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Privacy Policy of the Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations at WU

The protection of your personal data is important to us at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. In this Privacy Policy, we inform you about how our office processes personal data and what rights you have as a data subject, for example as a WU graduate, WU donor, WU partner, or a visitor to the website wu-alumni.at.

We process your data in compliance with the applicable legal provisions, including but not limited to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Austrian Telecommunications Act (Telekommunikationsgesetz, TKG) 2003. Data controller under the relevant data protection laws is WU.

Contact information

Controller:

WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Attn. Corporate & Alumni Relations
Welthandelsplatz 1, Building EA, 1020 Vienna

Data Protection Officer:

WU Vienna University of Economics and Business
Attn. Data Protection Officer Legal Affairs Office
Welthandelsplatz 1, Building AR, 1020 Vienna

For substantive questions, please contact Isabel Weitz-Berger.

For data protection–related matters, please contact the WU data protection team.

1. About us

The Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations supports WU’s strategic development by establishing and maintaining long-term, value-creating relationships with graduates and companies in Austria and across the world. At the national and international level, we help shape alumni engagement with WU, strengthen WU’s position as a partner to the business community, and expand the financial base of WU and of the WU Foundation through fundraising and sponsoring activities.

Under § 3(10) of the Austrian Universities Act (Universitätsgesetz, UG), universities have the task of maintaining contact with their graduates. The Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations processes personal data for this purpose. The legal basis for data processing in this regard is Article 6 (1)(e) GDPR (performance of a task carried out in the public interest), unless otherwise stated below.

2. Processing activities

  • Maintenance of the CRM database
  • Establishment of contacts with WU departments, institutes, and competence centers
  • Organization and implementation of events for graduates
  • Dispatch of information on offers for graduates
  • Publication of print and online publications
  • Communication via WU social media channels
  • Fundraising activities for WU and the WU Foundation
  • Preparation of analyses and reports

The Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations processes personal data in the course of these activities. This is explained in further detail below.

2.1 Management, acquisition, and support of alumni, donors, and partners, as well as marketing activities

Processing activities related to alumni management include maintaining directories, documenting donations, and communicating with graduates, donors, and WU partners. As the Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations, we process personal data of alumni, donors, and partners in order to renew and maintain WU’s relationship with its graduates and to strengthen the national and international alumni network, WU as a whole, and the WU Foundation. Specifically, we process your master data (first and last name, date of birth, gender, academic titles before or after the name, email address, official title, mobile phone number, home phone number, street, house number, postal code, city, state or province, country, information on degree completion such as degree program, major, date of graduation, student ID number, and, if known, professional information such as company and position), including contact information, as well as your bank account details and payment information (payment amount and payment date).

We primarily send event invitations, informational material, letters, and donation requests. Personal data is also processed when you register for an event or cancel your participation. Donor data is processed for administrative purposes on the basis of Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of a contract and steps taken at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract). We also process personal data on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) GDPR for the performance of tasks assigned to the Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations by WU that are carried out in the public interest (§ 3(10) UG: maintenance of contact with graduates; § 3(5) UG: continuing education).

Recipients of the personal data include banks and payment service providers for payment processing purposes, tax advisory and auditing firms, public and government authorities, and other entities necessary to comply with supervisory, notification, or communication obligations, as well as law firms, courts, and other bodies for the purpose of legal enforcement.

We also engage processors as defined by Article 4(8) GDPR for certain processing activities, including IT service providers for support and maintenance of IT applications, printing companies, and the postal service for sending event invitations, informational material, letters, and donation requests.

Data of event participants is processed on the basis of Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of a contract) and/or Article 6(1)(f) GDPR(purposes of legitimate interests), insofar as this is necessary for organizing and conducting the event, follow-up reporting, and providing information about similar events that may be of interest to the participants.

2.2 Participation in our events 

2.2.1 Conduct of the event

We process the personal data that you provide to us when registering for an event. As a rule, this is your master data (first and last name, date of birth, gender, academic titles before or after the name, email address, official title, telephone number, street, house number, postal code, city, state or province, country), including contact information. 

This processing is carried out for the purpose of organizing and managing the event and your registration, including contacting you in the event of short-notice schedule changes or cancellations and, in the case of fee-based events, invoicing. Your data may also be processed for documentation and information purposes, for example for follow-up reporting or to inform you of future events.

Data of event participants is processed on the basis of Article 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent given by the data subject), Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (performance of a contract and steps taken at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract), Article 6(1)(e) GDPR (performance of a task carried out in the public interest) in conjunction with § 3(11) UG (public relations), and/or Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (purposes of legitimate interests, in this case information on future events and documentation of activities and developments at WU).

As a rule, we do not disclose your data to third parties. In individual cases, however, it may be necessary to transfer your personal data to service providers in order to achieve the purposes stated above. These service providers are carefully selected by us and contractually obliged, as processors, to handle your data in compliance with the law.

We process your data only for as long as necessary for the purpose of organizing and documenting the event and your registration, as well as for contract performance and informational purposes. Beyond this, data is processed only for as long as statutory retention periods apply. These periods may arise in particular for contract processing purposes from the Austrian Commercial Code (Unternehmensgesetzbuch, UGB) and the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code (Bundesabgabenordnung, BAO).

2.2.2 Photos and videos for public relations purposes

Photos and/or videos, including audio recordings, are taken during events.

Your data is processed by us for documentation and public relations purposes and to provide information about offerings, in particular with regard to follow-up reporting. This data is processed on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) GDPR (performance of a task carried out in the public interest) in conjunction with § 3(11) UG (public relations). For public relations purposes, in particular, data may be published on websites, in social media, and in publications and/or print media.

2.3 Use of the website wu-alumni.at

Use of the website wu-alumni.at is generally possible without registering as a user.

The website wu-alumni.at may contain links to external websites, i.e. websites of third parties. We have no influence on the content and data protection standards of these external sites. WU therefore assumes no liability for external links.

2.3.1 Log files

Each time a page is accessed or a file is retrieved, access data is stored in a log file on the server. Each such record consists of:

  • the page from which the file was requested
  • the name of the file
  • date and time of the request
  • the amount of data transferred
  • the access status (file transferred, file not found, etc.)
  • a description of the type of internet browser used
  • the IP address assigned to you by your provider (insofar as this information is technically necessary)

The stored data is evaluated anonymously and solely for statistical purposes. It is not disclosed to third parties, neither for commercial nor for non-commercial purposes.

We use this information to ensure and monitor the proper operation and performance of the website. Processing is carried out on the basis of WU’s legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

2.3.2 Cookies

The website uses cookies. These are small data sets (text files) that are stored on your computer in the (temporary) memory of your internet browser. They do not cause any damage. Their use enables us to provide a user-friendly service and serves exclusively to ensure a smooth online experience.

If you wish to control cookies on your computer, you can configure your browser settings so that you are notified when a website wants to store cookies on your computer. You can also block cookies or delete those already stored. For more information on how to do this, please use your browser’s help function. Please note that blocking or deleting cookies may impair your online experience and prevent you from fully using our website.

2.3.3 Contact

You can contact the Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations via the online forms on the website wu-alumni.at. In these forms, we request only the personal data necessary to process your inquiry. Providing data is voluntary. Your data is treated confidentially and not disclosed to third parties. It is used exclusively to process your inquiry.

2.4 Newsletter

On the website wu-alumni.at, you have the option to subscribe to the alumni newsletter. To do so, you must provide your email address and consent to receiving the newsletter. After registering, you will receive an email containing a confirmation link. By clicking on this link, you verify your email address and confirm that you wish to receive the newsletter. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking the “Unsubscribe” link at the end of any newsletter email. In this case, the data stored in connection with newsletter distribution will be deleted immediately. We use the data platform Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights for sending newsletters.

2.5 Our online presence on social media

We maintain an online presence on social media platforms.

Responsibility for the data processing activities listed here lies partly with us and partly with the respective platform operators. For certain processing activities, we and the platform operators act as joint controllers as defined by Article 26 GDPR. Please note that we nevertheless have no full influence over the data processing carried out by the individual social networks. In the event that data subject rights are asserted, we can only forward such requests to the respective operators. We expressly point out that we have no knowledge of how and to what extent the platform operators use data from visits to our social media pages for their own purposes, how long they store such data, or whether data is assigned to individual users or disclosed to third parties. The operators do not provide complete or clear information on this, and we cannot influence it, nor do we have effective control mechanisms.

The operation of our social media pages serves to inform the public about the fulfillment of the tasks legally assigned to the university (public relations) and to enable communication (answering inquiries). We therefore process your personal data on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) GDPR in conjunction with § 3(11) UG (public relations) for the performance of tasks assigned to the Office of Corporate & Alumni Relations by WU that are carried out in the public interest.

The social media pages constitute a supplementary offering to our existing information and communication services and enable users to communicate with us.

2.5.1 LinkedIn

LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland

If you contact us via our LinkedIn page, for example by means of messages, comments, mentions, or “likes” that contain personal data (such as your account data, name, date of birth, or email address), this data is transmitted to us by LinkedIn. We also receive anonymous statistics and reports from LinkedIn on the use of our social media profile. These do not contain personal data.

The following anonymous information is made available to us: followers (number of people following our LinkedIn profile, including growth and development over a defined period), reach (number of people who see a particular post), number of interactions with a post and visits to our profile, advertising impact (number of people who have seen and interacted with an advertisement or article), and demographics (job function, industry, company size, location, length of service, country, employment status). We use these statistics to further develop and optimize our LinkedIn content and to better address the interests of our users. We cannot link the statistical data to the profiles of our followers or individual users. Which information you publish in your profile, for example education, professional experience, skills and endorsements, photo, location, or region, is your own decision, as is whether you publish confidential information. You can largely determine this yourself via your LinkedIn account settings under “Data privacy”. Which data LinkedIn collects and how it is used depends on how you use the services and which privacy settings you select. Further information can be found in LinkedIn’s Privacy Policy at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy and https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/privacy. Certain LinkedIn services and content are also visible to non-members (“visitors”). LinkedIn also processes data of visitors when they use its services, including the URL of the website from which they came to LinkedIn, the URL of the website to which they navigated to next, the time of the visit, and information about their network and device (such as IP address, proxy server, operating system, internet browser and add-ons, device identifiers and features, cookie IDs, and/or internet service provider or mobile network operator). If services are accessed from a mobile device, this device may transmit location data depending on the device settings.

3. Is your data processed in third countries?

For donor acquisition, to support and manage alumni and donor information, for marketing purposes, and when using the website wu-alumni.at, your personal data is generally not processed in third countries.

Data that is processed for WU public relations purposes (i.e. photos as well as audio and video recordings) are published, among other places, on websites, in social media, in publications, and/or in print media. It cannot be ruled out that such content may be accessed from third countries.

When interacting with our online pages on social media, your personal data may be processed on servers outside the EU/EEA.

4. How long is your data stored?

We generally store alumni data until revoked, donor data until donations cease, and beyond that until the expiry of applicable statutes of limitation and statutory retention periods, as well as until the conclusion of any legal disputes in which the data is required as evidence.

In connection with events, we process your data only for as long as necessary for the purpose of organizing and documenting the event and your registration, as well as for contract performance and informational purposes. Beyond this, data is processed only for as long as statutory retention periods apply.

Statutory retention periods may arise in particular for contract processing purposes from the Austrian Commercial Code (Unternehmensgesetzbuch, UGB) and the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code (Bundesabgabenordnung, BAO).

Photos and videos (including audio recordings) created of you, if any, are stored for as long as necessary for the processing purposes. The storage period depends in particular on the following criteria:

  • type of depiction (number of persons, environment shown)
  • context in which the recording was made (public event, lecture, graduation ceremony, academic celebration)
  • suitability for use on the website, in social networks, and on video platforms
  • suitability for portraying the history of the university
  • suitability for use in anniversaries and commemorative publications
  • suitability for use on the website
  • degree of interference with confidentiality interests

In addition, photo/video data including audio data may be stored until the conclusion of any legal disputes for which they are required as evidence.

5. What rights do you have?

As a data subject of these data processing activities, you have the right vis-à-vis WU to access, rectification, erasure, restriction of processing, data portability, and objection. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Austrian Data Protection Authority. Further information on your rights as a data subject can be found on our website under “Your rights as a data subject”.

To exercise your rights, please contact the WU data protection team.