Privacy statement - Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning

Last updated on 22/05/2018

This privacy statement describes how Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning handles private information and respects your privacy. This policy can be adjusted periodically. Therefore, we ask visitors and users of our websites to check this privacy statement regularly.

Privacy is a crucial matter for Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning and we devote our full attention to it. That’s why we find it important to inform you as thoroughly as possible about this subject. All of our communication contains a reference to the privacy statement. When using our website you will be informed of our “legal notice” of which this privacy statement is an inherent part.

In the following section we will explain what data we process, who is responsible for it and who actually processes the data. We will also explain how you can manage your own data and how we can help you with this.

The following text overrules all other texts of Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning (e.g. the texts in the disclaimers or the terms and conditions), especially if they conflict with the privacy statement below.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning: A non-profit organisation that is responsible for the processing of your information (see below).

Course taker: The adult legal person who registers with Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning for a professional (vocational) training or hobby course or receives an offer for these trainings or courses. The legal person who follows a (vocational) training always has a professional goal in mind; taking and completing a vocational training in function of their career as an employee, self-employed person or service provider in the sharing economy. Underage persons can only register as course takers with the written consent of their parents or custodian.

Personal information: Every piece of information about a person that can be used to identify, localize or contact said person that is collected and saved by us.

(vocational) training: A (re)training, home study course, day course, theme day, workshop and any other form of training provided by Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning. All these courses have a professional purpose and prepare the course takers to:

  • A) exercise a profession or trade as an employee
  • B) provide a service in the sharing economy
  • C) work as a self-employed person in main or secondary occupation.

These trainings can be financed with training vouchers (career counselling) or the SME portfolio (self-employed persons or SME employees). The provisions for consumers listed in the Economic Law Code is not applicable to these (vocational) trainings. This education for professionals is provided during either a period concordant with a school or academic year, either the period that is required to effectively learn a profession or skill that is necessary to exercise the profession in question. The duration of all trainings is necessary to learn a trade or profession or acquire an additional specialization or “update” related to the profession. This type of education is also accessible to persons that do not exercise the profession yet.

Hobby course: Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning organizes a very limited number of Hobby courses for Consumers. This offer can be found under the theme ‘hobby’ on our website. Only these Hobby courses fall under the Economic Law Code and they are (educational) services with regard to leisure activities, whereby a certain date and a certain period of execution are determined when purchasing the Hobby Course.

Consumer: A Course taker, natural person, who does not act in the exercise of a profession or business and who follows a Hobby course purely for non-professional purposes. A Consumer follows a Hobby course because of leisure activities.

Course material: Training, lesson or instructional material, documentation, teaching material, or any other (electronic) material in any form that is used as part of the (Professional) Training or Hobby Course. The course participant will receive access to the electronic learning platform and/or student profile immediately after payment of the tuition fees, where the electronic books and courses can be viewed and/or downloaded.

Course fee: The total price amount of the course that a course participant pays, including a registration fee and examination fee. Some courses require additional material that is not included in the course fee and that the course participant must provide themselves.

Privacy Act : Act of 8 December 1992 on the protection of privacy with regard to the processing of personal data.

GDPR : On 14 April 2016, the European Parliament approved the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). With this new regulation, Europe aims for a higher level of protection for all individuals whose personal data are processed. On 25 May 2018, the regulation will enter into force in all European member states. From then on, course participants can appeal directly to their additional rights in the new privacy legislation, and this with regard to every educational institution that processes personal data.

1. What does "processing of personal data" mean?

"Processing of personal data" involves any processing of data that can identify a natural person. You can read more about this type of data in point 2 of this privacy policy. The term "processing" is broad and covers, among other things, the collecting, recording, organizing, storing, updating, modifying, retrieving, consulting, using, distributing or making available in any way, bringing together, combining, archiving, erasing or eventually destroying of that data.

For the application under the Privacy Legislation, "personal data" refers to any information concerning an identifiable natural person. An identifiable person is a person who can be identified directly (or indirectly) by means of an identification number or an element which is characteristic of his physical, physiological, psychological, economic, cultural or social identity. Every person has the right to the protection of his fundamental rights and freedoms, in particular to the protection of his personal privacy. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning recognizes this right, and makes great efforts to protect this right in practice and online. The Privacy Act only applies to (fully or partially) automated processing of personal data, or in case of manual processing when the personal data is written to a file. The personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully, obtained for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes, be adequate, relevant and not excessive, accurate and in a form that allows identification of the data subjects.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning meets the aforementioned conditions. The processing is done for informative and technical purposes. The purposes are explicitly described under point 2 below. The data are sufficient (name, first name, e-mail address, title and preferred language) and are not collected excessively.

Through our websites you can also use the services of other parties such as chat, websites of third parties, forums, Facebook, Twitter and / or apps. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning has no control over the information you place there and how it is processed, and we are not responsible either. It is up to you to use this wisely and to carefully read the privacy policy of these third parties.

2. What personal data do we process and why do we do this?

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning believes that the protection of your privacy and personal data is one of its most important tasks. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning will therefore only use and use your data in accordance with the Privacy Act and other relevant and current legal requirements (for example, the accounting legislation).

As a visitor to our websites you can participate in various activities without providing personal details. However, if you register as a student to use products or services, we may collect the following personal information about you in order to provide you with these services:

  • contact details such as your name, telephone and fax number, address and email address;
  • invoice details such as the number, expiry date, type of card and billing address of your credit card;
  • demographic data such as your job title, job description, company name and company type;
  • profile information, including your username and password;
  • practical details about the registration for your trainings.

Depending on the activity, certain information we request from you will be designated as mandatory and others as optional. If you do not enter the mandatory data for a specific activity, you cannot participate in this activity on the website.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning will collect and process these (personal) data with as a priority goal to offer you a good education and to guarantee a good technical operation (technical purposes) of its website, its student profile and its online learning platform. We will also use your personal data (if you have given permission for this, if necessary) to:

  • give you (automated) personalized training advice and / or career advice, to provide you with information about the activities of Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning (such as new courses (of short or long duration), trainings, workshops, seminars, changes in existing programs , etc);
  • process your financial transactions and for billing purposes;
  • send you confirmations for registration or renewal of a course
  • if applicable, register your rights and their duration (eg your right to online guidance);
  • to be able to respond to requests, questions and problems via customer service;
  • manage your account;
  • send requested product and service information;
  • to keep you informed about special offers and services from the Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning and selected third parties;
  • to inform you of the possibility of obtaining study material to simplify your study program
  • manage your promotions and sweepstakes in which you participate and notify you of the results;
  • investigate, prevent or punish illegal activities and / or violations of our terms of service;
  • to meet our needs with regard to research and product / service development and to improve our website, services and supply;
  • personalize your experience, such as the targeted offer of our educational services;
  • to inform you of events or job vacancies;
  • combat fraud, guarantee your safety, to comply with legal obligations;
  • keep statistics on chances of success, for example
  • to assess whether you meet the admission requirements of a program;
  • preparing diplomas when you have passed an exam.

We save information that we collect through cookies, log files, transparent images and / or third-party sources to summarize your preferences. We associate your personally identifiable information and / or your use history as a member of information in the summary to provide tailor-made promotions and marketing offers, to improve the content of the website for you and / or to determine your preferences.

As with most websites, Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning or third-party sub-processors authorized by Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning may collect certain technical and routing information about your computer when you use the website to improve and simplify your user experience and associated services. For example, we may keep variables such as browser type, operating system, CPU speed and the internet protocol address (IP address) of your computer. We use these variables to view and simplify the way you use the website and associated services. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning also uses variables to measure traffic patterns on the website. To gain a better understanding of the needs of our visitors, we may occasionally link such information to your personal information.

In order to limit errors in our database, to validate our users, and to prevent abuse of our system, we may occasionally supplement the personal data you have entered with information from third parties. For example, we may supplement your contact details with data provided by various government departments (for example data obtained via Vlaio in the framework of the SME Portfolio or of the VDAB in the context of training vouchers) to qualify your information and find errors in our database. We may also supplement the information we collect from you directly with information stored in third-party databases, such as demographic data or company information, to increase the likelihood that any promotional material that we send to you is relevant and interesting to you .

When you download and use our mobile apps or services, we automatically collect information about the type of device you are using and the version of the operating system. At no time do we ask for, do we access, or track location-based information from your mobile device when you download or use our mobile apps or services.

3. How do we process your personal data?

The (personal) data is stored in a secure and encrypted environment, namely a secure database on a server that is located within the European Union or in the cloud. We guarantee privacy by default (students always have the most privacy friendly option as the standard configuration of their student profile) and privacy by design (data protection is an essential aspect in the "design" of new products such as online learning platforms and the student profile). All data is extra protected by a professional external IT company Center For Distance Learning International LCC. Mr. Viktor Panayotov, employee of this external company has been appointed as our "Data Protection Officer".

No matter how much organizational and technical precautions we take as an educational institution, we can never totally exclude a data breach. We can be confronted with an error in system security or with cyber criminals who use the data. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning has taken all possible legal and technical precautions to avoid unauthorized access and use. That is why we are in no way liable for identity theft, data theft or computer crime. In the event of a break-in to our IT systems, we will immediately take all possible measures to minimize damage and / or theft.

The availability of your data can be transferred to third parties or partners or other educational institutions within the enterprise group for informative or publicity purposes. In this case, the e-mail addresses or other available (personal) data are never transferred to the third party. In such a case, the third party can choose to distribute a specific (advertising) message via the contact list of the Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning.

As an educational institution, we are therefore working on a preventive and a reactive privacy policy. When we are confronted with a data breach where important personal data is lost or stolen, the national "Data Protection Authority" is initially notified of the data breach within 72 hours. Furthermore, according to the rules of the GDPR in certain cases we will also inform you yourself of the data breach.

4. What is the online Student Page or Student Profile?

The Student Profile is an online user portal, available from all websites of Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning.

The Student page is the online learning platform that is used to give online courses or to make didactic resources available during the group lessons.

The Student page and the student profile require a prior registration requesting identity details such as name, first name, e-mail address. Depending on the language of the website you register on, your language preference will also be saved. These data are necessary to guarantee the proper functioning of the portal and are collected within the margin of the Privacy Act.

On this Student Page and the Student Profile all available information that we as an educational institution have about you is displayed. We will show you your latest address details, the study programs for which you are registered, the study areas in which you are interested (online viewing of courses and manuals) and the results you obtained so far. You can manage and change this information yourself. The Student Profile and the Student Page offer you the possibility to manage your profile, identity details, interests and (communication) preferences (see infra).

5. Who is responsible for the processing of your personal data?

"Responsible for processing" means the natural person or legal person who alone or together with others determines the purpose and means for the processing of personal data. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning acts as the responsible entity for processing. We define the goal (see point 2 above) and the legal and technical means for processing. However, we do not carry out the processing ourselves, this is done by the actual processor (CDLI LCC).

6. Who is the actual processor?

"Processor" refers to the natural or legal person who processes personal data on behalf of the "controller", with the exclusion of persons authorized to process the data under the direct authority of the data controller. Our processers offer sufficient guarantees regarding the technical and organizational security measures with regard to the processing to be carried out.

If actual processors are indicated:

  • Center for Distance Learning International LCC (CDLI LCC) with company number BG203272737. This actual processor is responsible for the proper functioning of the websites and the technical online portal, such as the Student Page and the online learning platform (eCampus). The person responsible for processing does not take or assume any responsibility for loss or corruption of data, identity theft, theft of data, viruses or trojan horses, SQL injections or other attacks on the computer systems or online cloud portals. This actual processor decides autonomously on the most technically suitable application to process the data, and does so from his professional expertise. The person responsible for processing cannot be expected to have the same expertise and specialty as CDLI LCC.
  • ABS BVBA with company number BE0870.743.858 is responsible for sending courses and didactic materials to students and teachers.
  • Induver Antwerp , Rue Justitiestraat 30 2018 Antwerp, FSMA no .: 016880 is our insurance broker.
  • All freelance teachers who teach your course and who, for example, note attendance during classes and examinations in our registration system.
  • All subsidiaries that are part of the training group of Belenus bvba with company number BE0859663389 for processing the administration with regard to purchased courses.

The personal information you provide related to the use of the website is protected in various ways.

  • Your access to the student profile is available by means of a password and unique username that you have selected. The password is encrypted. Use a strong, alphanumeric password and do not tell it to anyone.
  • Your personal data is stored on secure servers that only a select number of employees have access to via a highly secure password.
  • Your personal information will be encrypted when it is provided to third parties.
  • When you enter sensitive information (such as a credit card number) into our registration or order forms, we encode that information with transport layer security technology.

We strive to protect the personal information provided to us. We do this both during the provision of the data and after it has been received. However, no method of transferring information via the internet or storing it electronically is 100% secure. While we take into account the sensitivity of the personal information we collect, process and store, and with the current state of technology to use these measures to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. How do we protect your personal information?

We follow strict security procedures for the storage and disclosure of your personal information and to protect it against unintentional loss, destruction or damage. The information you provide to us is protected with SSL technology (Secure Socket Layer). SSL is the standard method for encrypting personal data and credit card information so that it can be securely transmitted over the internet.

All payment information is transmitted via SSL over specific network infrastructure (Multiprotocol Label Switching-MPLS) and stored in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DS).

8. What are your rights as a user (student, employee or teacher)?

We will start with the most important thing; your personal details are yours. Also the data that you share with us. This means that you can ask us to delete, correct, view or transfer your data. You can also ask us to limit the processing of your data and you can object to the processing.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning collects or processes personal data with as a priority objective the good technical functioning of its portal. As a user you cannot consult the private portal "Student page" or eCampus without prior registration. Notifications or enrollments for courses, workshops or seminars can not be implemented without filling out a contact or intended registration form. The collected data can, when the technical and practical part is fulfilled, be used for marketing purposes, but the User can manage this at any time via "Student page". Are you a student, teacher or just a user of our websites? Then you have the following rights:

  • right to access the data;
  • right to correction of data;
  • right to be forgotten
  • right to restricted processing;
  • right to object to the processing;
  • right to data transfer.

If you wish to complete, correct or remove your personal data in whole or in part, you can send a written request by post to Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning, Frankrijklei 127 in 2000 Antwerp or by e-mail (info@ centrumvooravondonderwijs.be)

You can of course also supplement or improve your own details via "Student Page".

You have the right, when you prove your identity, to receive the necessary information about the processing around your person by simple request.

You have the right to view, correct or delete your personal details and privacy preferences at any time. You can do this by clicking the log-in link, after which you can access your student profile. There you can view and change most of your personal data directly. For safety reasons, certain personal data can only be changed by contacting the educational institution.

You are not entitled to any compensation for obtaining your personal data (or for exercising other rights). However, we may charge you a fee if your request for acquisition is clearly unfounded or excessive. In such circumstances we can refuse to comply with the request.

We need specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise your other rights). This is an additional security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to a person who is not entitled to receive it.

Data relating to courses taken from the past will be removed if the student returns all original certificates, diplomas and certificates to the educational institution.

Personal information about your physical or mental health, alleged committed or convictions of criminal offenses are considered "sensitive" personal data under applicable data protection laws and we will only process such data if you have explicitly granted permission for it or if this is necessary (for example if you request special assistance) or if you have deliberately made it public.

You can choose not to receive e-mail updates and newsletters from Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning or other training providers from the training group by clicking on the website and making the appropriate selections in your student profile. The decision to opt out of such communication is also generally available during the registration process. Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning will still contact you in the event of changes to the general conditions or to the general terms and conditions of suppliers, as applicable. In addition, we still send you service-related announcements, including but not limited to a registration e-mail, e-mails that are sent automatically as a result of actions you undertake on the website and communication related to accounts. Generally, you cannot unsubscribe from this type of communication because it is not promotion-oriented. If you do not wish to receive them, you have the possibility to completely deactivate your student profile.

If you use a mobile app from Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning, we may send you push notifications from time to time to keep you informed of events or promotions that we organize. If you no longer wish to receive these types of communication, you can disable them at the device level.

We always try to respond to your request within a reasonable time.

9. Is your data used outside the EU?

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning is active worldwide. Students from all over the world can register for one of our courses. Teachers who are responsible for the online guidance on the student profile or electronic learning platform can also be found all over the world. This implies that data processing and transfer can take place to countries outside the European Union. Pursuant to Article 21 of the Privacy Act, personal data may only be passed on to countries that guarantee the same adequate level of protection, and where the same or similar privacy provisions are complied with. The country, duration of transfer and storage, nature of the data and precise purposes are criteria to be investigated on a case-by-case basis.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning does not guarantee to activate data processing or storage in countries that can not offer the same guarantees, with the following exceptions:

  • when there is an explicit permission from the person concerned
  • when the transfer is necessary for the execution of the agreement (between User and Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning);
  • when the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or execution of an agreement concluded or to be concluded in the interest of the User between the controller and a third party;
  • when the transfer is necessary or legally required (important general interest or right);
  • when the transfer is made from a public register intended to inform the public.

10. Do we use cookies on the websites?

This website uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third-party services that appear on our pages.

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make user experiences more efficient. According to the law, we may store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the use of the website. For all other types of cookies we need your permission.

We use cookies to personalize content and ads, to provide social media features or to analyse website traffic. We also share, with your permission, information about the use of our website with our partners for social media purposes, advertising and analysis. These partners may combine this information with other information that you have provided to them or that they have collected based on your use of their services.

During a visit of the Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning website, some data is collected for statistical purposes. These data are: IP address, the presumed location of the user, time and day of the visit and which pages were visited. When you visit the Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning website, you declare your consent with this data collection intended for statistical purposes as described above.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning uses cookies to simplify the visit to the website and to offer an optimal user experience. For example, our cookies ensure that:

  • you stay logged in on your student profile or student page;
  • the courses that you view and add to your interests are saved;
  • you can make a remark
  • improvements to our website can be tested and measured (read the privacy explanation of Google Analytics);
  • the courses that are shown are relevant to you based on your previous requests.

Many cookies disappear when you close the browser. Some cookies remain a few days to a few years. You can delete them yourself in your browser settings at any time.

Our website and e-mail technology also uses other technology with a specific functionality such as cookies, including web beacons and tracking URLs, to obtain personal data from users. We can use these technologies in our messages or e-mails to you so that it can be determined whether a specific message or link has been opened.

11. Do we share your data with third parties?

In certain situations Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning may be required to disclose personal data in response to a justified request from public authorities, i.a. for compliance with demands relating to national security or law enforcement.

If this is required by law (e.g. to comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order or legal procedure against Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning) and if the educational institution believes that release is necessary to protect our rights, to avoid a lawsuit, your security or that of others, to investigate fraud and / or to respond to a request from the government, we may release information about you. We may also disclose information about you if we find that this is necessary for national security, law enforcement, or other matters of general interest.

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning uses one or more external companies specialized in credit card processing to send your billing for the use of our goods and educational services. We also use copy services / printers and transporters to deliver courses to your home. As far as we know, no personally identifiable information is stored, shared or stored with these companies for other purposes.

We also share personal information with certain companies that provide services on our behalf (such as freelance teachers). We only share the personal data that is necessary for them to provide these educational services. We require any company with whom we may share this personal information to protect the information in a manner consistent with the above privacy policy and that it restricts the use of such personal information to performance or services. Personal information is not resold by us or otherwise provided to other companies for the marketing of their own products or services.

Social media: you can access social media from third parties via our website or app or before you visit our website or app. Once you are registered with your social media account, we collect the personal information you share with us through these social media services in accordance with their privacy settings to improve the use of our website or app and make it more personal. We can also use social media plug-ins on our website or app. As a result, your information is shared with your social media provider and possibly presented on your social media profile to be shared with others in your network. We refer you to the privacy policy of these external social media providers for more information.

12. How long do we keep your data?

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning may not retain personal data for longer than is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which we collect it. The duration of data storage can therefore differ per goal, and can sometimes be very short. Sometimes it may be necessary to comply with our legal obligations that we keep data for several years (to meet our accounting and tax obligations, for example, we are obliged to keep your billing data for a maximum of 7 years) or from the legal need to retain certain information (in particular your contract, invoices and correspondence relating to complaints in this respect) as proof in the event of disputes, up to a maximum of 10 years after the end of your training.

The main reason why we want to keep a minimum of your data for a longer period of time is to be able to confirm to third parties that you have obtained a diploma from us and that the information on the document issued by us is correct and the diploma is valid . These archived data are, of course, only accessible to a limited extent. Exams are held by your teacher for two years. You have the right to view your points during this period. Afterwards they are destroyed.

When we no longer need your personal data, we will safely remove or destroy it. We also take into account how we can reduce the personal data we use over the course of time and whether we can anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be linked to you or identify you. In that case, we can use this information without further notice to you.

After the applicable duration(s) of data storage have expired, personal data will be deleted or anonymized.

13. Minors

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning organizes vocational training for adults. We understand the importance of taking extra precautions to protect the privacy and safety of children. It is not our intention to collect personal data from minors. It is therefore not allowed that children younger than 18 years open a student profile. Do not enter any information on this website and do not use our services if you are younger than 18. We will remove any student profile that has been created by a child younger than 18, as soon as we are informed of this. If you think your minor child has entered personal information, please contact our educational institution to have the data removed and the child's account closed.

14. Privacy complaints

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning takes the privacy concerns of its users seriously. If you think that the educational institution has not complied with the privacy policy regarding personal details, you can contact the secretariat. Describe in your letter as detailed as possible the ways in which you think that the privacy policy of Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning was not complied with. We will investigate your complaint immediately. If you have not received an acknowledgment of receipt from your letter of complaint or if your complaint was not sufficiently examined, please contact the chairman of the educational institution by registered letter at the registered office of the educational institution.

15. Changes to the privacy policy

Coursle - Centre For Distance Learning reserves the right to change the privacy policy from time to time at its own discretion and to notify you by e-mail or on the home page of the website when we make material changes to the privacy policy before the change take effect.

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