Information on data protection for the graduate survey

The addresses of graduates at the time of completion of their studies were collected and stored electronically at the university in accordance with the law on universities in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the enrolment regulations of Fachhochschule Dortmund.

The Evaluation, Quality Assurance, Process Management department requests the following data from the university IT department for graduates who graduated between 01.09.2021 and 31.08.2022:

• First name, last name
• postal address
• e-mail address
• Date of examination (month and year, e.g. February 2002)
• Subject/subjects of study
• Faculty
• Type of degree
• Final grade
• Gender
• Year of birth
• Citizenship

As the addresses of graduates stored by the university are not always up to date one year after graduation, the addresses are updated if necessary as part of a search, primarily with the help of the residents' registration offices and the Internet.

In accordance with Section 44 of the Federal Registration Act, the first name, surname, previous name (if applicable), date of birth, gender and last known address are faxed to the responsible German residents' registration office for research purposes.

Address data may only be transmitted and used within the university if it serves the fulfillment of scientific tasks and / or the fulfillment of the university's tasks. Both conditions are fulfilled in the context of this graduate study:

1. The graduate study at the university is part of a nationwide, scientific research project of 50 universities under the coordination of ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics. As part of the nationwide cooperation project "Study Conditions and Career Success", ISTAT compiles a cross-university dataset containing the data of all graduates of the universities participating in the project and evaluates the anonymized data exclusively for scientific purposes in the context of university and graduate research.
   
   
2. The results of the study are to be used for the purpose of research and quality assurance of teaching and studies within the university. Particularly in the area of the quality of teaching and studies, the findings are incorporated into the development of new offers, which can be found in various fields of action of internal university and regional projects.
   
   

The address data will only be processed by employees of the university.

All employees who have access to the personal data as part of the project are subject to the applicable data protection law. In this context, the disclosure of address data to third parties is strictly prohibited, even if the employees no longer work at the university.

Each graduate is allocated a randomly generated access code. With the help of this code, the respondents can take part in the online survey (protection against so-called "external fillers" is thus sufficiently guaranteed).

The survey is conducted online on the servers of ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics. The Fachhochschule Dortmund will send the cooperation partner ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics an anonymized list with the access codes, degree type, subject and examination date (month/year) of the graduates in advance. Names and addresses are not included in this list. The access code is used to pre-filter the questionnaire so that you are only presented with questions that are relevant to the degree course you have completed (Bachelor's graduates, for example, are not asked any questions about current doctoral projects).

Secondly, by referring to the access codes used, it can be avoided that graduates who have already responded are contacted again. This saves the respondents further unnecessary contact (several letters are sent during the survey phase).

In addition, you can interrupt the online survey at any time while answering the questions and continue at a later time by logging in again with your access code.

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

During the survey phase, your answers are initially stored on a server of ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics. The survey data is transmitted via an unencrypted connection.

At the end of the online questionnaire you will be asked a) whether you are willing to participate in the follow-up study in 3 to 4 years and b) whether you are interested in receiving a short summary of the research report. If you are willing to take part in the follow-up survey and/or would like a short summary, you will be asked to enter your address details.

Unlike the survey data, this address data is not stored on the server of ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics, but is transmitted to another server via an encrypted connection. Thanks to the separate storage locations, your address data can never be stored together with your survey data in one file. In this respect, the survey data is completely anonymous at all times during the survey.

ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics regularly informs us which access codes have been used. We use the access codes to identify those graduates for the reminder letters who do not need to receive any further mail or emails as they have already taken part.

Once the survey phase is complete, the survey data is processed by ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics and statistically analyzed as part of university and graduate research. In addition, your university will receive the anonymized survey data (i.e. without access codes) for its own evaluations. Survey data, i.e. information that you have provided in the questionnaire, and names and address data are not merged at any time. This ensures the anonymity of your data.

ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics is an interdisciplinary research center based in Kassel. The center has been active in university research for many years and enjoys great recognition in this field. Information on the research project and ISTAT can be found at: http://www.istat.de.

All ISTAT employees are also subject to the applicable data protection law. This means that these employees are also strictly prohibited from passing on address data to third parties.

After completing the survey, ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics will ask you for your e-mail address at which you can be contacted. With your consent , your e-mail address will then be saved and used for a follow-up survey (panel survey).

A key will then be used to link the information from the previous surveys. The panel survey is carried out by ISTAT after a number of years and is purely for the Institute's research purposes.

The ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics compiles a cross-university dataset containing the details of all graduates from the universities involved in the project.

This anonymized data is evaluated exclusively for scientific purposes in the context of university and graduate research and the corresponding results are published.

In all publications by ISTAT - Institute for Applied Statistics, it is not possible to draw any conclusions about individual universities or individuals.

If you have any questions about data processing and the specific data stored about you, please contact Ms. Zwingmann at Absolventenstudiefh-dortmundde . If individual data (e.g. your address) has changed or is incorrect for any other reason, please let us know. You have the right to have your data, which was transmitted to the evaluation office for the purpose of inviting you to the graduate survey, deleted by the evaluation office. You have the right to restrict the processing of this data and the right to object to the processing of this data. To do so, please contact the address given above.

You can address objections and possible complaints to the data protection officer at Fachhochschule Dortmund:

Fachhochschule Dortmund
Data Protection Officer
Sonnenstraße 39
44139 Dortmund
datenschutzfh-dortmundde 

The higher-ranking complaints office is the State Commissioner for Data Protection.

State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information North Rhine-Westphalia
P.O. Box 20 04 44
40102 Düsseldorf
poststelleldi.nrwde