Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

At WBS Coding School ("we," "us," or "our"), we are committed to protecting your privacy and personal information. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website, enroll in our programs, or interact with our services.

By accessing our website or using our services, you consent to the data practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the data practices described, you should not use our website or services.

2. Information We Collect

We collect several types of information from and about users of our services, including:

• Personal Identification Information: Name, email address, phone number, postal address, date of birth, government identification numbers (for funding verification), and payment information.
• Educational Information: Academic background, previous education, technical skills, and career objectives.
• Technical Information: IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, device information, and pages visited on our site.
• Usage Information: Information about how you use our website, products, and services.
• Communications: Records of correspondence when you contact us via email, phone, or other channels.

3. How We Collect Information

We collect information through various methods, including:

• Directly from you: When you provide it to us by filling in forms, during the enrollment process, or through correspondence.
• Automatically: As you navigate through our website using cookies, server logs, and other tracking technologies.
• From third parties: Such as educational partners, funding organizations, or background verification services where applicable.

4. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:

• To provide, maintain, and improve our educational services
• To process your enrollment and manage your student account
• To communicate with you about courses, updates, and promotional offers
• To provide customer support and respond to your inquiries
• To verify your identity for funding eligibility and program requirements
• To personalize your learning experience and recommend relevant content
• To monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities in connection with our services
• To detect, prevent, and address technical issues and security breaches
• To comply with legal obligations and enforce our terms of service

5. Legal Basis for Processing (GDPR)

For individuals in the European Economic Area (EEA), we process your personal data based on the following legal grounds:

• Performance of a contract: When processing is necessary for the fulfillment of our educational services.
• Consent: When you have given clear consent for us to process your personal data for specific purposes.
• Legal obligation: When processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation.
• Legitimate interests: When processing is necessary for our legitimate interests, such as improving our services and marketing, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights.

6. How We Share Your Information

We may share your personal information with:

• Instructors and educational staff: To facilitate your learning experience.
• Funding organizations: When you use third-party funding options like Bildungsgutschein.
• Service providers: Such as payment processors, cloud hosting services, and marketing platforms.
• Business partners: Such as hiring partners for career placement purposes (with your consent).
• Legal authorities: When required by law or to protect our rights and safety.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes.

7. Data Retention

We will retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, including to satisfy any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

Typically, we retain student records for a period of seven years after course completion to comply with educational regulations and provide ongoing career support. Financial records are retained for seven years to comply with tax laws. Marketing data is retained until you withdraw consent or opt-out.

8. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorized way. These measures include:

• Encryption of sensitive data in transit and at rest
• Regular security assessments and vulnerability testing
• Access controls limiting who can access personal data
• Staff training on data protection and privacy
• Secure destruction of data when no longer needed

While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure.

9. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Access: The right to request copies of your personal data.
• Rectification: The right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Erasure: The right to request deletion of your personal data.
• Restriction: The right to request the temporary suspension of processing of your personal data.
• Data portability: The right to request the transfer of your data to another organization.
• Objection: The right to object to processing of your personal data.
• Withdraw consent: The right to withdraw consent where we rely on consent to process your personal data.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in the "Contact Us" section.

10. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing activities. We use both session cookies (which expire when you close your browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your device until deleted).

These technologies help us:

• Understand how you use our website and services
• Remember your preferences and settings
• Provide personalized content and advertisements
• Analyze and improve our services

You can control cookies through your browser settings. However, disabling cookies may limit your ability to use certain features of our website.

11. International Data Transfers

As an international coding school with operations in Canada and Germany, we may transfer your personal data to countries outside your country of residence. These countries may have data protection laws that are different from the laws of your country.

When we transfer personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by implementing appropriate safeguards, such as standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

12. Children's Privacy

Our services are not intended for children under 16 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are under 16, please do not provide any personal information to us.

If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective when they are posted on this page.