Conditions of participation & data privacy

This page contains an overview of our general terms and conditions for participationand the terms of privacy.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us at sprachkurse"AT"uni-hamburg.de to Sandra Stolzki and Alexander Krussig (information on German courses) or contact Cordula Koning and Sarah König directly on campus. They hold regular office hours on the main campus, Von-Melle-Park 5, room 3055.

Office hours

semester: Tue 1 – 3 pm, Thu 11 am – 1 pm
semester break: Tue 2 – 3 pm, Thu 11 - 12 am

Registration

Participation in our language courses requires registration and payment.
Students, doctoral students, students doing contact study ("visiting students") and staff of the University of Hamburg as well as students from other universities can register. The course participation of the participant groups is based on place allocation criteria.
Registration is binding, non-transferable, and takes place exclusively online via a form within the specified deadlines. Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are mandatory.
A prompt reply via email confirms receipt of the registration.
Inquiries regarding late registration can be made via the contact form or in person during our office hours.
Places (22 participants) will be allocated according to the following criteria:
1. Beginner courses - for absolute beginners, without prior knowledge (levels I, I.1, A1 and A1.1): according to the date of receipt of the registration and verification of the documents (current semester certificate); if existing language skills are determined, secondary consideration will be given to applicants or submission of a current placement certificate.
2. Courses for advanced learners - with prior knowledge (from level I.2, A1.2, A2, II): by lottery if the maximum number of participants is exceeded and after verification of the documents (current semester certificate, placement certificate or certificate of achievement from the preparatory course - both documents not older than 12 months).
A registration/participation confirmation (invoice) will be sent by email 3-5 days before the course begins, provided a place has been allocated. Information regarding waiting list placement or cancellation will also be sent at that time.
The first lesson cannot be considered a trial lesson without prior registration. If you have any doubts regarding your prior knowledge, please contact us beforehand or complete the placement test.
Registration for more than one course per registration period is only possible after consultation with us. Please also use the comments field in the online registration form to indicate, for example, a priority, a semester abroad (please attach proof!), or a place on the waiting list.
A change of course is only possible after consultation with the office.
A language course will take place if at least 10 students have registered.

Course fee_Conditions of payment

By registering, you agree to pay the fee.
The fee depends on the participant's status at the time of registration and the number of teaching units in the course. For students of the University of Hamburg (UHH), the corresponding course fee is also listed on the respective course pages.
The fee will be collected via SEPA direct debit. If you would like an invoice for payment by bank transfer, we will need your address. Registration then takes place during the respective registration periods using our registration coupon.
The course fee is payable after the course begins and is due in full on the date specified in the invoice.
For courses starting between the 1st and the 15th of the month, the fee will be collected from your account via SEPA direct debit on the 8th of the following month. For courses starting between the 16th and the end of the month, the fee will be collected from your account via SEPA direct debit on the 23rd of the following month.
Installment payments are possible upon request for course fees starting at €68.
Costs incurred due to insufficient funds, incorrect bank account details, or cancellations will be charged to the participant and debited from their account with the next payment.
If a direct debit is not honored, it will be retried a few days later, and the processing of this claim will be handed over to a commissioned debt collection agency in compliance with data protection regulations. This also applies to outstanding payments. In this case, you may incur additional costs.

Cancellation_Withdrawal

Cancellation conditions in addition to the statutory right of withdrawal

If you are no longer able to participate, please inform us as soon as possible using our contact details, also in the interest of any existing waiting list.
Cancellation without payment is only possible up to 3 days before the course begins.
Cancellations must be submitted in writing to sprachkurse-hochschule"AT"vhs-hamburg.de or you can use our contact form . We will send you a prompt confirmation that your request has been processed.
Only cancellations confirmed by us have been processed.
After the course has begun, the course fee will only be refunded (possibly partially) in the following cases:
1. Illness or other serious reasons documented by a doctor's certificate

2. Verifiable changes to the timetable

This goodwill policy cannot be granted if you cancel after the first half of the language course has been completed.

Failure to appear does not constitute a cancellation.
Simply notifying the instructor of the course is not sufficient to accept cancellation.

Statutory Right of Withdrawal under the German Civil Code (BGB)

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within fourteen days without giving any reason.

Missed appointments

These require a written excuse to sprachkurse-hochschule"AT"vhs-hamburg.de or via our contact form.
Unexcused absence from the first course session will result in the loss of your place, as students on the waiting list will automatically take your place. However, we will still have to invoice you for the course fee.
You can miss two sessions of the course without providing proof of absence and still successfully complete the course. A certificate of completion will only be issued with an attendance rate of 80%.

Data privacy

The General Languages team takes the protection of your personal data very seriously, particularly during its collection, processing, and use when you visit our website. In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we process and use your personal data and any information you voluntarily provide solely for the purpose of providing our services, ensuring optimal support, and for quality assurance and evaluation purposes.

The University of Hamburg (UHH) and the Hamburg Adult Education Center (HHVHS) are joint controllers under Article 26 of the GDPR for the provision of general language courses and the administration of language proficiency tests for UHH students. UHH provides HHVHS with the CommSy application as a learning management platform. This application is used for in-person courses and to simplify organization and communication. UHH also provides the system with the role of portal moderator and offers ongoing support. HHVHS creates the rooms and instructor access during course creation. Participant accounts are generated during authentication; HHVHS assigns participants to specific rooms. HHVHS verifies user registrations on the platform and the user/course assignments. HHVHS implements quality assurance measures for the language course modules and provides personal and online advising for students. The HHVHS processes personal data submitted during registration for quality assurance purposes - including customer surveys - on behalf of the University of Hamburg (UHH). The HHVHS also issues machine-generated, certified certificates of achievement to students upon successful completion of courses in accordance with ECTS standards and the UHH's requirements profile.
The purpose of processing personal data is to provide general language instruction. For this purpose, the following categories of students' personal data are processed: identification data, communication data, course number, organizational data, course attendance data, authentication data, and log data. The partners are committed to upholding and complying with data protection regulations (in particular the GDPR).
Unless otherwise agreed below, each partner guarantees compliance with legal provisions, in particular the lawfulness of the data processing it carries out. Each partner is responsible for the processing it performs. Actions and processing carried out by a partner's processors are attributable to that partner.
The legal basis for processing personal data for contact via the electronic contact form is Article 6(1)(a) GDPR. For providing user IDs to students and using the electronic platform, the legal basis is Article 6(1)(e) and (2) GDPR in conjunction with Section 111(1) and (7) of the Hamburg Higher Education Act (HmbHG).
Unless the assertion of data subject rights can be exclusively assigned to the sphere of activity of one party, both parties are equally responsible for processing data subject requests. Responding to data subject requests to the data subject pursuant to Article 12 GDPR is the responsibility of the party to which the data subject request is received.

If a data subject contacts one of the parties to exercise their data subject rights, in particular regarding access to, rectification, or erasure of their personal data, the parties undertake to forward this request to the other party without undue delay, irrespective of their obligation to guarantee and respond to the data subject's rights. The other party is obligated to provide the requesting party with the information necessary to process the request from within their sphere of influence without undue delay.

The responsible contact persons and data protection officers of the parties are:

Contact person at HHVHS / Data Protection Officer of Party 1:

Hamburg Adult Education Center, a state-run institution of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
Data Protection Department
Schanzenstraße 75-77, 20357 Hamburg
Email: datenschutz@vhs-hamburg.de

Contact person at UHH / Data Protection Officer of Party 2:
Data Protection Officer of the University of Hamburg
Mittelweg 177, 20148 Hamburg
Email: datenschutz@uni-hamburg.de
If personal data is to be deleted, the parties will inform each other beforehand. The other party may object to the deletion for legitimate reasons, such as if they are subject to a legal obligation to retain the data.
Partners must inform each other immediately and completely if they discover errors or irregularities regarding data protection regulations when reviewing processing activities and/or order results.
Each partner is responsible for the technical and organizational measures (TOMs) within their area of responsibility, including the infrastructure used at their respective locations for the purposes of this cooperation agreement. This also includes responsibility for a data transfer method that complies with the requirements of Article 32 of the GDPR. Each partner is responsible for the infrastructure used locally at their own location, including databases. Existing statutory responsibilities remain unaffected.
The partners maintain a record of processing activities for the processing they each carry out, in accordance with Article 30(1) GDPR. They support each other in its creation.
The partners are responsible for fulfilling their respective obligations under Articles 33 and 34 of the GDPR to provide information to the relevant supervisory authority and/or data subjects affected by a personal data breach for each processing step they undertake. They will support each other in complying with the statutory 72-hour deadline.
The partners are each responsible for carrying out a data protection impact assessment in accordance with Article 35 GDPR within their own area of responsibility, if this is necessary.

Miscellaneous

The language courses offered in cooperation with the University of Hamburg (UHH) cannot be credited as educational leave.
The language courses and the DAAD language assessment are excluded from discounts/reductions.
Adult education center (VHS) vouchers cannot be used.