Privacy Notice

This privacy notice provides information on the processing of your personal data associated with the use of this website and its functionalities in connection with your application (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Website”).

This Website uses SSL or TLS encryption for security and to protect personal data and other confidential content during transmission (e.g. orders or inquiries submitted to the person responsible). You can recognize an encrypted connection by the string “https://” and the lock symbol in your browser line.

1. Controller and Data Protection Officer

IU Internationale Hochschule GmbH, Juri-Gagarin-Ring 152, 99084 Erfurt, is responsible as a joint controller with IU Corporate Services GmbH, Mülheimer Straße 38, 53604 Bad Honnef, for the processing of your personal data in connection with the application process. We process your personal data depending on the topic as a joint controller with other companies belonging to the group (all of which are located at Mülheimer Straße 38, 53604 Bad Honnef, Germany, unless otherwise indicated). The Website is operated by IU Group N.V., Square Ambiorix 10, BE-1000 Brussels (“IU Group”). Activities in connection with the operation of IU International University of Applied Sciences are carried out in joint controllership with IU Internationale Hochschule GmbH, Juri-Gagarin-Ring 152, 99084 Erfurt, also in regard to its degree programs, including contacting and sending information. For central services within the group, such as controlling, accounting and personnel administration, office, process and quality management, purchasing and sales, as well as central services, the aforementioned companies rely on the support of IU Corporate Services GmbH, which is also responsible for data processing; IU IT Services GmbH, Ridlerstr. 57, c/o IU Group NV, 80339 Munich for the provision of the operational IT infrastructure including hardware and software, telecommunications and electronic communications; IU Examination Service GmbH for services in the area of examination supervision; IU Marketing Service GmbH as well as IU Sales Services GmbH, Ridlerstr. 57, c/o IU Group NV, 80339 Munich, for services in the area of marketing and sales (this also includes marketing via this Website and the operation of the student applicant portal); IU Commercial 1 GmbH for the management of the online campus and IU Commercial 2 GmbH for the management of the campus locations and campus programs; IU Student Services GmbH together with the respective GmbH that exists for the respective location and is named after its city name, e.g. IU Dortmund GmbH or IU Bonn GmbH, for the support of prospective students and current students, in particular student advisory services. In the following, the above companies are collectively referred to as “IU”; this does not affect their responsibilities as described above. We will be happy to provide you with excerpts of the joint controllership agreement. Please contact datenschutz@iu.org.

IU has appointed Dr. Annette Demmel, SPB DPO Services GmbH, An der Buche 4, 13465 Berlin, as its data protection officer. You can contact IU either in writing or by email at datenschutz@iu.org.

2. Data Collection When Visiting the Website

When you use our Website for informational purposes only, i.e., if you do not register or otherwise provide us with any information, we only collect the data that your browser transmits to our server (so-called “server log files”). When you visit our Website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display the Website for you:

The processing takes place on the basis of your use of our Website in accordance with Art. 6 (1) b) of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and our interest in improving the stability and functionality of our Website in accordance with Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR.

We process your data in order to provide you with a functional website, store the data for the period of time determined by IU for this purpose, and delete your data thereafter.

Only IU employees, who are responsible for maintaining the Website, have access to your personal data.

We use third-party services on our Website. Further information on these services and the related data processing can be found in this privacy notice or the cookie settings.

3. Cookies

Depending on your browser settings and whether you have given us your consent, cookies may be used when you visit this Website in order to extend the functionality of the Website and make it more convenient for you to use. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer. Most of the cookies used by IU are deleted from your hard drive at the end of the browser session (“session cookies”). In addition, IU uses so-called “persistent cookies”, which remain on your end device in order to recognize you the next time you visit the Website. If cookies are stored, they collect and process certain user information to an individual extent, such as browser and location data as well as IP address values and as described in the server log files. Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specified period of time, which may differ depending on the cookie. 

An overview of the cookies used and the duration of the respective cookie storage can be found in the cookie settings in our cookie consent tool.

If personal data is also processed by individual cookies used by us, the processing takes place in accordance with Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR for the purposes of our legitimate interest in improving the stability and functionality of our Website (so-called “necessary cookies”) or on the basis of your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) a) GDPR for all other cookies (marketing and analysis cookies). 

Please note that you can set your browser so that you are informed when cookies are being placed and can decide individually whether to accept them or to reject cookies in certain cases or in general. Each browser differs in the way it manages cookie settings. Cookie settings are described in the help menu of each browser, which explains how you can change your cookie settings.

Please note that if you do not accept cookies, the functionality of our Website may be restricted.

4. Cookie Consent Tool

This Website uses a so-called cookie consent tool of Usercentrics GmbH, Rosental 4, 80331 Munich (the “cookie consent tool“) to obtain consent for the use of cookies and cookie-based applications that require consent.

By integrating a corresponding JavaScript code, users are shown a banner when they access our Website, in which consent for certain cookies and/or cookie-based applications can be given by ticking the appropriate box. 

The cookie consent tool blocks the use of all cookies that require consent until the respective user has given corresponding consent by ticking the appropriate box. This ensures that such cookies are only stored on the respective end device of the user if consent has been given. 

In order for the cookie consent tool to be able to clearly assign page views to individual users and to individually record, log and store the consent settings made by the user for a session duration, certain user information, as described in the server log files and including the IP address, is transmitted to and stored on servers of the cookie consent tool when our Website is accessed by the cookie consent tool. Further details can be found in the information provided in each case in the cookie consent tool.

The data processing carried out by the cookie consent tool takes place in accordance with Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR for the purposes of our legitimate interest in managing consent for cookies in a legally compliant, user-specific and user-friendly manner and thus in designing a legally compliant website.

We have concluded a data processing agreement with Usercentrics in which Usercentrics is obligated to protect the data of visitors to our Website and to refrain from disclosing such data to third parties. 

We process your personal data for this purpose for the duration of your session and delete it thereafter, unless you have given your consent to the use of cookies. In this case, we process your personal data for the storage period specified for each cookie. 

Further information on the use of data by Usercentrics GmbH can be found in the privacy policy of Usercentrics at: https://usercentrics.com/privacy-policy/

5. Contact (e.g., by email)

If you contact us, e.g., by email, we process the information you provide that is necessary to conduct the communication, e.g., your email address, the information you provide, and the date and time of the contact. If you also provide us with your name and other personal data, we also process this data. If you participate in an online meeting with us, we additionally process your display name, your profile picture, if applicable, preferred language, date, time, meeting ID, your phone number, if applicable, as well as any exchanged texts, audio and video data. We use Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, both services of Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA (“Microsoft”), to conduct our communications. The legal basis for this processing is Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR. We process your data in order to respond to your request. Your personal data will be stored in each case for the duration specified by IU for the performance of the task and then deleted. This period is based on the retention obligations under commercial and tax law. Only IU employees, who are responsible for answering contact inquiries, have access to your personal data. We have concluded a data processing agreement with Microsoft, which is based on the EU standard contracts. The EU standard contractual clauses are available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0914&qid=1686729275658 . Further information on data processing by Microsoft can be found at https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement.

6. Applications

6.1 Applications in Response to Job Ads and Expressions of Interest via LinkedIn

If you apply for an advertised position at our company, the categories of personal data that we process about you include but are not limited to the following:

If you apply for a position at our company via our Website, we use the so-called double opt-in procedure, i.e., you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you are the owner of the email address. Please note that this is purely a precautionary measure and that sending a confirmation email to you has no legal effect. The legal basis for this processing is the sending of your application to us in accordance with Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR.

In order to simplify the administration of application documents, we use software that we continuously improve and which uses character recognition to sort the files provided to us on the basis of keywords. The legal basis for the processing is Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR and our legitimate interest in the efficient design of applicant administration for the purpose of shortening job filling times and improving the accuracy of the software’s targeting. We will not process keywords relating to special categories of personal data, nor conduct any profiling based on the documents. Access to your personal data in the context of the use of the software is granted to employees who are responsible for the use and improvement of the software. The software will process your personal data only until the completion of the sorting process or a period of another week , if this is necessary for the analysis of the accuracy of the target and improvement of the software.

If we receive your application or your expressed interest in a position via LinkedIn, we will process the data that you disclose on LinkedIn for application purposes. Your application data that you upload through our application portal or that we transfer from LinkedIn to our application portal is hosted by our service provider Workday Inc., 6110 Stoneridge Mall Road, CA 94588 Pleasanton (“Workday”) in the EU. However, in exceptional cases, Workday employees may have access to your personal data for troubleshooting, support and maintenance purposes. For this reason, we have concluded a data processing agreement with Workday, which includes EU standard contractual clauses.

IU uses various other IT service providers to assist us in providing our career websites where you submit your application to us. Employees of such service providers, especially those who provide the portals we use to upload your application, may have access to your personal data for troubleshooting purposes in individual cases. We have concluded data processing agreements with our service providers for this purpose in accordance with Art. 28 GDPR. In this context, employees of the service provider responsible for technical support may also have access to your personal data from outside the EU. For such cases, we have incorporated EU standard contractual clauses into the data processing agreement. The EU standard contractual clauses can be found at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0914&qid=1686729275658 . In addition, employees of consulting service providers, such as law firms, who are legally bound to secrecy, may have access to your personal data.

If we offer you a permanent position at IU, we will process your personal data as described in the data privacy information for employees. If we are unfortunately unable to consider your application further, then we will process your data for a period of six (6) months from the date of sending the rejection letter and delete your data thereafter.

6.2. Data processing during the application procedure

Application videos

As part of the application process, you may be given the opportunity to record an application video. In doing so, we will process the time and date of the recording, your voice and image, and the information contained in the video, such as information from your narration or images in the background.  We use the opportunity of the application video to give the people involved in the hiring decision an efficient way to get to know you. The legal basis for this processing is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) a) DSGVO. You can revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future by notifying datenschutz@iu.org.

Only those employees of IU who are responsible for conducting the interview and other persons involved in the hiring decision will have access to your personal data. These are, in particular, our internal recruiters and, if applicable, also the members of an appointment committee. IU cooperates with VidCruiter Inc, 100 Cameron St, Moncton, NB E1C 5Y6, Canada, for the realization of application videos and has entered into a data processing agreement with the service provider in accordance with Art. 28 DSGVO, which is based on the EU Commission’s adequacy decision for Canada as of 01/20/2001, C(2001) 4539. as a country with an adequate level of data protection. Your application video and related personal data will be deleted no later than six months after the hiring or rejection decision.

Transcription of Job Interviews

As part of the application process at IU, you can voluntarily choose to have the interviews conducted with IU transcribed. For this purpose, your interviews will first be recorded verbatim for a short period of time, converted into text, and then summarised using software that utilises artificial intelligence through a large language model. The summary focuses on topics relevant to your application at IU. Your exact statements are usually no longer included in the summary.

The following categories of data will be processed in relation to the transcription of job interviews: your first and last name, including the date, time, length, and content of the interview, information about your professional background and work experience. If you disclose further personal data during the interview, this data will also be processed. During the transcription process, your voice will initially be recorded. Your voice may provide indications of your origin, e.g., through a dialect or accent, or give insights into other aspects, such as speech impediments or emotions. IU does not use your voice to gain such insights, nor to identify you based on your voice.

The data processing is carried out for the purpose of improving the documentation and the speed of the interview process. The transcription helps to fully and accurately capture the conversation, so that the content can be better understood later, and misunderstandings or interpretation errors from manually taken notes can be avoided. This ultimately leads to greater transparency and traceability in the application process.

The legal basis for data processing is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. a) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which you can give below. Your consent is voluntary. You can revoke it at any time with effect for the future (without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out until the revocation).

Only employees of IU who are involved in the creation of the recordings, the verbatim transcripts, and the summaries have access to the recordings and verbatim transcripts. Employees of IU who are responsible for IU’s application processes, including your supervisors or employees of quality assurance, as well as employees of IT administration, have access to the summary of the interview.

For the creation of the recording, we use Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, both services provided by Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA (“Microsoft”). We have signed data processing agreements with Microsoft and Zoom, which are based on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. You can view the EU Standard Contractual Clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?uri=CELEX:32021D0914&locale=en. Microsoft is also certified under the Data Privacy Framework.

The creation of the transcript and further processing by IU takes place on the servers of Microsoft Azure, operated by Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd., One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland. The data transfer is based on the Data Privacy Framework.

The summary of the transcript is created using Microsoft Copilot, an OpenAI model operated in Microsoft Azure by Microsoft Ireland Operations Ltd., One Microsoft Place, South County Business Park, Leopardstown, Dublin 18, Ireland, which is hosted within Europe. The verbatim recordings are stored for the period until the completion of the transcript summaries. The same applies to the verbatim transcript itself. The respective recording and the transcript will be deleted immediately after the creation of the transcript or the summary of the transcript, but no later than the end of the working day on which the interview took place. The summary of the transcript, which usually no longer contains verbatim text from you, will be stored in the applicant’s file and retained according to the retention periods for such applications. These also follow the regulations of § 257 of the Commercial Code, § 147 of the Fiscal Code, and §§ 195 ff. of the German Civil Code.

Cognitive tests

As part of the application process, you may further be given the opportunity to take cognitive tests. In the course of cognitive tests, we process the time and date of your participation, as well as your input and interactions during the testing. We use cognitive tests to determine your suitability for the position offered. The legal basis for such processing is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. You can revoke your consent at any time with future effect by notifying datenschutz@iu.org.

Only those employees of the IU who are responsible for conducting cognitive tests as part of the application process will have access to your personal data. After evaluation of the tests by these employees, only summary results will be communicated to other parties involved in the further application process. IU uses the assistance of Aon Assessment GmbH, Großer Burstah 18-32, 20457 Hamburg, Germany, for the performance of cognitive tests and has concluded a data processing agreement with the service provider in accordance with Art. 28 DSGVO. The data collected as part of the cognitive tests will be deleted no later than six months after the test has been performed.

6.3 Booking Appointments

For the purpose of facilitating the booking of appointments for job interviews, we use MS Bookings, a service provided by Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA (“Microsoft”). When using this service, in addition to the information provided by you in the appointment booking, we process your display name, email address, preferred language, date and time of use. The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is Art. 6 (1) f) GDPR and our legitimate interest in offering user-friendly and efficient means of booking appointments. The connection to MS Bookings is only established if you use the offered booking function, which you are not obligated to do. Alternatively, you can choose other means of contact to make an appointment. IU employees, who are responsible for the selection of job applicants, have access to your data that is processed via MS Bookings. We delete your data contained in MS Bookings no later than six months after the decision to hire the applicant or reject the application. MS Bookings is part of Office 365, for which IU has concluded a data processing agreement with Microsoft based on the EU standard contracts. The EU standard contractual clauses can be found at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0914&qid=1686729275658 . Further information on data processing by Microsoft is available at https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement.

6.4 Talent Pool for Applicants

If you would like your application documents to also be considered for other suitable job vacancies, you can give us your consent to include your documents in our talent pool in accordance with Art. 6 (1) a) GDPR. This consent to the additional use of your personal data for the talent pool is effective for a total period of 24 months. If IU is interested in continuing to retain your application documents beyond this period, it will contact you before the 24 months have expired and ask you to renew your consent. If you do not renew your consent, IU is obligated to delete your data at the end of this period. We store proof of any consent previously given for three years.

Your consent to be included in the talent pool is voluntary. You can refuse to give your consent without stating any reasons and without having to fear any disadvantages as a result. In addition, you can withdraw your consent at any time without stating any reasons with effect for the future.

In the context of an application procedure, employees and teaching staff of IU, who are responsible for activities related to the implementation of the application procedure, have access to your personal data. In addition, within the framework of the talent pool, IU employees and the companies named in the section “Controller and Data Protection Officer”, who wish to fill a vacancy in their department (“recruiters”) may access your uploaded application documents, in particular the data categories mentioned under 6.1. with your consent, as long as you are registered in the talent pool as being interested in a position at IU. In addition, our group companies may provide IT services for us. Employees of these companies may have access to your personal data to the extent necessary to perform their duties. Furthermore, we use the support of various external service providers to operate our IT infrastructure.

IU uses a software solution provided by Workday, Inc. to store your application data. Your data is hosted in a data center in the European Union. Information on Workday can be found in the following section.

6.5 Login for Applicants Responding to Job Ads

If you apply to us for a job opportunity, you may create a user profile on our platform provided by Workday Inc., 6110 Stoneridge Mall Road, CA 94588 Pleasanton (“Workday”). For this purpose, we process your personal data, such as your full name, your self-selected password, your email address, your contact information (such as address and phone number), along with the information contained in your application, as described in the section “Applications in Response to Job Ads”.

The legal basis for this processing is a user relationship concluded with you for this purpose in accordance with Art. 6 (1) b) GDPR. We will retain your personal data for as long as your application process is ongoing. If your application process is completed, for whatever reason, we will store your personal data (i.e., your user profile) for a period of six months and then delete it, unless you continue to use your access for submitting other applications. 

In order to make this platform available to you, we use Workday as our contractor. Your personal data is hosted in a data center in the European Union. However, in exceptional cases, employees of Workday, Inc. may have access to your personal data for troubleshooting, support and maintenance purposes. For this reason, we have concluded a data processing agreement with Workday, which includes EU standard contractual clauses. The EU standard contractual clauses can be found at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0914&qid=1686729275658 .

7. Applications via dozentenpool23

To increase the number of applications we receive for academic positions, we cooperate with the job portal of Dozentenpool24, dozentenpool24, Wullenweberstraße 6 in 10555 Berlin. Through dozentenpool24, interested candidates can register to become a lecturer and apply for an advertised lectureship. If you are interested in working at IU, Dozentenpool24 refers you to the IU career portal. Your profile data may be transferred to IU from Dozentenpool24 via an interface. Provided that you give your consent in accordance with Art. 6 par. 1 (a) GDPR, the following categories of data will be transferred to IU: first name, last name, email address, telephone number, country, application documents (e.g. CV). Access to your data is granted to employees of the IU who are responsible for the application processes. You can revoke your consent at any time with future effect by contacting us, e.g. via datenschutz@iu.org. We have entered into a data transfer agreement with Dozentenpool24. To store and process your application data, IU uses a software solution from Workday, Inc. Your data is hosted in a data center in the European Union. In exceptional circumstances, employees of Workday, Inc. may have access to your personal data for troubleshooting, support and maintenance purposes. For this reason, we have entered into a data processing agreement with Workday, which includes EU standard contractual clauses. You can access the EU standard contractual clauses at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021D0914&qid=1686729275658. If an application was not successful, the data will be deleted from our systems after 6 months,  In case of a successful application, you can find further information on data processing in the context of the employment or contractual relationship in the corresponding data privacy information for employees.

8. Web Analysis Services

Our Website uses analysis services that we use to collect information about our Website, provided that you have consented to the use of the corresponding cookies. The data obtained with the help of analysis services, such as the origin of visitors or the time they spend on our Website, provide us with information about visitor behavior on our Website. With the help of this data, we are not only able to eliminate weaknesses but also make efficiency improvements to our Website. Further information on the analysis services used on our Website is provided below. For information on the processing of personal data by the cookies used in this context, such as the storage period of the cookies, please refer to our cookie settings.

8.1 Google Analytics and Google Signals

We use Google Analytics to gain an overview of the behavior of website visitors and our digital marketing. Google Analytics allows us to collect and analyze data that is specifically relevant to IU, for example, how far visitors scrolled, which buttons they clicked, etc. Google Analytics also helps us to record, for example, demographic characteristics such as age, gender and interests, geographical characteristics such as language and location, and technical characteristics such as device type, browser and operating system. With the help of this data, we are not only able to optimize our website but can also recognize how the respective sessions of visitors have ended (e.g. just visiting the website, requesting informational materials, registering for a degree program). Google Analytics also helps us identify which website a user enters first and through which channel the user came (e.g., via a paid or unpaid ad, a Google search, a Facebook post, or direct access to the website). This information allows IU to see which marketing channels are working and which are not. Google Analytics also allows us to identify user paths, i.e., where users go on our Website, whether they go back to the home page, and how many users there are. With the help of this information we can, for example, recognize whether many users have left due to a technical defect on the Website. The above data gives us a good overview of our Website and how it is used. Even if we collect data from users, we cannot draw any conclusions about you personally from this data because we receive reports from Google Analytics that are based on aggregated data sets.

Information on the provider, the cookies used, the legal basis, international data transfers and storage times of the cookies can be found in our cookie settings. 

8. Google Tag Manager

This Website uses Google Tag Manager (“GTM”), a service provided by Google Ireland Ltd. (“Google”), with its registered office at Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Through GTM, tags, such as code snippets or pixels, are used on our own website by means of a so-called container, which places a kind of placeholder in the source code and in which the tools to be used are stored without IU having to interfere with the source code of our Website. By means of GTM, tools can be used on our own Website without having to include each of them in the source code. Instead, only the code of GTM has to be integrated, and then GTM can be used as a central place to start or turn off the desired tools.

GTM works on the Website when a defined user behavior triggers a so-called tag (i.e., a pixel tag, web beacon or html code) for the tool. GTM collects the relevant data for the built-in tool and forwards it to the tool. Information on the tools used on our Website that are loaded via GTM can be found here. In this context, the data categories described for the respective tools are therefore not only transmitted to the respective providers of the tools; Google Ireland Ltd. also receives information about your usage behavior on our Website. Since a large number of the tool providers are located in countries outside the EU, please refer to the description of the respective tools if you wish to receive information on the transfer mechanisms established by IU. IU has also entered into a processing agreement with Google Ireland Ltd., which includes EU standard contractual clauses. The main content of this agreement is available at https://policies.google.com/privacy/frameworks?hl=de.

IU uses GTM to deploy not only statistical tools but also marketing tools. Accordingly, GTM is a statistics and marketing tool and the use of GTM takes place on the basis of your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) a) GDPR, which you may withdraw at any time with effect for the future by sending an email to datenschutz@iu.org.

9. Social Media

If you click on a link, such as to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok or LinkedIn, you will be taken to the respective websites of the various providers. Data processing on the respective website takes place in accordance with the data privacy information applicable there. IU does not have any control over the data processing carried out there.

10. Data Subject Rights

You may contact IU either in writing or by email at datenschutz@iu.org to exercise the following rights:

In addition, you have the right to file a complaint with a supervisory authority in connection with the processing of your personal data. You can exercise this right by contacting the data protection authority responsible for your place of residence or the authority responsible for the location of IU in Thuringia:

The Thuringian Data Protection Commissioner, Häßlerstraße 8, 99096 Erfurt.

11. Why is your personal data collected?

You may choose not to provide us with your personal data or to provide incomplete data. In such cases, for example, if you prevent the storage of cookies, this may result in you not being able to use all functionalities of the Website. If you choose not to provide us with your personal data or provide us with incomplete data when applying for a job, we may not be able to invite you to participate in the application process.