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The
Bookkeeping Institute of Australia, including all staff, related entities or
external contractors, are committed to protecting the privacy of personal
information that it collects in order to deliver training and assessment
services.
The privacy
policy details the Institute’s compliance with the
Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) (‘the Act’) and its ten National Privacy
Principles (NPPs) which regulate the collection, use, disclosure, management
and access to personal information. This does not include employee records.
The Institute
may from time to time, review and update this Privacy Policy to take account
of new laws and technology, changes to the Institute’s operations and
practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing learning
environment.
In relation
to personal information about students and parents, The Institute’s primary
purpose of collection is to enable the Institute to provide educational
services to the student. This includes satisfying both the needs of the
parents (where the applicant is under 18 years of age) and the needs of the
student throughout the whole period that the student is enrolled in the
Institute.
The Institute
will only collect and hold personal information about students that is
necessary for the effective administration and delivery of its training
services. For example: student names, ages, contact details, educational
history, employment details.
BIA will
usually collect such personal information through forms (electronic and
paper), staff members, face-to-face meetings and interviews and telephone
calls. Occasionally other people, organisations or government departments
(for example, Centrelink or the Department of Education, Training and the
Arts) may provide personal information about you to us.
Where
practical, you will be advised of the purpose for which we are collecting
the information.
The purposes
for which the Institute uses the personal information of students and
parents include:
a)
to keep parents informed about matters relating to their child’s
academic progress (where the student is under the age of 18), through
correspondence, newsletters and magazines;
b)
day-to-day administration;
c)
looking after the student’s educational, social and medical
wellbeing;
d)
seeking donations and marketing for the Institute; and
e)
to comply with the Institute’s legal obligations and allow the
Institute to discharge its duty of care.
In some cases
where the Institute requests personal information about a student or parent,
if the information requested is not obtained, the Institute may not be able
to enrol or continue the enrolment of the student. Except where it is
required by law, the Institute will only disclose personal information about
a student where the student gives permission on a “Consent to disclose
student information to third parties” form or a “Consent to use personal
information in marketing” form.
The Institute
may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held
about an individual to:
a)
Another educational institution;
b)
Government departments;
c)
Medical practitioners;
d)
People providing services to the Institute, including specialist
visiting facilitators or assessors
e)
Recipients of the Institute’s publications like newsletters and
magazines
f)
Parents, where the student is aged less than 18 years; and
g)
Anyone you authorise the Institute to disclose information to.
The Institute
strives to ensure all information it holds, including personal information
about students, is accurate, complete and current, whenever it is collected,
retrieved or disclosed. Students are asked to advise of any changes as they
occur, to assist the Institute with this objective.
Also,
whenever students are asked to complete BIA forms (e.g. appeals against
assessment outcomes), they will need to complete fields for primary
information such as names, addresses and contact details. When the completed
form is processed by the Institute, the information it currently holds about
the student will be checked against the information provided on the firm.
The Institute will modify its records to the extent of any inconsistency.
Please advise
the Administration Officer regarding changes to your personal details. This
will ensure that the Institutes records accurately reflect your current
details when forwarding notifications or results. It is the student’s
responsibility to ensure that changes to personal details are communicated
to the Institute.
Student’s
personal information is held securely in the Administration Office and
appropriate procedures are in place to protect all information from misuse,
loss, unauthorized access, modification or disclosure.
The following
controls have been implemented to achieve this
Ø
Physical access controls. All hard-copy records will be stored
in a locked filing cabinet/s on-site at BIA premises. The Director, BIA,
will have possession of the key to the filing cabinet.
Ø
Access to electronic records. Access to electronic records
will be restricted to BIA staff.
Ø
Backup. The Institute has an advanced file synchronisation
system whereby electronic files are synchronised between the main BIA office
desktop PC, the Director’s notebook computer and off-site storage each
night.
Only
necessary and relevant information will be retained by the Institute. Most
information must be kept for at least seven years to meet regulatory
requirements, however student results will retained and archived for at
least 30 years to enable the reissue of a qualification or statement.
Information will be destroyed securely once it is no longer need.
The Institute
seeks to ensure all staff and students are aware of this Privacy Policy and
how it affects the day-to-day operations of the Institute. This policy will
be reviewed from time to time, and the Institute reserves the right to
change it at any time. In the event of any modifications, staff and students
will be notified via email and an updated version will be posted on the
Institute website.
Students may
access any information that the Institute holds about them by submitting a
“Request to Access Personal Records” form (obtainable on request). This
right is subject to any exceptions listed elsewhere in this Privacy Policy.
A reasonable fee to cover administration expenses may apply to requests to
access personal records. This fee will depend on the access required and
will be dealt with on a case by case basis. If a fee applies, the student
will be notified of any such fee when they submit the “Request to Access
Personal Records” form.
Students may
access information held about them by competing “Request to Access Personal
Records” form and submitting it to the Administration Officer, who will
approve the request and arrange for the student to have access to the
requested records (consulting with the Director as necessary). A copy of the
completed form will be retained on the student’s file indefinitely for audit
purposes.
If at any
time a student notifies the Institute that information held about them is
not complete, current and accurate, the Institute will promptly investigate
the information held.
Personal
identifiers assigned by a government department (e.g. Tax file number from
the ATO or a Medicare number) will not be used as an identifier in the
Institute’s records. If the Institute is required by legislation to ask the
student for government department identifiers, that identifier will only be
stored and used in compliance with the legislation. It will not be used as a
general means of identifying students.
As a matter
of administrative necessity, the Institute requires students to identify
themselves to it, in order to deliver training and assessment.
Overseas
information flows do not generally apply to the Institute’s business
operations. However, in the event that the Institute must disclose a
students’ personal information to a foreign person or organisation, the
following principles will be followed.
Ø
The disclosure will only be made if the Institute reasonably
believes that the foreign country has substantially similar privacy
obligations to Australia’s
Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth); or
Ø
The student consents to the Institute disclosing their
personal information to the foreign person or organisation; or
Ø
It was not practical for the Institute to obtain the student’s
consent to the disclosure but the disclosure was for their benefit, and they
were likely to have given consent; or
Ø
The Institute has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the
foreign person or organisation will comply with the NPPs in holding, using
or disclosing the student’s information.
It is not
anticipated that the Institute would need to collect sensitive information (eg.
information relating to a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political
opinions, religion, trade union or other professional or trade association
membership, sexual preferences or criminal record, and health information
about an individual) in its ordinary course of business. In the event that
the Institute must collect such information, it will obtain the students
consent to gather this information.
The Institute
may disclose personal information, including sensitive information, held
about an individual to:
1)
another Institute or educational institution;
2)
government departments;
3)
medical practitioners;
4)
people providing services to the Institute, including specialist
visiting lecturers;
5)
recipients of the Institute’s publications, like newsletters and
magazines
6)
parents; and
7)
anyone you authorise the Institute to disclose information to, on a
Form 24 - Consent to disclose student information to third parties
8)
marketing material, where authorised by a “Consent to use personal
information in marketing” form
The
Institute’s staff are required to respect the confidentiality of students’
and parents’ personal information and the privacy of individuals. The
Institute protects all personal information held about students from misuse,
loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure by locking paper
records in the administration area and restricting access to computer
records via a password.
The Institute
endeavours to ensure that the personal information it holds is accurate,
complete and up-to-date. A person may seek to update their personal
information by advising their facilitator about the changes. Please refer
to NPP 6 Access & Correction above and found
in the student handbook.
If you have
any complaints or concerns about privacy matters, please contact the
Director.
For further information, you can contact The Office of the Privacy
Commissioner, or visit their website on
http://www.privacy.gov.au or read the National Privacy Principles
at
http://www.privacy.gov.au/publications/npps01.html |
