Privacy notice

Who we are

Vasidesk (“we”) runs this site so that people can find our programs and apply to them. We decide why and how your information is used, which makes us the “controller” of it.

For anything about your information, contact us at .

What we collect

• Your account: name, email address, phone number (if you give one) and your password, which is stored scrambled so nobody can read it.
• Your applications: the answers you give, such as identity, contact, education and citizenship details, emergency contacts and, where a program asks, passport details.
• Documents you upload, and recommendations written about you by the referees you name.
• If you are under 18: details of your parent or guardian and their consent.
• Whether your application fee was paid. Card details go to the payment provider and are not kept by us.
• Messages we send you, meetings booked with you, and your progress with visa steps once admitted.
• Once you are admitted, where programs ask for it: your trip details (how you travel, where you stay, a phone number where you will be, a contact at home and your insurance), so we can reach you and help in an emergency; your answers to our safety messages; and, if something happens to you, a private record staff keep of it.
• Your study plan (the courses you plan to take and what they count as at home), the decisions on them and your grades.
• What you owe, have been awarded or have paid for a program, and anything you write when you ask for a scholarship.
• Your answers to surveys we send after a program. Some are anonymous, and we say so on the survey.
• Forms you complete and sign for us (such as waivers and consent forms), your housing placement and orientation progress, and the decisions staff record about your application, such as recommendations, approvals and scores.
• If you ask us a question, use the program finder with your email, or sign up for an information session before you apply: your name, email, the programs you are interested in, and the notes our staff keep. We only keep these if you tick the box to agree, and you can ask us to delete them.
• If you send us a report about a concern: what you wrote, and your name only if you chose to give it. A report sent without a name is not linked to your account.
• Records of when you sign in (time, internet address and device) and of changes made on the site, to keep it secure and to show who did what.
• If you use our app: the phone you signed in on (its name and its address for notifications), the messages we send you there, and what you write in program chats, including photos and files you send. A message you remove is hidden from other students but stays in our records, and our staff and the Leaders of your program can still read it. Private conversations between two people can only be read by those two.
• If you choose to share your location in the app: once a day, only the country and city you are in. If you press “I need help”: your exact place at that moment, once, which we pass to the staff who handle safety and to your program’s Leaders who may be told. You can stop sharing at any time in the app.
• If you sign something in the app: who signed, what, when, on which phone, and how the phone confirmed it was you (face recognition, fingerprint or passcode; we never receive your face or fingerprint).

Sensitive information

Some application forms ask about health, disability or access needs, so we can look after you on a program. We only collect this with your explicit consent: you tick a box first. You do not have to answer, and you can withdraw your consent at any time by clearing your answers or asking us to delete them.

Why we use it, and our legal reasons

• To handle your application, run programs and stay in touch with you: this is needed to take steps at your request before you join a program.
• To help with visas and travel after you are admitted: part of running the program you have joined.
• To look after your safety while you are abroad, and to reach you or your contact at home in an emergency: our legitimate interest, and protecting your life where it is at risk.
• Daily location check-ins: only with your consent, which you give in the app and can withdraw at any time. The exact place sent when you press “I need help”: to protect your life and safety at your request.
• To record what you owe and have paid, approve your courses and take part in surveys: part of running the program you have joined.
• To send texts: only with your consent, which you can withdraw by replying STOP.
• To keep the site secure, prevent misuse and keep a record of changes: our legitimate interest in running a safe service.
• Sensitive information: your explicit consent.
• Anything the law requires us to do.

Who can see it

Our staff, only the people whose work needs it, and only the parts their role allows. When a course needs approval from a department outside our office, that person is sent your name and the course through a private link. We do not sell your information or use it for advertising. Companies that help us run the site only handle it for us and on our instructions:

• Google Cloud, which hosts this site, its database and the files you upload
• The app’s notification services (Vasidesk’s relay, Expo, and Apple or Google), which carry only a phone’s notification address and the words “you have a new message”, never what the message says; and, when you share your city, the place-lookup service built into your phone (Apple or Google)

Where it is kept

Your information is stored with Google Cloud.

If you live in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom or Switzerland, this means your information is transferred outside your country. We rely on appropriate safeguards for this, such as standard contractual clauses with our service providers.

How long we keep it

We keep your information until our staff delete it or you ask us to delete it. We do not delete it automatically.

When we delete it, your account, applications, documents and messages are removed from the site, and your name and contact details are removed from our activity records. Documents in our shared drive go to its trash, which empties on its own. Backup copies expire by themselves after a short time.

Your rights

Open your Privacy page after you sign in (https://admin.vasidesk.com/account/privacy), or write to . We aim to answer within one month.

• See and download what we hold about you: use “Download my data” on your Privacy page.
• Correct it: you can edit your application until you submit it. After that, ask us and we will correct it.
• Have it deleted: ask from your Privacy page, or by email.
• Withdraw consent, object to how we use your information, or ask us to limit it: contact us.
• Complain to your data protection authority if you think we have handled your information wrongly.

Cookies and similar technology

• One small cookie keeps you signed in. The site cannot work without it, so it does not need your consent.
• Your accessibility settings (text size, contrast and so on) are saved in your browser only.
• We use no advertising or tracking cookies and no analytics that follow you.
• Maps on program pages load from Google only after you press “Show the map”. Payment pages belong to our payment provider and have their own policy.

Children

Some programs accept applicants under 18. For them we ask for a parent or guardian’s details and consent.

Changes to this notice

This is version 1. If it changes in an important way we will tell you.