Privacy

© Commonwealth of Australia 2011

All personal information collected by TEQSA is protected by the Privacy Act 1988. Information on the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 can be found on the website of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) is committed to protecting personal information. This Privacy Policy embodies this commitment and applies to personal information collected by TEQSA and its contractors and agents (collectively, TEQSA).

TEQSA adheres to the requirements of the Information Privacy Principles contained within the Privacy Act 1988 and the Guidelines for Federal and ACT Government World Wide Websites, issued by the Privacy Commissioner.

Information we collect and how we use it

TEQSA helps the Australian Government achieve its overall objective of ensuring students receive a high quality education at any Australian higher education provider.

Generally, TEQSA collects personal information in order to properly and efficiently carry out its functions, and only uses personal information for the purposes for which it was given to TEQSA and for directly related purposes (unless otherwise required by or authorised under law).

Communication (emails and electronic forms)

TEQSA’s servers may record your email address if you send us a message online. Your email address will not be added to a mailing list, unless you have provided it to us in order to subscribe to one of our subscription services.

Where you choose to send us a completed electronic form that includes your personal details, we collect personally identifiable information, such as name, address and email address.

The information collected by email or electronic forms will be used only for the purpose for which you provided it, and we will not disclose it unless one of the circumstances described below under the heading “Information Sharing” has been satisfied. For those who do not wish to use the internet, TEQSA provides alternative ways of providing information. For example, forms may be printed and lodged by post.

Log information (browsing)

When you use TEQSA’s online services, our servers automatically record information that your browser sends whenever you visit a website. These server logs may include information such as your server address, your top level domain name, the date and time of visit to the site, the pages accessed and documents viewed, the previous sites visited, and the browser type, browser language, and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

Access and alteration of records containing personal information

When you provide personal information in relation to TEQSA’s services, we will allow you access to your personal information and we will correct your personal information if it is inaccurate (subject to restrictions on such access/alteration of records under the applicable provisions of any law of the Commonwealth).

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 also provides you with an opportunity to request access to documents in the possession of TEQSA.

Information sharing

We only disclose personal information to third parties in the following circumstances:

  • Where you are reasonably likely to have been aware, or made aware by way of a privacy notice, that your personal information is usually passed to the relevant parties
  • Where you have consented
  • Where we believe on reasonable grounds that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to your life or health or that of another person
  • Where the disclosure is required or authorised by or under law, or
  • Where the disclosure is reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the criminal law or of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty, or for the protection of the public revenue.

Information security

We take all reasonable steps:

  • to protect the personal information that we hold against loss, against unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure and against other misuse, and
  • to ensure that, where we have given personal information to a contractor (that carries out service for TEQSA), that contractor complies with the Information Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act.

Data integrity

We take reasonable steps to make sure that the personal information we collect and store is accurate, relevant, up to date, complete and not misleading.

Enforcement

TEQSA regularly reviews its compliance with this Policy. If you have any questions/complaints about privacy, confidentiality or access to your personal information, please contact TEQSA’s Privacy Contact Officer by writing to:

Privacy Contact Officer
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency
GPO Box 1672
Melbourne VIC 3001

Changes to this policy

Please note that this Privacy Policy may change from time to time.