Confidentiality policy for Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL

The Lausanne University Continuing Education Foundation (hereafter referred to as Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL) coordinates and manages the continuing education offer of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne). Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL attaches great importance to respecting the privacy of individuals whose personal data is processed at one time or another as part of the relationship they have with the Foundation.

Article 13 of the Federal Constitution dated 18 April 1999 (Cst., RS 101) provides that all persons have a right to protection of their private sphere and family life and have the right to protection from the abusive use of data relating to them. Article 12 of the Federal Data Protection Act dated 19 June 1992 (LPD, RS 325.1) specifically protects individuals against any unlawful interference with their personality. The Vaud Canton law dated 11 September 2007 on the protection of personal data (LPrD; BLV 172.65) provides that everyone has the right to protection against the misuse of data relating to them.

Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL complies with these provisions in its capacity as the manager processing your personal data.

This policy concerns the processing of your data collected as a:

Regarding the processing of your data as an instructor at one of our training courses or as a member of the foundation’s staff, please contact the UNIL Human Resources Department.

This policy is dated January 5th, 2021. It may be updated on a regular basis and available for consultation at https://www.formation-continue-unil-epfl.ch/en/ hereinafter, the “Site”). Any use of our services following a modification will be considered as acceptance of the latest version of this policy. Only the French version of this policy is valid.

1. What is meant by ‘personal data’?

Personal data is any data that identifies an individual. Such data can either be used to identify you directly, for example your first and last name, your email address or your AHV number, or indirectly by combining various information relating to you, such as the IP address of your computer or your credit card or phone number.

2. What type of data are you likely to submit to Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL and for what purposes might we process them?

The list below summarises the type of data you provide to us and the reason that we collect it:

Why this type of processing?

  • ADMINISTRATION OF YOUR STUDIES PROGRAMME: registration procedure, examination of application files and admission procedure, invoicing, tracking studies, assessments and exams and awarding academic qualifications
    • What are the categories of data processed? Name, first name, title, date of birth, address, telephone, email, profession, and, depending on the programme: CV, diplomas, work certificates, passport photo, academic supervision and family situation
  • CAREER GUIDANCE: tips for your professional development
    • What are the categories of data processed? Last name, first name, contact data, potentially data relating to your profile (training courses or professional background) and your professional centres of interest
  • ANNOUNCEMENTS OF NEW TRAINING COURSES IN YOUR AREAS OF INTEREST: via emails or newsletters
    • What are the categories of data processed? Last name, first name, email (postal address if applicable), profession, areas of academics that interest you per the information you provided when registering on our Stay informed platform)
  • PROCESSING OF QUESTIONS YOU SUBMITTED VIA OUR CONTACT FORM
    • What are the categories of data processed? Name, first name and email
  • INVITATION TO EVENTS: participation in conferences, workshops, commemorations, etc.
    • What are the categories of data processed? Last name, first name, email, other information depending on the type of event (institutional centre, food allergies, etc.)

Processing of your personal data as described above is done in performing public tasks delegated to Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL, with your consent or because this information is needed to provide you with a service.

When you visit our website, we also collect other types of data, as described in section “7. Use of cookies”.

3. Who do we share your data with?

The data you provide may be submitted to various departments and faculties of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne) so that we may achieve the objectives state above to your expectations. As such, we are also likely to share your data with our partners involved in performing our various tasks and activities, such as public or private partner academic institutions in Switzerland and abroad.

In order to ensure that certain training courses in which you take part proceed smoothly, Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL may transmit your personal data to other participants in the training course. In this case, any personal data transmitted is limited to the strict minimum.

Your data is never passed on to third parties, in particular for marketing or promotional purposes.

With regard to requests for authentication of a degree, Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL does not transmit data concerning people who are enrolled or who have been enrolled its training courses, unless the authentication request is accompanied by a consent form duly signed by such a person.

Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL may also be required to disclose your data as a legal obligation, following an injunction issued by a judicial or administrative authority or in accordance with our legal obligations, or as part of legal proceedings.

Are your data likely to be sent abroad?

Most of the data collected by Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL is hosted on our servers or, in the event that we are dealing with an external partner who must process your data, within the European Economic Area (EEA).

However, if your data is processed outside the EEA, which one of our institutional partners such as one located in the United States may undertake, we make sure that your data is transferred in a lawful manner, either by obtaining your explicit consent or by other means, such as including standard contractual clauses for this type of case.

5. How does Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL protect your data?

The retention period of the data will be determined in accordance with current laws and regulations. Your personal data is destroyed or rendered anonymous as soon as it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

We make every effort to ensure the security of your data and thus prevent any improper access, use, modification or disclosure of your data. In order to guarantee the confidentiality of the data exchanged, especially while delivering an on-line service, this site uses a regularly updated authentication certificate. This certificate is also used to check that your computer is communicating with the Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL server.

In addition, we make every effort to ensure that any third party to whom your data is sent as described above will handle it in a secure manner to ensure its confidentiality and integrity.té.

Despite all best efforts, it is not possible to fully guarantee the security of information that is exchanged over the Internet. You transmit all data at your own risk.

6. What are your rights with relation to the processing of your data?

In accordance with article 8 of the LPD and article 25 of the LPrD, any person may request Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL to access personal data collected concerning that person.

You can exercise this right by submitting a request to: formcont@unil.ch

7. How do we use cookies?

When you first visit the Formation Continue UNIL-EPFL website, you will see a message at the bottom of the screen concerning the use of cookies. A cookie, which is a text file placed on your computer, is then stored in your computer so that your browser knows that you have seen this message, and will no longer display it.

You can deactivate the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, such deactivation could prevent the use of certain features of this site.

You can indicate that you consent to the use of cookies by selecting the option “I accept”, or by simply continuing to browse the site https://www.formation-continue-unil-epfl.ch/en/.

You can delete cookies at any time by selecting the “remove / delete cookies” option in the management settings of your browser. On your next visit, you will again be asked to accept or refuse the use of cookies.

7a) Analytical cookies

By browsing our site, you may accept or configure the use of cookies for statistical purposes. These cookies are used for evaluating the number of visits and type of use made by persons visiting this site in order to continuously improve its navigability and the relevance of the content.

The data generated by the cookies concerning your use of the site is collected via Google Analytics and are transmitted and stored on servers located in the United States. These include the IP address, geographic origin, date of visit, duration of visit, pages viewed and page sequence. This information is used to evaluate your use of the site, compiling reports on site activity for its publisher and providing other services relating to site activity and the use of the internet. Google may communicate this data to third parties if legally obliged or when these third parties process this data for their accounts, including the publisher of this site. They will not associate your IP address with any other data held. Google also adheres to the Privacy Shield legal framework covering Swiss-US relations in terms of data protection. Finally, Google renders your IP address anonymous before it is saved.

Depending on the browser you are using, you can also deactivate Google Analytics by installing an add-on for your browser. You can also deactivate or consult the use of your cookies by Google.

7b) Third-party or advertising cookies

We use cookies that collect information about your content preferences focusing on the pages you visit on our site in order to be able to provide you with academic offers that best match your interests. This information may be used during the advertising campaigns that we carry out to present the courses most likely spark your interest.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, GoogleAds and other tools managed by third parties may install cookies in order to share content on third party tools or to compile consultation statistics. The presence, number and status of cookies may depend on how you used the platforms before or during your visits to the site https://www.formation-continue-unil-epfl.ch/en/. Please check the rules applied by the sites concerned for managing cookies used by third-party tools.

More information regarding the protection of data on Facebook
More information regarding the protection of data on LinkedIn
More information regarding the protection of data on Twitter
More information regarding the protection of data on Youtube
More information regarding the protection of data on GoogleAds

8. References and links

The following site https://www.formation-continue-unil-epfl.ch/en/ and the pages relating thereto may provide referrals and links to other websites and social media. Access to these sites and use of them are the responsibility of individual users. The information and services offered by these sites fall entirely under the responsibility of their authors.

9. Contact

Please put any questions relating to this policy to the following address: formcont@unil.ch