Privacy policy

8 December 2020

NCVER privacy policy

REVISION DATES: Policy created 27/2/2014; Last revised December 2020

Purpose

This policy explains how National Centre for Vocational Education Research Limited (NCVER) staff and contractors manage your personal information.

NCVER is committed to managing personal information in an open and transparent way. Our Privacy Policy explains how the NCVER complies with:

We only collect the information we need to do our work. We regularly review our processes to make sure the information we collect is protected in the best possible ways.

Other privacy information

We also have privacy notices that explain how we will handle personal information for specific projects:

Personal information we collect and hold

Types of personal information we collect and hold

We collect personal information to produce statistics, undertake research, and to help manage and operate our business.

If you are a VET student, we may collect and hold the following types of personal information about you:

  • name, address and contact details (e.g. telephone number and email address)
  • personal identifiers (e.g. government related identifiers)
  • demographics (e.g. age, gender)
  • country of birth, main language spoken at home, Indigenous status, disability status (including types of disability)
  • personal characteristics and personal opinions (e.g. date of birth, country of birth, language spoken at home, Indigenous status, disability status (including types of disability), employment information, and income
  • education information (e.g. training enrolment and result details)

If you otherwise engage with us (for example, as a researcher, employee in the VET sector and so on) we may collect and hold the following types of personal information about you:

  • name, organisation, position, address and contact details (e.g. telephone number and email address)
  • dietary requirement for events and biographical information for keynote speakers
  • information received as part of a recruitment process if you apply for a position with us (e.g. resumes and referee reports)
  • audio and video recordings of you (as part of testing or your involvement in research, and with your consent).

How we collect and hold personal information

We may collect personal information about you directly from you (either when we approach you or when you contact us) as well as indirectly from third parties, such as from other government agencies and data custodians that make their data available to us.

We may collect your personal information directly from you:

  • using surveys
  • when you contact us
  • when you sign up to our subscription services
  • if you work for a registered training organisation and ask for our help with data submissions
  • if you request data or other information from us
  • if you take part in our research projects
  • when you apply for a position with us.

If you are a student, we may also collect your personal information from other organisations, such as:

  • from your training provider
  • from administrative data sources (e.g. from data collected by state/territory training authorities and Boards of Studies).

We sometimes use third-party providers to help us collect statistics and undertake research on our behalf. These third-party providers are legally bound to meet privacy standards and our expectations. They will also have their own privacy policies, processes and security protections that we review to ensure their approach to privacy reflects our own.

We separate identifiable information, such as names and addresses, from other information as soon as possible.  We store this information securely and separately so that our analysts cannot view your name or address with your other information (e.g. age, gender, training activity, level of education or employment status).

Keeping your personal information safe

We take the security of your personal information seriously and take active steps to protect personal information and data from cybercrime, interference, misuse, modification, and unauthorised access or disclosure.

Our information security management system aligns with the requirements of ISO 27001 (Information Security Management System) and ICT systems security recommendations published by the Australian Signals Directorate.

Generally, NCVER retains personal information for as long as it is required for its business activities, and for as long as we are legally required to retain the information. When personal information is no longer necessary for the business activity it was collected for, and it is legal to do so, NCVER destroys or takes reasonable steps to de-identify the information.

We assess the impact of our activities on your individual privacy by conducting Privacy Impact Assessments, which help us design new processes, manage change, and keep your information safe.

How we use your personal information

We only use your personal information for the purposes for which it was given to us.

If you are a VET student, we may use your personal information:

  • To produce statistics and research relating to education.  This may involve combining your information with other sources of data to help policy makers and researchers gain a better understanding VET sector dynamics and performance, support critical policy and other decision making, and shed light on evolving VET sector priorities. This is known as data integration
  • To understand how the VET market operates
  • To invite you to participate in a survey.

If you otherwise engage with us (for example, as a researcher, employee in the VET sector and so on) we may use your personal information:

  • To provide you with information or services you have requested from us
  • In our recruitment processes
  • For consulting with you on our products and services.

Disclosure of your personal information

If we disclose personal information, we do so only as permitted by the NVETR Act, the Privacy Act, and other relevant legal requirements, such as the National VET Data Policy.

We may disclose your personal information where:

  • You have agreed
  • You would reasonably expect, or have been told, that we may disclose information in a particular circumstance or to a particular person or organisation
  • It is required or authorised by law.

The NVETR Act authorises us to disclose information to any of the following bodies for the purposes of that body:

  • the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
  • another Commonwealth authority
  • a State or Territory authority (other than a registered training organisation) that deals with, or has responsibility for, matters relating to vocational education and training
  • a VET Regulator.

Further to this, the National VET Data Policy authorises us to share personal information for:

(a) populating authenticated VET transcripts

(b) administering VET, including program administration, regulation, monitoring and evaluation

(c) facilitating statistics and research relating to education, including surveys and data linkage

(d) understanding how the VET market operates, for policy, workforce planning and consumer information.

The NCVER does not intend to disclose your personal information to any overseas recipients.

Our websites

When you browse our websites (ncver.edu.au, lsay.edu.au, vocedplus.edu.au, https://avs.ncver.edu.au), we collect the following information about your visit:

  • your server or IP address (the name or number that uniquely identifies the computer you are using to connect to the internet)
  • date and time of your visit
  • web pages you accessed.

No personal information is recorded.

We use this information to manage and improve our websites, products and services.

Where there are links on our websites to third party websites, we cannot guarantee the privacy of those sites and are not responsible for the privacy practices of the linked websites.

Web analytic and survey services

Our websites use Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Mailchimp, and Hotjar, web analytic services provided by Google Inc, Facebook and Mailchimp (United States) and Hotjar Ltd (Malta). Information about your use of our websites (including your IP address) is transmitted and stored on servers (Google, Facebook and Mailchimp - United States and Hotjar – Malta).  Google, Facebook, Mailchimp and Hotjar use this information to compile reports on website activity for us and to provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage. These services have their own privacy policies, which you can access on their websites.

We occasionally use SurveyMonkey for research or for gathering views from users of our products and services. When you enter information for a survey conducted by NCVER using SurveyMonkey, your responses are stored on servers (United States). This service has its own privacy policy, which you can access from their website.

Social networking services

We use social networking services such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube to communicate with the public about our work. When you communicate with us using these services, we may collect your personal information to communicate with you and the public.

The social networking service will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for these services on their websites.

Anonymity and Pseudonymity

Where possible, we allow individuals to interact with us anonymously or pseudonymously. Examples of situations where it is not possible to offer anonymity include servicing data requests, resolving client support service requests, registrations for events, document delivery requests and HR management.

Access to and correction of personal information

You can ask to access, and correct, personal information we hold about you at any time. Just contact us using the details below. If you would like to correct your information, in the first instance, please contact your registered training organisation (RTO).

Contact us

For all privacy related enquiries, or to request a pdf copy of this policy, please contact our Privacy Officer:

  • By telephoning (08) 8230 8414, on Monday to Friday, between the hours of 9.00am and 5.00pm (Adelaide time)
  • By completing our online Feedback form
  • By emailing us at privacy@ncver.edu.au
  • By writing to us at Privacy Officer, NCVER, PO Box 8288, Station Arcade, SA, 5000.

To make a privacy complaint, please refer to our Complaints Policy at: https://www.ncver.edu.au/complaints-policy