right to obtain your personal data from us in a structured and commonly used format so that you can transmit it to another controller.
  • Right of access: You have the right to check what information about you is stored in our contact information register.

12. Who is the controller and who can I contact

Controller:

University of Vaasa
PO box 700, 65101 VAASA
Switchboard: +358 29 449 8000

Requests concerning the exercise of access and other rights of data subjects shall be made centrally with a personal visit to the Registry of the University of Vaasa. The identity of the applicant will be checked at the time of the request and before the data is provided, so that the University of Vaasa can ensure that the personal data of the data subject is transferred to the data subject or to another person entitled to receive the data, such as a recipient authorised by the data subject. The identity can be attested by an official ID with a photo. Approved IDs include the following: an EU driving licence, passport, or identity card issued by the police.

If you have other questions concerning the processing of personal data by the University of Vaasa, you can contact our Data Protection Officer by email at tietosuojavastaava@uwasa.fi.

Your requests will be answered within one month or, if this is justifiably impossible, you will be notified within one month of the delay and the reason for the delay. However, your requests will always be answered within three months of submitting the request.

Further information on data protection at the University of Vaasa: it.uwasa.fi/dataprotection

13. Right of complaint

If you believe that the processing of your personal data is in breach of data protection legislation, you have the right to complain to the supervisory authority regarding the processing of personal data by the controller. The complaint is made to the competent supervisory authority, the Finnish Data Protection Ombudsman, following their instructions. For more information, please see their website tietosuoja.fi.