Data protection information

Leibniz University Hannover
Centre for Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning (ZQS)
Head of ZQS

Callinstraße 14
30167 Hannover

Phone +49 511 762 5898
email datenschutz@zqs.uni-hannover.de

The data protection officer pursuant to Art 13 b) GDPR is:

Leibniz University Hannover
Data protection officer

Welfengarten 1
30167 Hannover

Phone +49 511 762 0
Fax +49 511 762 8258
email datenschutz@uni-hannover.de

For questions regarding the content of the KOAB project, please contact the project manager:

Leibniz University Hannover
Centre for Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning (ZQS)

ZQS/Quality Assurance
Agnieszka Dudzinska, M. A.

Callinstr. 14
30167 Hannover

Phone +49 511 762 14450
email: dudzinska@zqs.uni-hannover.de

Data protection: Who should I contact if I want to assert my data subject rights under the GDPR?

If you would like to change or (partially) delete the information you have provided in the survey, you can make the changes yourself using your access code as long as the survey is still online.

If the survey has already ended, please contact ISTAT. The data controller at ISTAT is the data protection coordinator Dirk Reifenberg:

ISTAT – Institut für angewandte Statistik GmbH
Universitätsplatz 12
34127 Kassel

Phone + 49 561 953 796 81
email: datenschutz@istat.de

The graduate survey is conducted for the purpose of quality assurance of studying and teaching at Leibniz University Hannover. Participation in the graduate survey is voluntary.
For the purpose of raffling incentives (e.g. book vouchers, vouchers for electronics retailers), the first and last name and email address of participants are collected voluntarily.

The KOAB graduate survey is carried out on the basis of the State Treaty on the Accreditation of Studies of Lower Saxony § 18 para. 1 ("The quality management system includes regular evaluations of the degree programmes and the performance areas relevant to teaching and studies by [...] graduates.") and the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act § 5 para. 1 ("[...] The university evaluates the fulfilment of its tasks in research and teaching [...] at regular intervals."). Personal data is processed on the basis of Section 17 (4) of the Lower Saxony Higher Education Act ("With the exception of special categories of personal data, the universities may also process the data referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 for the fulfilment of their other tasks [...] as well as for evaluation in accordance with Section 5 and for accreditation in accordance with Section 6 (2)."). The legal basis for data processing is therefore Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. e), Para. 3 GDPR in conjunction with Section 17 Para. 4 and Section 5. § 17 para. 4 and § 5 NHG.

Addresses, both postal and email addresses, are collected at the time of enrolment at Leibniz University Hannover. Address data may only be transmitted and used within the university if it serves the fulfilment of academic tasks and/or the fulfilment of the university's tasks. Both conditions are fulfilled in the context of this graduate study:

• The graduate study at Leibniz University Hannover is part of a nationwide scientific research project that was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from 2009 to 2012. The KOAB project is coordinated by the Institute of Applied Statistics (ISTAT) Kassel. As part of the nationwide cooperation project Graduate Studies, ISTAT compiles a cross-university dataset containing the data of all graduates from the universities participating in the project and evaluates the anonymised data exclusively for scientific purposes in the context of university and graduate research.

• The graduate survey is conducted for the purpose of quality assurance in teaching and learning. Information from and about graduates is a central source for quality development at Leibniz University Hannover. University management, departments and central academic facilities take note of the results, discuss them and initiate targeted improvements where necessary.

The stored address data will not be used for any other purposes than for invitations, reminders and prize raffles as part of the graduate survey. The address data is processed exclusively by employees of ZQS/Quality Assurance, Evaluation and Surveys department. All employees who have access to the personal data as part of the project are subject to the applicable data protection law and are compulsory to maintain confidentiality.

As the addresses are not always up to date one year after completion of the study, they are updated if necessary as part of a search (e.g. with the help of the residents' registration offices). The legal basis for this is §§ 44, 45 of the Federal Registration Act (BMG).

The following data is processed in order to invite the graduates of an examination year to participate in the graduate survey:

• Surname, first name
• Email address
• Postal address
• Enrolment number
• Type of degree
• Subject
• Date of graduation

The following data is also processed for the purpose of the representativeness check:

• Gender
• Year of birth
• Final grade
• Nationality (differentiated according to "German" and "other")

The address data collected for the purpose of the survey will be deleted no later than nine months after the end of the survey.

The data collected as part of the prize raffle (surname, first name & email address) will be deleted following the prize raffle and prize presentation, but no later than six months after the end of the survey.

Details of the winners (surname, first name & email address) must be kept for ten years for budgetary reasons.

Leibniz University Hannover (LUH) and the Institute of Applied Statistics (ISTAT) are jointly responsible for conducting the graduate survey as part of the "Kooperationsprojekt Absolventenstudien" (KOAB) in accordance with Article 26 GDPR.

The Institute of Applied Statistics (ISTAT) is a spin-off from the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) in Kassel. INCHER, in turn, is an interdisciplinary research centre of the University of Kassel, which has been active in higher education research for 30 years and is highly regarded worldwide in this field. INCHER coordinated the KOAB project until 2017, but was forced to relinquish coordination of the project due to certain circumstances such as the requirements of the German Academic Fixed-Term Contract Act, the framework conditions for university third-party funded research and the tension between research and service projects. With the spin-off of the Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), INCHER has created the opportunity for the expertise gained over the years in the project to continue to be available to the universities in the project.

ISTAT sees itself as a scientific institute that carries out both scientific research projects and contract research projects. Further information can be found on the ISTAT website (https://istat.de/). All ISTAT employees are subject to the applicable data protection law.

ISTAT coordinates the KOAB project. It provides the platform through which the survey takes place. In addition, ISTAT implements university-specific questionnaire elements in the KOAB questionnaire on behalf of the LUH. ISTAT also provides the access codes.

After completion of the survey, ISTAT creates a university-specific data set for LUH as well as university-specific and cross-university statistical analyses. In addition, ISTAT uses the data from all participating universities to create an overall dataset for all universities, which also contains the responses of LUH graduates. This data is anonymous and is analysed exclusively for scientific purposes in the context of university and graduate research and the corresponding results are published. No conclusions can be drawn about individual universities or persons in any of ISTAT's publications.

ISTAT does not receive the names and/or address data of LUH graduates at any time!

As part of the KOAB project, LUH writes to its graduates by post and email, several times if necessary, asks them to voluntarily participate in the survey and sends them their personal access code.

The graduates' address data is updated with the help of the residents' registration offices if it proves to be out of date.

LUH uses the data and analyses provided by ISTAT as well as its own analyses based on this data for internal quality management.

• ISTAT creates access codes as a margin and makes them available to LUH

• LUH selects the participants in the survey: each year, an entire graduating class is surveyed (excluding doctorate and certificate programmes)

• LUH writes to the graduates by post and/or email and sends out randomly selected access codes. The names and addresses of the graduates are not transmitted to ISTAT at any time.

• The survey data is collected on the ISTAT server.

• After completion of the survey, the first data cleansing, evaluations and analyses are carried out at ISTAT.

• ISTAT provides the LUH with a university-specific data set and statistical analyses.

• LUH, in this case ZQS/Quality Assurance, carries out further data cleansing, analyses and interpretations and prepares university-wide reports and reports at degree programme level.

The Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) receives the following data for the purpose of checking the representativeness of the participants in the survey and the results:

• Type of degree
• Subject
• Final grade
• Date of graduation
• Gender
• Year of birth
• Nationality (differentiated according to "German Studies" and "other")

ISTAT does not receive the names and/or addresses of Leibniz University Hannover graduates at any time!

At the end of the graduate survey, you will be asked whether you would like to take part in a prize raffle. In order to contact the winners, we need your first name, surname and email address. These are stored in a separate form on a server at Leibniz University Hannover.

The registration data submitted via the entry form for the prize raffle (surname, first name and email address) will be used exclusively for the purpose of the prize raffle as part of the KOAB graduate survey. This information cannot be linked to the answers from the survey and will not be passed on to third parties. Participation in the prize raffle is not possible without providing the data.

Your surname, first name and e-mail address will be deleted after the prize raffle and prize presentation, but no later than six months after the end of the survey. Details of the winners (surname, first name & email address) must be kept for ten years for budgetary reasons.

The legal basis for the processing of the data is your consent pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

You can revoke this consent at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of the processing based on the consent until revocation. You can revoke your consent either by post to:

Leibniz Universität Hannover
ZQS/Quality Assurance
Callinstraße 14
30167 Hannover

or by email to:

Agnieszka Dudzinska
E-Mail dudzinska@zqs.uni-hannover.de

You will not incur any costs other than the postage costs or the transmission costs according to the existing basic tariffs.

After cancellation, deletion or blocking of your data, participation in the prize raffle is no longer possible.

Each graduate will be assigned a randomly generated access code. This code fulfils several functions:

• With the help of the code, the respondents can participate in the online survey (protection against so-called "external fillers" is thus sufficiently guaranteed).

• By checking the access codes used, it is possible to find out who has already responded. These graduates will then not be sent any (further) reminders about the current graduate survey.

• You can use the code to interrupt the online survey at any time and continue at a later date by registering again with your access code.

In the second survey (panel), the code is used to link the data from the first survey with the data from the second survey. This generates so-called longitudinal data, which provides case-related data over time. Participation in the second survey (panel) is voluntary, as is participation in the graduate survey. Consent for the second survey is obtained from ISTAT at the end of the graduate survey.

The combination of the answers from both surveys does not lead to any connection with your personal data (name, address, etc.). The answers from the surveys are therefore never de-anonymised.

When participating in the online survey, you register for participation in the online survey using your access code on the Internet.

Your answers will be stored on a server of the Institute of Applied Statistics (ISTAT) during the survey phase. All data will be treated as strictly confidential and stored securely to prevent unauthorised access. All data provided by the respondent in the online portal is always transmitted in encrypted form.

Towards the end of the online questionnaire, you will be asked whether you would be willing to take part in a follow-up study (two-question survey/panel). If you answer "yes" to this question, you will be asked to enter your address data. This address data will be stored on another ISTAT server. Your address data will never be stored together with your survey data in one file! The survey data is therefore anonymous at all times during the survey.

After completion of the survey phase, the survey data is processed by ISTAT and statistically analysed as part of university and graduate research. The address data for the follow-up study will be transferred to a CD-ROM at the end of the survey and deleted from the ISTAT server. ISTAT will only use your addresses for the stated purpose (participation in the follow-up survey).

The stored address data will not be used for any other purpose than for the invitation and reminder to participate in the graduate survey. Surnames, first names and address data will be deleted no later than nine months after the end of the survey.

The stored data collected as part of the prize raffle will not be used for any purpose other than to notify the winners of the prize draw. Surnames, first names and address data will be deleted no later than six months after the prize has been awarded. Details of the winners (surname, first name & email address) must be kept for ten years for budgetary reasons.

The survey data (i.e. your answers in the survey itself) are kept strictly separate from the personal data (address data). They are also stored separately so that no connection can be established between survey data and personal data.

Free text information in the survey is passed on to the study programme managers in its original form. Names and locations will be made unrecognisable. To avoid de-anonymising yourself through your open-ended re-registration, avoid providing information that could lead to this.

All results from the surveys are published in aggregated form and therefore do not allow any conclusions to be drawn about individual persons. University-wide publications are made without any free text.

ISTAT creates a university-specific data set for LUH as well as university-specific and cross-university statistical analyses. In addition, ISTAT uses the data from all participating universities to create an overall cross-university dataset that also contains the responses of LUH graduates – a so-called scientific use file, i.e. a research dataset that is used to answer scientific questions. This publicly accessible dataset is characterised by the fact that neither individuals nor individual universities are identifiable in it and the anonymous information it contains can be used to address overarching questions. The data is anonymous and is analysed exclusively for scientific purposes in the context of higher education and graduate research and the corresponding results are published. In all ISTAT publications, no conclusions can be drawn about individual universities or persons.

The results of Leibniz University Hannover are only published by ZQS/Quality Assurance in aggregated report form, which does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about individual persons. Reports at degree programme level are generally compiled on the basis of three survey years and only if information from at least 15 survey participants is available. The results at degree programme level are made available to the deans of studies offices and quality circles. University-wide reports are published on the ZQS website.

In accordance with Art. 15 GDPR, you are entitled at any time to request comprehensive information from the Centre for Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning (ZQS) about the personal data stored about you.

In accordance with Art. 16, 17 and 18 GDPR, you can request the correction, deletion and blocking of all or individual personal data from the Centre for Quality Enhancement in Teaching and Learning (ZQS) at any time.

You may also receive your data in a commonly used, structured and machine-readable format and transmit this data to another data controller without hindrance from us in the cases specified in Art. 20 GDPR.

Please note: As soon as the information you have provided in the survey has been transmitted to the LUH by ISTAT, which usually takes place several weeks after the end of the survey, your data will be available in anonymised form at the LUH. Information and deletion is no longer possible from this point onwards.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority if you believe that the processing of personal data concerning you is in breach of the law.

The supervisory authority responsible for LUH is:

Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz in Niedersachsen

Prinzenstr. 5
30159 Hannover

Phone +49 511 120 4500
Fax +49 511 120 4599
email: poststelle@lfd.niedersachsen.de

The supervisory authority responsible for ISTAT is:

Der Hessische Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit
represented by Prof. Dr. Alexander Roßnagel

Gustav-Stresemann-Ring 1
65189 Wiesbaden

Phone +49 611 1408 0
email: poststelle@datenschutz.hessen.de