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Privacy Policy

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The Institute for Study Abroad (“IFSA,” “we,” “us,” “our”) is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting the information we receive from you. This Privacy Policy is intended to outline the information we collect from users who visit and submit applications to our website and how we use and disclose that information, including users in the European Economic Area (EEA) (collectively, “you” or “user”). For the purposes of compliance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), we are the “controller” of Personal Data (defined below) we receive from you via the website.

EFFECTIVE DATE
This Privacy Policy was implemented on May 25, 2018 and was reviewed on April 18, 2023.

INFORMATION WE COLLECT
IFSA collects two types of information from users of this website:

  • Personal Data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.  Examples of Personal Data we collect from users include first and last names, email addresses, username and password for accessing a IFSA account, college transcripts, passport information, and IP addresses.
  • Usage Data means any non-personally identifiable information that is automatically collected anytime you visit an IFSA webpage, including information such as browser type and referring websites.

Data Subjects means identified or identifiable natural person as set forth in the GDPR.

HOW WE COLLECT INFORMATION
We collect Personal Data when you voluntarily provide such information through the website or other communications. For example, we receive Personal Data when you visit our website, create an online user account, submit an application, subscribe to receive our communications, submit various online forms, and contact us via telephone, mail, or email.

We automatically record Usage Data on our server logs that your browser transmits when you use the website. We also collect Usage Data about how you access and interact with the website through the use of automated tracking technology, such as cookies. Please find more information about our use of cookies below.

BY USING OUR WEBSITE, YOU AGREE TO THE TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES THAT HAVE INSTITUTION AND SERVICE PROVIDERS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR OVERSEAS PROGRAMS.

HOW WE USE AND DISCLOSE INFORMATION
General Uses and Disclosures. We use and share the information we collect from users for the purposes described below. To perform the following tasks, IFSA may transfer your data to countries outside the European Economic Area using appropriate safeguards when necessary.  When necessary, we will obtain your consent before using your data for these purposes:

Provision of Services to Website Users. If you use our website, we will use your information to process and respond to your requests, comments, inquiries, and other forms you submit through our website.

Improving our Services. We use your information to enhance our understanding of our users’ preferences and optimize the performance of our website.

Disclosures to Service Providers. We share your information with third-party service providers that assist us with hosting and maintaining IFSA’s website, processing payment card information, analyze online activity on our website, and managing our daily business operations and delivery of services. We also share certain information with overseas institutions and service providers, including universities and host families, so that they may provide our students with the services we request of them. We share only the minimum amount of Personal Data with these service providers that they need to perform their tasks. We also enter into contracts with these service providers that require them to protect the Personal Data. We do not rent or sell Personal Data to third-parties for their marketing purposes.

Promoting IFSA Programs. We may share certain information about you, including but not limited to your name and home institution, for the purposes of promoting IFSA programs.

Compliance with Legal Obligations. We will share your information with law enforcement, government officials, regulatory agencies, or other parties when we are required to do so by applicable law. We will also disclose your information to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, subpoena, or legal process.

Protection of Individual’s Vital Interests. In emergency situations, we will use or share your information when doing so is necessary to protect an interest that is essential for an individual’s life.

Other Legitimate Interests. We will use and disclose your information when necessary for IFSA’s legitimate interests, as long as such interests are not overridden by our users’ interests, rights, and freedoms with respect to their Personal Data.

We use reasonable precautions to protect your Personal Data and voluntarily abide by the guidelines outlined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act to maintain your privacy.

HOW TO WITHDRAW YOUR CONSENT
At any time, you may withdraw consent you have provided to IFSA for using, disclosing, or otherwise processing your Personal Data. You may withdraw your consent by emailing IFSA at privacy@ifsa-butler.org, and following the instructions in our communication to you.

Please note that your withdrawal of consent to process certain Personal Data about you (1) may limit our ability to deliver services to you and (2) does not affect the lawfulness of our processing activities based on your consent before its withdrawal.

USE OF COOKIES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGY
To enhance your experience with our website, many of our pages use “cookies.” Cookies are text files that are placed on your computer to store your preferences or for other record-keeping purposes. Our website does not use cookies to collect Personal Data. We may use cookies and other user tracking mechanisms, including “persistent cookies”, which will remain on your computer even after you close your browser, to understand website usage and to improve the content and offerings on our website. For example, we may use cookies to personalize your experience at our website (e.g., to recognize you by name when you return to our website), and to save your password in password-protected areas. While most browsers are set to accept cookies and other tracking devices by default, you can set yours to refuse tracking devices or to alert you before accepting them. However, by disabling tracking devices, you may not have access to the entire set of features of our website. Your browser manufacturer has information on changing the default setting for your specific browser.

IFSA also uses standard internet technology, such as web beacons and similar technologies, to track your use of our website or to track your response to email messages that we send you in connection with our website. Web beacons (sometimes called transparent GIFs, clear GIFs, or web bugs) are small strings of code that provide a way for us to deliver a small graphic image on a web page or in an email. Web beacons can recognize certain types of information on your computer such as cookies, the time and date a page is viewed, and a description of the page where the web beacon is placed. IFSA may use web beacons to improve your experience with our website, including to provide you with content customized to your interests and to understand whether users read email messages and click on links contained within those messages so that the website can deliver relevant content. Our web beacons may collect some contact information (for example, the email address associated with an email message that contains a web beacon).

We also work with third parties, such as Facebook and Twitter, to collect certain user data through our website for the purposes of conversion tracking and serving ads targeted to users’ interests. The information we share with these services does not include any specific information relating to your application to an IFSA program or your Personal Data. Should you wish to opt out of such tracking, please modify your browser settings or modify your privacy settings within Facebook and Twitter to disable interest-based advertising and tracking.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITE
The IFSA website and this Privacy Policy may contain links to websites not affiliated with IFSA. Your use of an external website or any informational content found on an external websites is subject to and governed by the terms and guidelines of those website(s). IFSA does not endorse or make any representations or warranties concerning, and will not in any way be liable for, any informational content, products, services, software, or other materials available on an external website, even if one or more pages of the external website are framed within a page of this Service. IFSA is not responsible for the privacy practices of any external website.

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER GDPR
You have the following rights under the GDPR:

  • To access the Personal Data we maintain about you
  • To be provided with information about how we process your Personal Data
  • To correct your Personal Data
  • To have your Personal Data erased
  • To object to or restrict how we process your Personal Data
  • To request your Personal Data to be transferred to a third party

To exercise the above rights, please contact us at the information provided below. We will consider and process your request within a reasonable period of time. Please be aware that under certain circumstances, the GDPR may limit your exercise of these rights.

YOUR STUDENT RIGHTS UNDER FERPA AND IFSA FERPA POLICIES
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords students attending U.S. educational institutions certain rights with respect to their education records. Students who have reached the age of 18 or have entered into a post-secondary learning institution have the right to:

  • Inspect and review their education records
  • Have some control over the disclosure of information from their education records
  • Seek to amend education records that they believe are inaccurate, misleading or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA

IFSA adheres to these fundamental rights of students who participate on IFSA programs.

Directory Information
As outlined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), IFSA has the right to release, for reasons deemed legitimate, the following directory information about any IFSA student unless that student has requested in writing that their directory information be withheld from release. The following information is designated as directory information by IFSA:

  • Legal name
  • Home institution
  • Address abroad
  • Email address
  • Class year
  • Major field of study
  • Dates of attendance
  • IFSA program attended
  • Special awards received
  • Scholarships awarded

Students who wish to restrict the disclosure of their directory information must submit a FERPA Directory Information Non-Disclosure form. IFSA permits students to submit directory information non-disclosure requests at any time prior to the end of their IFSA program.
These forms should be submitted directly to the Academic Affairs office by email at aa@ifsa-butler.org. Student-requested restrictions of directory information apply comprehensively to:

  • All categories of information specified as directory information
  • All third parties
  • All of a student’s IFSA programs, and
  • For all time (even after the student has finished or left their program) until rescinded in writing

Please note that a non-disclosure request on file will prevent IFSA from providing a student’s directory information to friends, family, prospective employers, prospective lenders, and others with whom a student may benefit from the sharing of such information for enrollment verification or other purposes, so this decision should be taken with great care.

Disclosures of Information under FERPA
Under FERPA, the only required disclosure of education records is to the student. All other disclosures, including those with student consent and disclosures of directory information, are made at the discretion of the institution.

Disclosures to Other Educational Institutions
FERPA allows for information to be disclosed from a student’s educational record to employees of other educational institutions where the student is either enrolled or seeking to enroll, and who have a legitimate educational interest. IFSA will release information from a student’s educational records to other educational institutions including, but not limited to, a student’s U.S. home institution, and other institutions to which the student has applied.

Disclosures to Parents
IFSA does not routinely disclose information to parents without the student’s consent.

IFSA’s adherence to FERPA guidelines signals our belief that students are prepared for the challenges of adult life and for the responsibilities of seeking available resources. While we understand that the restriction of student records can be unsettling to a parent, IFSA staff are committed to serving as a communicative partner with parents by providing information about IFSA policies and procedures, and FERPA directory information as appropriate.

Greater specificity, and disclosure of other protected information will require that the student has signed a FERPA Release Form waiving their rights under FERPA. IFSA prefers that conversations with parents in this context include the student, and IFSA reserves the right to take steps to verify participants’ identities when discussing protected information.

Disclosures in Health and Safety Emergencies
In the case of an active or imminent emergency situation IFSA may determine that it is necessary to disclose information from a student’s educational record to appropriate persons in order to protect the health and safety of the student, or other individuals.

Disclosures related to Drugs and Alcohol
FERPA permits educational institutions to inform parents of students under the age of 21 of violations to any law or policy concerning the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance. IFSA reserves the right, as permitted under FERPA, to disclose information to a student’s parents regarding the use or possession of alcohol or controlled substances in violation of U.S. law, host country laws, and IFSA policies.

Waiver of FERPA Rights
Students may waive their rights under FERPA and authorize IFSA to release certain types of information to certain specified individuals. Students may authorize disclosure of only certain types of information that they specify, or of all records and information. FERPA waivers apply in perpetuity, even after the student has finished or left their program, unless rescinded in writing. FERPA release forms may only be submitted directly by the student and should be submitted directly to Academic Affairs office by email.

RETENTION AND SECURITY OF PERSONAL DATA
We will retain your Personal Data only as long as necessary to process request or other submission, fulfill the terms of our service contract with you, and comply with applicable law.

Unfortunately, no data transmitted over or accessible through the internet can be guaranteed to be secure. As a result, while we attempt to protect all Personal Data, we cannot ensure or warrant that Personal Data will be completely secure from misappropriation by hackers or from other nefarious or criminal activities, or in the event of a failure of computer hardware, software, or a telecommunications network. In accordance with applicable law(s), we will notify you in the event we become aware of a security breach involving your Personal Data stored by or for us.

HOW TO FILE A COMPLAINT
You may file a complaint regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices by contacting us at the information we provide below.

Additionally, Data Subjects from the EEA may file a complaint with a EU data protection authorities (DPAs). A list of DPAs from the European Commission may be found here.

You may also contact us to be directed to the appropriate DPA contact(s).

CHANGING YOUR INFORMATION OR OPTING OUT OF IFSA COMMUNICATIONS
The Personal Data collected about you through our online applications and in our communications with you is stored in our internal database and can be updated or modified at any time by calling 800.858.0229 or emailing studyabroad@ifsa-butler.org. We do not sell or share user information with third parties without an association to IFSA.

If you wish to no longer receive all communications from IFSA, you may opt out by contacting us at 800.858.0229, emailing privacy@ifsa-butler.org, or by mail at:

6201 Corporate Drive, Suite 200
Indianapolis, IN 46278

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
The IFSA website is not intended for visitors under the age of 13 and IFSA does not solicit or intentionally collect information from children under the age of 13.  If IFSA determines that it has inadvertently collected information from visitors under the age of 13, we will take prompt action to remove such information.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We reserve the right to modify the contents of this Privacy Policy as needed. If we revise the Privacy Policy, all changes will be posted on the IFSA website. We encourage you to periodically review this policy to remain up to date on our privacy practices. Changes to the Privacy Policy will become effective and will apply to the information collected starting on the date we post the revised Privacy Policy.

All textual, graphic, and other content appearing on this website are the property of the Institute for Study Abroad (“IFSA”).

Copyright 2004-2023. Institute for Study Abroad, 6201 Corporate Drive, Suite 200, Indianapolis, Indiana 46278 USA. All Rights Reserved.