Students gain Data Protection Officer (DPO) certificate
Twelve students of the Faculty of Communication and Environment have now passed their examinations and can call themselves Data Protection Officers.
The Certificate was part of a new module offered to E-Government and Media Computing students and based on a nationwide curriculum called “Basic Data Protection Ordinance”. Supervised by Professor Dr. Kopetz, students got a deep insight into specialist literature and the field of data protection. Besides doing role-plays that simulated authentic counselling sessions in class, students got the chance to exchange information with representatives from the Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Data Protection Officer of the Rhine-Waal University.
Having successfully gained their certificate, students can now carry out data protection impact assessments, plan technical and organisational protective measures, consult on data protection law and act as Data Protection Officers. Professor Kopetz plans a continuation of the module in summer semester 2020 and would also like to offer compact courses on the topic e.g. in form of a symposium. "This could be an interesting alternative to private institutions and professional associations, which might be interesting for the constantly growing number of European Data Protection Officers," says the professor of IT Law.