Privacy Policy
Information on personal data processing via the www.icorsi.ch platform.
1. Introduction
The purpose of this document is to provide information on the processing of personal data handled by USI - Università della Svizzera italiana - in its educational activities, particularly through the use of the iCorsi.ch platform. iCorsi allows lecturers and students to manage, share and consult teaching materials, carry out anti-plagiarism checks using the Turnitin software, manage communication between lecturers and students, and create and hold online exams. The platform is based on Moodle, and the eLab (USI eLearning Lab) technical team takes care of its maintenance.
2. Data Controller
This document is provided by USI - Università della Svizzera italiana, with statutory seat in Via Buffi 13, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland in its capacity as Data Controller.
The Data Controller may be contacted by writing to the office address, by calling +41 58 666 40 00 or by emailing info@usi.ch.
The data protection team can be contacted directly at privacy@usi.ch.
3. Purpose of the data processing, justification, type of data and retention period
USI collects and processes personal data from individuals as required by the Universities Act to carry out tasks entrusted to it. The table below provides a summary of the purposes, justifications, types of data, and retention period for the processed data.
Purpose of the data processing | Justification | Type of data | Retention period |
Account creation: for students and USI's academic and administrative staff, the personal digital profile is automatically generated when a student enrols or when a person concludes an employment contract with USI. | Service provision For additional information, implied consent | name, surname, institutional email, institution, faculty, grade level, programme of study with specialisation, year of course, and matriculation number. The User also has the possibility, but is under no obligation, to add additional information to personalise his or her profile, such as other names, pseudonyms, telephone number, city of residence, country of residence, time zone, personal description, image, personal profiles on online social networks and, if possible, may change the institutional email address to another address. | Academic and administrative staff profiles are deactivated at the end of the contract but the data contained therein are deleted 3 years after the last login. Student profiles are deactivated on completion of the study programme. Students' personal data are stored indefinitely. |
Course and exams management (teachers‘ and students’ association) | Fulfilment of the legal task Art. 6 para. 2 LPDP in accordance with the Law on Schools of Higher Education (UGC) | Course enrolment and student assessment data Any other personal data included in the course material uploaded by the student and/or lecturer. | Records of all assessments including exams, assignments, tests, etc. are stored indefinitely. |
Tracking and monitoring of users' activities; the collection of this data serves to allow intervetion in the event of incidents or well-founded suspicions of rule violations/fraudulent use that may occur while browsing the Platform. However, systematic and continuous monitoring is not conducted. Measurement of interactivity on the Platform using Matomo analytics | Fulfilment of the legal task Art. 6 para. 2 LPDP in accordance with the Law on Schools of Higher Education (UGC) Legitimate interest | Usage data such as the User's activities on the pages (pages visited, sequence, session duration, bounce rate, dates and times of access, and how these activities occur) technical data such as the service provider and the Internet Protocol (IP) address used to access the Platform. | 1 year in order to guarantee the students' rights Matomo has anonymised IP address. |
Plagiarism check with integrated external software | Fulfilment of the legal task Art. 6 para. 2 LPDP in accordance with the Law on Schools of Higher Education (UGC) | Name, surname, email, IP, document to be verified and any personal data contained therein | Regarding the data collected and the respective retention periods set by Turnitin, these can be found in the respective privacy policy. |
Technical service support. | Service provision | Personal data and request made to the eLab Service | 1 year in order to guarantee the students' rights |
Managing teacher-student interactions with Wooclap | Service provisiono | Name, surname, email, IP, data shared via Wooclap account. For more information: https://www.wooclap.com/en/privacy-policy/ | Academic and administrative staff profiles are deactivated at the end of the contract Student profiles are deactivated on completion of the study |
Offer of external systems to support study (e.g:
| Service provision | Name, surname, email, IP, any other personal data shared by the user | The data collected and the respective retention periods set by the tools offered can be found in their respective privacy policies. |
4. Data recipients
To ensure that the services mentioned above are provided as intended, personal data will be processed by the administrative and academic staff of the University, such as employees, lecturers, and professors. They will only process the data to the extent that it is necessary to perform their respective tasks
The University partners with external suppliers to provide certain services that support its institutional activities. For instance, Turnitin, Wooclap, Amanote and Brickfield. These suppliers are recognised by the University as Data Controllers and are granted access only to the necessary data required to offer the requested services, while adhering to the legal obligations and contracts stipulated by the University to ensure the protection of personal data.
The general rule regarding data transfers abroad is that data should not be transferred outside of Switzerland. However, in cases where it is necessary to transfer personal data abroad for processing, USI ensures that such transfers are conducted in compliance with the relevant legislation and contracts that are in place to safeguard personal data protection.
5. Data subject's rights
The data subject holds, in particular, the following rights:
to obtain the rectification of inaccurate or outdated personal data, to revoke previously given consent to the processing of data, to prevent the disclosure to third parties of personal data worthy of special protection;
to obtain information in writing and free of charge concerning the personal data being processed;
to obtain delivery of personal data or demand that they be transmitted to third parties;
to request that their personal data be stopped from being processed, disclosed to third parties, rectified or destroyed;
to request that a certain processing of personal data be stopped, that a certain disclosure of personal data to third parties be prohibited, or that personal data be erased or destroyed;
to contact the cantonal representative if disagreeing with USI's data handling (https://www4.ti.ch/can/sgcds/pd/generalita).
Please note that the rights mentioned above may be partially or totally limited by legal obligations to which USI is subject, respectively, in case of overriding interests of the latter or of a public nature.
To exercise the rights above, please write to privacy@usi.ch.
Last update: 08.05.2024