Privacy

CQUniversity complies with the Information Privacy Act 2009 Qld (IP Act) and takes its obligations under the IP Act seriously. The IP Act provides individuals with a legally enforceable right of access to, and amendment of, their own personal information held by the University, unless this would, on balance, be contrary to the public interest.

The IP Act specifies 11 Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) which govern how and when personal information may be collected, handled, stored, accessed, amended, managed, transferred, used, and disclosed.

CQUniversity actively releases information in accessible, readable and helpful formats and is committed to continuing this practice. The University does not publicly release data that includes personal information about identifiable people. The University endeavours to keep personal information secure, up-to-date, and relevant, and will only use it for the purpose/s for which it was collected.

Collection, use and disclosure of information

Purpose

CQUniversity is committed to protecting personal privacy and recognises that students, staff and vendors have a reasonable expectation that the University will protect and appropriately manage the personal information it holds about them. The IPPs contained in the IP Act set the standard for the use and management of personal information collected by or provided to CQUniversity.

This collection, use and disclosure statement explains how and why the University collects, uses and discloses personal information. It should be read in conjunction with the University’s Privacy Policy and Procedure.

This statement provides examples of the types of personal information collected, how it’s used and when the University will disclose such personal information. Not every example of the collection, use and disclosure of personal information is contained in this statement.

Why CQUniversity collects personal information

CQUniversity collects personal information, including sensitive information, about prospective and current students, parents, guardians and care-providers, next of kin, staff, alumni, volunteers, and contractors. The overall purposes of collecting this information are to:

• enable the University to deliver education, research and other services
• meet the wider functional needs of the University, including financial management, legal accountability, and national reporting requirements, and
• meet the requirements of legislation and external government agencies.

How CQUniversity collects personal information

CQUniversity takes all reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information collected is:

• necessary and lawful for the University’s purposes
• relevant to the purpose of collection
• collected in a fair way, without unreasonable intrusion, and
• as up-to-date, complete, and secure as possible.

CQUniversity’s preferred source of personal information is the individual concerned. However, there are other important sources of personal information, which may include (but are not limited to) the following:

Sources of information about students

• schools, admissions centres and equivalent overseas bodies
• other tertiary institutions, and
• information technology records.

Sources of information about staff

• previous employers and referees nominated by prospective and current staff members
• academic assessors
• external and internal medical and rehabilitation documentation
• promotion and performance review assessments
• information technology records, and
• student and staff feedback.

Where the University collects personal information about an individual from a third party, it will take all reasonable steps to ensure that the individual has been made aware of the collection.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

CQUniversity will take all reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is protected against loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, and other misuse and will destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed.

Personal information collected and held by the University will only be accessed and used by people employed or engaged by the University as required in the fulfilment of their duties and in a manner consistent with the original purpose.

Information may be used or disclosed to organisations outside the University where permitted by the Information Privacy Act 2009. It may also be used or disclosed for secondary purposes in certain circumstances, but only if:

• the secondary purpose is directly related to the primary purpose of collection and the individual would reasonably expect the use or disclosure of the information for the secondary purpose
• the University reasonably believes that the use or disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious and imminent threat to an individual's life, health or safety or a serious threat to public health or public safety
• the University has reason to suspect that unlawful activity has been, is being, or may be engaged in, and uses or discloses the personal information as a necessary part of its investigation of the matter or in reporting its concerns to relevant persons, authorities or agencies, or
• the use or disclosure is required or specifically authorised by law (e.g. court or law enforcement).  The University will comply with such requests and is not obligated to notify you of such disclosure.