This Privacy Policy explains how Swiss-SASEM ("we", "us", "our") collects, uses, discloses and protects personal data in connection with our website swiss-sasem.org and the services we provide. It is drafted in accordance with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP / nLPD, in force since 1 September 2023) and takes account of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where applicable to visitors from the European Union.
Summary. We collect only the personal data we need to operate our website, respond to enquiries, and provide our academic programmes. We do not sell personal data. We use a limited number of third-party services (web hosting, content delivery, fonts, e-mail obfuscation) and we retain personal data only for as long as necessary.
1. Data Controller
The data controller responsible for the processing of personal data on this website is:
Swiss School of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management SA
Av. Tivoli 19b
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland
UID: CHE-387.622.292
E-mail: [email protected]
2. Categories of Personal Data We Process
Depending on how you interact with us, we may process the following categories of personal data:
2.1 Information you provide directly
- Contact and enquiry data: name, title, e-mail address, phone number, country, professional background, and any information you choose to include in messages sent to us.
- Application data: for prospective students — educational history, CV, identification documents, language proficiency, motivation letter, references, and any supporting materials required by the admissions process.
- Student and alumni data: for enrolled students — academic records, assessment results, attendance, payment information, and correspondence.
2.2 Information collected automatically
- Technical data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device type, referring URL, date and time of access, pages viewed, and clickstream data.
- Cookies and similar technologies: our website uses only strictly necessary cookies for basic functionality. We do not deploy advertising cookies, behavioural tracking cookies, or third-party JavaScript analytics (such as Google Analytics, Matomo or similar) on our website.
- Server-side traffic statistics: our hosting provider (Infomaniak, Switzerland) automatically generates aggregate traffic statistics from its own server access logs. This is a built-in feature of every Infomaniak hosting account. The reports show information such as the number of visits, the pages viewed, the referring sites, and the geographical zone of visitors derived from IP addresses. This processing takes place entirely on Infomaniak’s Swiss infrastructure, does not involve any cookie or script in your browser, and does not transfer your personal data to any third party. The processing is necessary for the operation, security and performance monitoring of the website and is based on our legitimate interest under article 31(2)(c) of the Swiss FADP.
3. Purposes of Processing and Legal Basis
We process personal data for the following purposes:
- To respond to enquiries and provide information about our programmes, admissions, and events (legal basis: legitimate interest and, where applicable, pre-contractual steps at your request).
- To process applications and administer admissions (legal basis: pre-contractual steps and, where admission is granted, performance of the education contract).
- To deliver our academic programmes and maintain student and alumni records (legal basis: performance of the education contract and compliance with legal obligations applicable to educational institutions).
- To operate, secure and improve our website (legal basis: legitimate interest).
- To comply with applicable legal and regulatory obligations, including accreditation reporting and tax and accounting requirements (legal basis: compliance with legal obligations).
4. Third-Party Services
We use a limited number of third-party service providers to operate our website and communications. These providers may receive personal data to the extent necessary to perform their services:
4.1 Hosting and content delivery
- Infomaniak Network SA (Switzerland) — web hosting of swiss-sasem.org and aggregate server-side traffic statistics generated from access logs (built-in feature of all Infomaniak hosting accounts; no cookies or browser-side scripts involved). All website data is stored on servers located in Switzerland.
- Cloudflare, Inc. (United States) — content delivery network, security, and e-mail address obfuscation (visible as
/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection links). Cloudflare may process your IP address and request metadata to route traffic and protect the site from abuse.
4.2 Fonts and assets
- Google Fonts (Google LLC, United States) — we load web fonts from
fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. When you load a page, your browser transmits your IP address to Google. Google states it does not use this information for profiling or advertising.
4.3 International transfers
Some of these providers (Cloudflare, Google) are based in the United States. When personal data is transferred outside Switzerland or the EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards, including the adequacy decisions of the Swiss Federal Council and the European Commission, and/or standard contractual clauses.
5. Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by applicable law.
- Enquiry data: up to 24 months after the last contact, unless a contractual relationship is established.
- Application data (unsuccessful applicants): up to 12 months after the admissions decision, unless longer retention is requested by the applicant.
- Student and academic records: retained in accordance with educational and accreditation requirements, typically for the duration of studies plus a minimum archival period required by law.
- Accounting records: 10 years as required by Swiss law.
- Server logs: typically 30 to 90 days.
6. Your Rights
Under Swiss data protection law and, where applicable, the GDPR, you have the following rights with regard to your personal data:
- Right of access — to obtain confirmation of whether we process personal data about you and, if so, to receive a copy.
- Right to rectification — to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Right to erasure — to request deletion of your personal data in certain circumstances.
- Right to restriction of processing in certain circumstances.
- Right to object to processing based on legitimate interests.
- Right to data portability — where applicable under the GDPR.
- Right to withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.
- Right to lodge a complaint with the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) at edoeb.admin.ch, or with your local EU supervisory authority where applicable.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond within the time limits set by applicable law (typically 30 days).
7. Data Security
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction. These include encrypted connections (HTTPS/TLS), access controls, and regular security reviews of our hosting and application infrastructure.
8. Children's Data
Our programmes are designed for postgraduate students. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors under the age of 16. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such data, please contact us and we will delete it.
9. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements or other factors. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was most recently revised. Material changes will be communicated through a notice on our website.
10. Contact
For any questions regarding this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please contact:
Swiss-SASEM — Data Protection
Av. Tivoli 19b
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected]