Privacy Policy

Purpose

This policy ensures that TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd meets its legal and ethical requirements in regard to the collection, storage and disclosure of the personal information it holds in regards to individuals.

This policy and procedure contributes to compliance with Clause 3.6 and 8.5 of the Standards.

Definitions

ASQA means Australian Skills Quality Authority, the national VET regulator and the RTO’s registering body.

Personal information means ‘information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:

  • ‘Whether the information or opinion is true or not'; and
  • ‘Whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.'

[Definition from: Australian Government. Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Accessed on 5th January 2014 at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/C2014C00076/Html/Text#_Toc382302897.]

SRTOs means the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015 – refer definition of ‘Standards’.

Standards means the Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 from the VET Quality Framework which can be accessed at www.asqa.gov.au.

Unique Student Identifier is a unique reference number issued to an individual by the Australian Government. It is made up of numbers and letters and enables an individual to look up and track their training achievements in an online database.

USI means Unique Student Identifier as above.

Policy

1.     NCVER Privacy Notice

  • Under the Data Provision Requirements 2012, TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd is required to collect personal information about you and to disclose that personal information to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd (NCVER).
  • Your personal information (including the personal information contained on this enrolment form and your training activity data) may be used or disclosed by TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd for statistical, regulatory and research purposes.  TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd may disclose your personal information for these purposes to third parties, including:
    • School – if you are a secondary student undertaking VET, including a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship;
    • Employer – if you are enrolled in training paid by your employer;
    • Commonwealth and State or Territory government departments and authorised agencies;
    • NCVER;
    • Organisations conducting student surveys; and
    • Researchers.
    • Personal information disclosed to NCVER may be used or disclosed for the following purposes:
    • issuing statements of attainment or qualification, and populating authenticated VET transcripts;
    • facilitating statistics and research relating to education, including surveys;
    • understanding how the VET market operates, for policy, workforce planning and consumer information; and
    • administering VET, including programme administration, regulation, monitoring and evaluation.
  • You may receive an NCVER student survey which may be administered by an NCVER employee, agent or third party contractor.  You may opt out of the survey at the time of being contacted.
  • NCVER will collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the VET Data Policy and all NCVER policies and protocols (including those published on NCVER’s website at www.ncver.edu.au).
  • When completing and submitting the Course Application form, students will be required to:
    • declare the information they have provided is to the best of their knowledge true and correct; and
    • consent to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

2. Privacy Principles

  • Student and client privacy is respected, and personal information collected by TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd is protected by the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.  In collecting personal information, TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd complies with the requirements set out in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988 and the relevant privacy legislation and regulations of the States/Territories in which the RTO operates.
  • This means TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd ensures each individual:
    • Knows why their information is being collected, how it will be used and who it will be disclosed to.
    • Is able to access their personal information upon request.
    • Does not receive unwanted direct marketing.
    • Can ask for personal information that is incorrect to be corrected.
    • Can make a complaint about TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd if you consider that your personal information has been mishandled.
  • Personal information is collected from individuals in order that TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd can carry out its business functions. TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd only collects and stores information that is directly related to its business purposes and legal requirements of providing nationally recognised training and assessment.
  • Personal data may be used to enable TechKnowledgey to provide its students and clients with the products they have requested, to inform them of other products they may be interested in, to assist with research and development of TechKnowledgey product lines, and to maintain and develop our business systems and infrastructure. 
  • Students and clients may review and modify their contact information at any time, including correspondence preferences, by accessing their details from our website.  For general enquiries about TechKnowledgey privacy policy, to be removed, or for any other website-related information, please contact us via learning@techknowledgey.edu.au

3. Collection of information

  • In general personal information will be collected through course application and/or enrolment forms, training records, assessment records and online forms and submissions. 
  • The types of personal information collected include:
    • personal and contact details
    • employment information, where relevant
    • academic history
    • background information collected for statistical purposes about prior education, schooling, place of birth, disabilities and so on
    • training, participation and assessment information
    • fees and payment information
    • information required for the issuance of a USI.
  • TechKnowledgey may use third party advertising tools (including Google marketing and similar advertising).  This means that information related to web browsing behaviour may be collected while visiting our site, which later can be used by third-party vendors, including Google, for the purpose of showing TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd advertising on sites across the Internet which have been approved in the display network. 
    • Students and clients have the option to opt out of Google's use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page.  Alternatively, they can opt out of cookies by visiting the Network Advertising Initiative opt out page.
    • Google Adwords Conversion Tracking: TechKnowledgey may utilise Google Adwords Conversion tracking to help us collect general usage statistics on how many site visitors have clicked on our Google ads and made an enquiry or purchase with us.  This may be tracked using cookies which do not contain any personal identifiable information and expire within 30 days.  For more information or to opt out of this service, please refer to Google Advertising Policies and Principles.

4. Unique Student Identifiers (USI)

  • All students participating in nationally recognised training from 1 January 2015 are required to have a Unique Student Identifier (USI) and provide it to TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd upon enrolment. Alternatively, TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd can apply for a USI on behalf of an individual.
  • The Student Identifiers Act 2014 (Cth) authorises the Australian Government’s Student Identifiers Registrar to collect information about USI applicants. When TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd applies for a USI on behalf of a student who has authorised us to do so, we need to collect personal information about the student which will be passed on to the Student Identifiers Registrar.  This will include:
    • name, including first or given name(s), middle name(s) and surname or family name
    • date of birth
    • city or town of birth
    • country of birth
    • gender
    • contact details, so the Student Identifiers Registrar can provide individuals with their USI and explain how to activate their USI account. 
  • In order to create a USI on behalf of a student, TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd will be required to verify the identity of the individual by receiving a copy of an accepted identification document. This document will only be used for the purposes of generating the USI and confirming the identity of the individual with the Registrar. Once the USI has been generated and validated, the identity documents used or collected for this purpose will be securely destroyed.
  • The information provided by an individual in connection with their application for a USI:
    • is collected by the Registrar as authorised by the Student Identifiers Act 2014.
    • is collected by the Registrar for the purposes of:
      • applying for, verifying and giving a USI
      • resolving problems with a USI
      • creating authenticated vocational education and training (VET) transcripts
    • may be disclosed to:
      • Commonwealth and State/Territory government departments and agencies and statutory bodies performing functions relating to VET for:
        • the purposes of administering and auditing VET, VET providers and VET programs
        • education related policy and research purposes
        • to assist in determining eligibility for training subsidies
      • VET Regulators to enable them to perform their VET regulatory functions
      • VET Admission Bodies for the purposes of administering VET and VET programs
      • current and former Registered Training Organisations to enable them to deliver VET courses to the individual, meet their reporting obligations under the VET standards and government contracts and assist in determining eligibility for training subsidies
      • schools for the purposes of delivering VET courses to the individual and reporting on these courses
      • the National Centre for Vocational Education Research for the purpose of creating authenticated VET transcripts, resolving problems with USIs and for the collection, preparation and auditing of national VET statistics
      • researchers for education and training related research purposes
      • any other person or agency that may be authorised or required by law to access the information
      • any entity contractually engaged by the Student Identifiers Registrar to assist in the performance of his or her functions in the administration of the USI system
      • will not otherwise be disclosed without the student’s consent unless authorised or required by or under law
  • The consequences to the student of not providing the Registrar with some or all of their personal information are that the Registrar will not be able to issue the student with a USI, and therefore TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd will be unable to issue a qualification or statement of attainment.

5. Storage and use of information

  • TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd will store all records containing personal information securely and take all reasonable security measures to protect the information collected from unauthorised access, misuse or disclosure. Personal information will be stored in paper-based files that are kept in a secure location (locked filing cabinets/locked compactor) and electronically in a secure environment to which only authorised staff have access.
  • The personal information held about individuals will only be used to enable efficient student administration, provide information about training opportunities, issue statements of attainment and qualifications to eligible students, and to maintain accurate and detailed records of student course participation, progress and outcomes.
  • TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd may use the personal information provided by an individual to market other internal products and services to them. An individual may opt out of being contacted for marketing purposes at any time by contacting our office.  Information will not be passed onto any third-party marketing companies without the prior written consent of the individual.

6. Disclosure of information

  • The personal information about students enrolled in a Course with TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd may be shared with the Australian Government and designated authorities, such as ASQA (the RTO’s registering body) and its auditors, the USI Registrar (as per above) and the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER).  This includes personal details, contact details, course enrolment information, unit outcomes, AQF certification and statement issuance and information about training participation and progress.
  • TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd will not disclose an individual’s personal information to another person or organisation unless:
    • They are aware that information of that kind is usually passed to that person or organisation.
    • The individual has given written consent.
    • TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd believes on reasonable grounds that the disclosure is necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to the life or health of the individual concerned or another person.
    • The disclosure is required or authorised by, or under, law.
    • 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 public revenue.
  • Any person or organisation to which information is disclosed is not permitted to use or disclose the information for a purpose other than for which the information was supplied to them.

7. Access to and correction of records

  • Individuals have the right to access or obtain a copy of the information that TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd holds about them including personal details, contact details and information relating to course participation, progress and AQF certification and statements of attainment issued.
  • Requests to access or obtain a copy of the records held about an individual must be made by contacting our office using the Request to Access Records Form. The individual must prove their identity to be able to access their records.
  • There is no charge for an individual to access the records that TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd holds about them; however, there may be a charge for any copies made.  Arrangements will be made within 10 days for the individual to access their records.

8. Complaints about privacy

  • Any individual wishing to make a complaint or appeal about the way information has been handled within TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd can do so by following TechKnowledgey Pty Ltd ’s Complaints and Appeals Policy and Procedure.