Privacy

CQUniversity complies with the Information Privacy Act 2009 Qld (IP Act) and takes its obligations under the IP Act seriously. 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. 

The IPPs contained in the IP Act set the standard for the use and management of personal information collected by or provided to CQUniversity. 

Collection, use and disclosure of information

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.  

CQUniversity is committed to releasing information through the Administrative Access Scheme in accordance with the IP Act. We prioritise making information in accessible, readable and helpful formats while maintaining strict privacy protections. As part of this commitment, we do not publicly release information or 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. 

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. While there are more specific purposes for the collection of personal information depending on the interaction with areas within the University, 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 from the third party.

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 held by the University is accessed only by authorised employees necessary for their duties and in alignment with the original collection purpose. 

Information may be used or disclosed to organisations outside the University where permitted by the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld). 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.