Disclaimer
This Study in Finland site is maintained by EDUFI (Finnish National Agency for Education).
We make every effort to ensure that the information on this site is accurate and up to date, but EDUFI cannot take responsibility for any difficulties that may arise in connection to the use of the information on this site. The information included on this site is subject to change.
About the privacy policy
This privacy statement describes what personal data and other information we collect and how we process this information. This privacy policy is applied to the Study in Finland online services provided by the EDUFI (Study in Finland website www.studyinfinland.fi and related online advisory services.)
Personal data means information in which an individual person can be identified.
The user should read this privacy statement before beginning to use our services and accept the practices concerning the processing of personal data and use of cookies according to this privacy policy. If the user does not accept this privacy policy or the terms and conditions of use of the service, he or she does not have the right to use the service.
EDUFI complies with the legislation concerning data protection and processes personal data according to good data management and data processing practices.
An exception to this privacy policy are the sections on our site which incorporate elements from Unibuddy.com:
- Chat (www.studyinfinland.fi/chat)
- Blogs (www.studyinfinland.fi/blogs)
- The Unibuddy pop-card on the front page
The content of these sections follows the Unibuddy privacy and cookie policies, which can be found at:
https://unibuddy.com/privacy-policy/ and https://unibuddy.com/cookie-policy/. On our site, Unibuddy has been configured to only use Strictly Necessary cookies.
What information do we collect and from what sources?
Personal data is primarily collected from the users themselves – either when submitting inquiries to our online advisory service www.studyinfinland.fi/contact or based on the observation of service usage.
Data provided by the user:
- contact details such as name and e-mail address when sending email to our customer address sif@oph.fi
- possible other personal information included in the customer queries themselves.
Data obtained when observing service usage:
- usage and browsing data related to service features
- website usage is analysed with Matomo Analytics. With your consent Matomo Analytics sets cookies to the computer to be able to analyse website usage. The cookies provide information on how you use the website (IP addresses are anonymized). The information is used to assess website usage, to compile usage reports for the owner of the website and to offer other services related to the activities on the website and internet usage. The data collected by Matomo Analytics is not transferred outside the EU.
- other data collected with the user's permission.
For what purpose is data collected?
Study in Finland (EDUFI) may process personal data for the following purposes:
- answering customer inquiries and feedback
- customer satisfaction surveys
- producing, maintaining, protecting and developing services
Do we disclose personal data?
EDUFI does not normally disclose any personal data. However, your personal data may be disclosed in the following situations:
1. Your consent
- with your explicit consent, personal data can be disclosed, for example, to a third party for a service provided by it
2. Subcontractors and service providers
- EDUFI uses subcontractors and service providers for the technical maintenance of its services and for customer services, customer communication and research. Personal data can be disclosed to subcontractors and service providers only to the extent they participate in the implementation of the services of EDUFI and for the purposes described in this privacy policy statement.
- Subcontractors and service providers must not use the personal data disclosed to them for any other purposes than those described in this privacy statement and those determined by EDUFI. EDUFI obliges subcontractors and service providers to maintain the confidentiality of the data and to ensure that appropriate data security and data protection are implemented to protect personal data.
3. International data transfers
- EDUFI makes efforts to always implement the services and to process personal data primarily within the EU and the EEA, using operators and services established in these areas. If this principle is exceptionally and on a case by case basis deviated from, thorough reports regarding the implementation of data protection and data security in the service concerned are required from the service.
4. Use in research
- We may disclose data for scientific or other studies, provided that the data concerned has first been changed into a form in which individual persons can no longer be identified.
5. Disclosures due to mandatory legislation
- under the law, your personal data can be disclosed to other authorities for official use.
Data transfer to third countries
- Apart from exceptional cases, we do not transfer data outside the EU or the EEA. If data is transferred outside the EU or the EEA, we will ensure the adequate level of protection for personal data, for instance, by agreeing on matters related to the confidentiality of personal data and its processing as required by legislation, for example, by using model contract clauses approved by the European Commission and in other ways so that personal data is processed in accordance with this privacy policy.
How do we process personal data?
Our personnel may process personal data according to the legislation concerning data protection in force at the time. We may also partly outsource the processing of personal data to a third party, in which case we will through contractual arrangements guarantee that personal data is processed in accordance with the Personal data act and appropriately also in other ways.
What do we do to protect personal data?
The registers are maintained and protected through different technical and organisational measures. We ensure that our system is fault tolerant and that it is possible to recover data. These protection measures include access control, physical access control, technical solutions such as firewalls, and password protection. These measures enable access to the stored data only for named employees of the EDUFI and for service providers with a contractual relationship with the Agency.
We inform the police and the National Cyber Security Centre Finland of possible data security threats and possible data security violations directly through the services. We may also temporarily close services to protect personal data.
How do we use cookies?
The Finnish National Agency for Education uses cookies to improve the user experience of online services. You can find more information on the use of cookies in the cookie settings window, where you can also find a list of all cookies used on the site and you can change your acceptance of the use of cookies.
Cookies that require your approval and the cookie settings window require Javascript support from the browser to work.
How long do we store your personal data?
EDUFI stores the user's data in accordance with the legislation in force at the time and only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this privacy statement. When the grounds for processing your personal data no longer exist, we will remove your personal data.
What rights do you have?
You have a legal right to inspect what data we have collected about you. You also have the right to demand that incorrect, incomplete, unnecessary or outdated personal data be corrected or removed.
You can exercise your rights by contacting the controller mentioned below.
Changes to the privacy policy
EDUFI constantly develops its services and may from time to time make changes to this privacy policy without prior notice. However, if this privacy policy is substantially altered, EDUFI will display a notification of it at the beginning of this privacy statement for a duration of at least 30 days. Changes may also be based on a change in legislation. We recommend that you view this privacy statement from time to time to find out about the possible changes that have been made to the privacy policy.
Who is the controller and who can you contact?
Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy.
The Finnish National Agency for Education EDUFI (Business identity code 2769790-1) acts as the controller and you can contact us in the following ways:
Finnish National Agency for Education / Communications
PO Box 380 (street address: Hakaniemenranta 6)
FI-00530 Helsinki, Finland
e-mail: webmaster@oph.fi or kirjaamo@oph.fi
telephone (switchboard): +358 29 533 1000
The privacy policy has been published on 16 February 2023