Student privacy collection notice

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) does not apply to the University in general, however the University must manage some personal information provided by Students under the Higher Education Support Act 2003(Cth) in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

Your personal information is managed under the University’s Information Privacy Policy which is aligned to the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).

We are committed to protecting your privacy and processing your personal information fairly and lawfully. Further information about how the University defines and manages personal information is available in our Information Privacy Policy [217 kb DOC] and on our Privacy webpage.

The University is also considered to be a data controller for the purposes of the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) in relation to the collection of personal information from individuals located in the European Union (EU).

The University of Western Australia is committed to protecting personal information provided by you. All information collected by the University is governed by the University’s Information Privacy Policy. For further information about how the University deals with personal information, please refer to the University’s Information Privacy Policy and Guidelines.

The University collects personal information of prospective, current and past students which may include:

• Name, date of birth, gender, personal email address, phone numbers and residential address
• Government and other institutional identifiers such as tax file number, bank account and/or credit card details
• Academic progress, performance and assessment
• Personal information connected with providing services and support to the student
• Access to and use of Student IT systems
• Health and welfare information, where essential to the provision of health and welfare support or services only

• Student photos and CCTV images (either directly with consent, or incidentally in relation to, and only for the security of individuals, the campus and facilities)

The University will collect personal information directly from the student wherever possible.

The University will/may collect students’ personal information indirectly in certain circumstances for specific purposes where direct collection is not practicable. Examples include:

• the collection of data via the University’s wireless networks for space utilisation and campus management purposes; and
• the collection of data from the University’s Learning Management System (LMS) to enable analytics for reporting purposes, such as academic performance and student progress.

  Where practical, if the indirect collection of personal information can be avoided, or made voluntary without preventing the provision of the service or a University function, then an option will be provided. Where such opt outs are provided, this may result in a degradation, or reduction in some way to the service provided to the individual.

This privacy statement does not apply to external websites linked to the University site. The University is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. When you link to another site, we recommend you read the privacy statement of that site to familiarise yourself with its privacy policy.

There are a number of purposes which mainly relate to the proper administration of an individual's course of study at the University, the University’s internal planning requirements, its governmental reporting obligations and the organisation of relevant health and welfare programs.

• The primary purpose for collecting the information is to establish and maintain student entitlements and obligations, and to provide students with services during their time at UWA.
• Individual faculties collect personal information to administer courses and programs and to facilitate research, teaching and learning functions.
• The personal information of graduates is collected by alumni relations for the purpose of managing and maintaining alumni networks.
• Personal information is also collected to enable strategic planning, for example student support, physical and digital infrastructure and sustainable resources.
• Under Commonwealth or State Government legislation for the purposes of government reporting and for the administration of, but not limited to, the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) and the Youth Allowance (Austudy and Abstudy).
• Informing students about University activities such as events, programs or other offers.
• Participating in surveys or research for the University.

The UWA website contains the University's Information Privacy Policy and provides detailed information about the University's privacy regime and how to contact the Privacy Office if you wish to exercise any right, report an issue or make a complaint.

From time to time we also use remarketing and similar tools to advertise online including those provided by Google and Facebook. We will respect your privacy and are not collecting any identifiable information through the use of any third-party remarketing system.

UWA and our third-party vendors, including Google, use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookie) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) together to:

• inform, optimise, and serve ads based on your past visits to our website; and
• find out how ad impressions, ad services, and your interactions with these ad impressions and ad services are related to visits to our site.
• You may opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the Ads Preferences Manager
• If you have concerns about the University’s advertisements through remarketing please contact the UWA Marketing Team.

For access to personal information the University holds about you, you should contact the department that holds the information. If this information is incorrect, or needs to be updated, you will be able change it. Depending on the type of change, this can be done:

• online through StudentConnect Portal; or
• by application at Student Central.

At times, the University may require requests for personal information to be made in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA).

We will endeavour to inform you of any substantive changes to this Privacy Statement, however, we may occasionally make changes without notice, particularly where there are changes in the relevant laws or we adopt new working practices. We encourage you to regularly review this statement for any updates.

The use of some University systems and websites including portals such as UniFI, UniGuest, UWA App collect directly and indirectly data as identified above to better understand general user trends at a combined level and improve their performance, services, and maintenance.

To the extent that this data could make you identifiable, the University will not attempt to identify individuals from these records, unless required to do so as part of an internal investigation or for another law enforcement-related purpose, and then, only in compliance with the University’s Information Privacy Policy.

The University will not disclose the personal information collected as part of your use to a third party without your consent, unless we are required or authorised to do so by law or other regulation

The University will, where practical and possible, seek to de-identify personal information by anonymisation or pseudonymisation, when such data is used within business intelligence and analytics.

The University holds information in both computer, and paper-based records. Information held may be located on UWA premises, or provided by externally hosted and supported systems and locations. The University will where possible choose suppliers located within Australia, and in all cases will ensure relevant contractual obligations are in place to uphold its commitment to protecting your privacy and personal information.

UWA takes all reasonable steps to ensure the information it holds is accurate and complete and is protected from misuse, loss, unauthorised access or disclosure.

The University will only retain your information for as long as it is required for the purposes it was collected and in accordance with our other legislative obligations such as under the State Records Act, 2000 (WA). This information is then securely disposed of in accordance with the applicable general or sector Disposal Authority.

The Education Portfolio is responsible for maintaining the information of prospective students (Future Students team) and those currently enrolled students (Student Life Directorate) and the Development and Alumni Relations areas maintains alumni records.

The University will use or disclose your personal information only:

1. for the purpose for which it was collected; or
2. for a related purpose which you might reasonably expect; or
3. when it has your permission to do so; or
4. where you have entered into a contact or agreement which requires it; or
5. as otherwise permitted or required to do so by law.

This means that the University will not disclose any information it holds about you, including results, addresses or other information, to your relatives (including parents or spouse), without your consent. The University will not confirm you are or have been a student of the University, except as outlined in this statement, unless you have a record of graduation, as this is a public document.

The following are examples of instances where the University will use and disclose your personal information for legitimate purposes:

• providing information to Centrelink
• releasing statistical information to relevant government bodies such as the Department of Education and Training (DET)
• releasing relevant information to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO);
• releasing relevant information to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and other external parties which we have obligations covered by contractual scholarships agreements or who have been engaged by the University to provide services under the Australia Awards Scholarship program (such as the University's preferred travel agency and health insurance provider) for the administration of Australia Awards Scholarships
• providing information for law enforcement purposes where required or authorised by law
• space utilisation and campus management purposes
• developing or refining services offered by the University
• releasing your academic details to another tertiary institution or tertiary admission centre if you apply to transfer studies
• providing a list of enrolled students to the returning officer or other appointed electoral bodies to enable students who wish to vote at elections for student organisations to be able to do so (but not for the purpose of contacting students for marketing or promotional purposes)
• providing relevant personal information to external companies or individuals that have been engaged under legal contract to perform some of the University’s functions such as student surveys or academic services
• exchanging relevant personal information between appropriate student services staff for the purpose of offering and providing student support services
• releasing the names of recipients of prizes, scholarships or similar awards to the respective official student sponsors or scholarship providers
• providing information in response to a subpoena or summons or a written demand from a government authority with the power to demand the information
• protecting a student or someone else from a serious and imminent threat to their life or health
• releasing examination results, academic and administrative information, to another institution where the student is enrolled under an official student exchange, cross-institutional study, dual degree, shared teaching, industry or clinical experience or multi-institutional arrangement with that institution to facilitate the collaboration or arrangement
• releasing to another tertiary institution or a tertiary admissions centre, information about a student’s academic progress at this University and any government-funded research training entitlement where relevant, if a student applies to transfer to that other tertiary institution
• when you graduate, providing relevant information to the Alumni Office so you can be contacted about services for University alumni.

A cookie is a small file containing certain pieces of information that a website creates when you visit the site. It can track how and when you use a site, which site you visited immediately before, and can store that information about your computer.

The University website uses cookies to facilitate the sampled reporting of demographics and interests of its visitors within services such as Google Analytics, which may allow us to collect information such as age, gender and interests. This will allow us to better understand the users visiting our site and identify how we can improve user experience and interaction. This data is used to provide better services and more relevant content to our users based on demographic and interest data.

You can opt out of the use of cookies by selecting appropriate settings within your browser, however please note this may cause some reduction in the functionality and personalisation of the website you experience.