Privacy Policy and Procedure

Introduction

This Policy describes the handling of Personal Information (as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)) (“Privacy Act”) that is collected by Wikipedu (ABN 17 833 067 373) and its related entities and bodies corporate (within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)).

Wikipedu recognises the need for protecting privacy both locally and internationally, especially with respect to protecting an individual’s privacy and ensuring the protection of their information. Wikipedu being registered in the State of Victoria in Australia, is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles of the Office of the Australian Information Commission, (“NPP”) (https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/australian-privacy-principles/) as provided under the Privacy Act, and their respective amendments and updates from time to time.

This Policy outlines how Wikipedu manages personal information of all persons it deals with, whether they are employees, contractors, agents, clients, suppliers, or any person that provides personal information to Wikipedu.

The information provided in this Policy consists of Wikipedu’s current privacy standards, which we may vary from time to time, and will be clearly marked as a variation with the date of that variation. We urge you to familiarise yourself with this Policy and to review it periodically to ensure you are up-to-date with our most current privacy standards.

Use of our website (www.wikipedu.com.au) or our services is deemed as your acceptance of this Policy and any revision.

Objectives

This Policy’s objectives are to ensure:

the protection of personal information that Wikipedu collects, uses, discloses, stores or handles;
demonstrates Wikipedu’s ongoing commitment and compliance with the Privacy Act;
to describe and outline the way in which Wikipedu may acquire and use personal information in its services;
describes your rights to access personal information, correct that information, or request removal of that information from our systems; and
provide you with an independent avenue to complain about a breach of the NPP or the Privacy Act.

Wikipedu’s Services, Functions and Role

Wikipedu is a specialised agent that facilitates education services offered by education providers in Australia. Wikipedu is not an education provider and does not represent, either express or implied, that it provides education services. It is licensed to provide agency services whereby it connects applicants with appropriate courses as described through its Website. It does not warrant or guarantee that courses are suitable for an applicant and each applicant must make their own enquiries with respect to any of the offers made through the Website.

Wikipedu may offer educational services or courses provided by independent third party education providers. Wikipedu is a platform to offer such educational services or courses as described by those third party education providers. Wikipedu does not verify any of the information provided to it by its third party education providers and you encouraged to make your own enquiries. Wikipedu disclaimers any liability arising out of or in connection with any representation made on its Website as provided by its third party education providers.

What is personal information?

The Privacy Act defines ‘personal information’ as:

nformation or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:I
(a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and
(b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

This generally means information that may identify you as an individual, or which may be reasonably ascertained to identify you as an individual from the information or opinion gathered. This may include information that includes:

your name;
date of birth;
credit history;
transaction history;
your address;
your place of work or company information;
information in submitted forms, contracts or applications;
payment or banking details;
insurances;
contact details, including telephone numbers, emails, addresses, or social media;
enquiry or complaint details.

Purpose

Wikipedu collects personal information from individuals in order to conduct various aspects of its business functions and activities.

This includes information from individuals who are customers, prospective customers, contractors, suppliers, agents, service providers, and employees.

We may collect information from documents such as verbally, emails, business cards, supplementary forms, transactional documents, bills of lading, contracts, letters of enquiry or letters of intent, or other mediums, including referrals. We may also collect information from you through your use of the Wikipedu Website.

If required by law we may also collect personal information from you.

Cookies

Wikipedu may use Cookies when you access the Wikipedu website. Cookies are small files that a website writes to a user’s hard drive when that user visits the website. Cookies cannot read information from the user’s hard drive or read information from other cookies.

The type of information that may be logged may include:

the type of browser and operating system used;
the previous website the user visited;
the user’s server IP address;
date and time of the user’s visit;
the address of the pages accessed; and
the document downloaded and the size of the download.

Via the use of a ‘cookie’, Wikipedu may record the pages visited on the Wikipedu website and the information accessed and viewed / used on the Wikipedu website only. This information is used anonymously and in aggregate, and is collected and logged for statistical purposes.

You may turn off cookies through your web browser or add security measures to restrict cookies on your browser.

Use

Wikipedu may use or disclose personal information for its business purposes, including, but not limited to:

commercial dealings or relationships;
to send emails or direct marketing or sales activities;
in the provision of relevant services or goods; and
various business operations.

In the event we require your consent to use or disclose your personal information, this may be obtained by verbal or express communication.

Collection of Unsolicited Personal Information

Wikipedu often receives information which is not solicited from third parties or our suppliers, clients, contractors or professional advisors. When we receive unsolicited personal information, we determine whether it could have been collected in accordance with the Privacy Act. If we cannot substantiate that the information was lawfully obtained, we take steps to destroy or de-industry the information, including notifying the party that provided the information that we have done so.

Collection Personal Information for Human Resources

When you apply for a position with Wikipedu, we may collect more personal or sensitive information from you. Some of these may include your ethnicity, language ability, political beliefs, philosophical beliefs, union memberships, sex life, litigation or convictions, formal complaints, or background checks, including police and credit checks. We require such information to comply with equal opportunity laws and ensure compliance with the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (Cth).

One of Wikipedu’s core values is ensuring the health and wellness of our employees. From time-to-time, we may ask for sensitive information concerning your health and wellness, in particular your mental health. This is used to assess your suitability for certain tasks and to manage a healthy work environment, to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for all.

Management of Personal Information

Wikipedu stores personal information electronically or hard copy, which are always secured either in secure systems or on our business premises. The Personal information is kept safe and secure from misuse, interference loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure; and is only used internally or disclosed under permitted business purposes.

Any personal information that is retained after we have a specific need, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identity this personal information.

Accuracy of Personal Information

Wikipedu uses its reasonable endeavours to ensure that the personal information it collects, uses or discloses is accurate and up-to-date. In the even your personal information changes, we encourage you to contact us and notify of such changes. We may contact your periodically to confirm your personal information to ensure that it is accurate and up-to-date.

Anonymity

You may choose to remain anonymous or use a pseudonym (a name that is not your own) when dealing with Wikipedu. However, we may not be able to provide you relevant services or goods if we cannot identify you.

Direct Marketing

Wikipedu often sends out marketing materials and promotional offers to its contacts in our systems. In the event you wish to not receive these communicates, please notify us by emailing account@wikipedu.com.au with the subject heading ‘Privacy’.

Disclosure of Personal Information within Australia and overseas

Wikipedu operates an international business model and from time-to-time we may be required to disclose your personal information to other organisations we deal with to facilitate services or supply/procurement of certain goods. Prior to disclosing personal information, we ensure that those groups adhere to strict privacy protection requirements and also seek privacy protection obligations in relation to information disclosed. We do this through confidentiality agreement, reviewing the legal systems and privacy laws in the jurisdiction the group is domiciled and also their privacy and procedure policies.

At times, we may be required by law to provide personal information or for statutory purposes in order to prevent breaches of law. This may require disclosure to authorities, security agencies, regulatory bodies, customs officials or other executive branches of government. Such disclosures are generally advised in privacy statements from time to time.

Wikipedu is an international business that operates globally, and we may share your personal information you submit to us for any permitted purpose required to fulfil services. Organisations that we deal with in any international country are required to comply with our privacy policy and must maintain confidentiality of personal information supplied on an as needed basis or for any purpose set out in this Privacy Policy.

Please be aware that cross-border privacy protection principles do not apply to personal information if a permitted general situation exists, which include, but are not limited to: preventing a serious threat to life, health or safety, suspected unlawful activity, serious misconduct, locating missing persons, diplomatic or consular functions or activities, Defence force activities outside of Australia.

Destruction and de-identification of Personal Information

Wikipedu will take all reasonable steps to destroy, delete, de-identify personal information after its needs are no longer required.

If Wikipedu holds personal information relating to you, then you have the right to request access to that personal information and to correct that information. Wikipedu will endeavour to provide you with access to any such request within 7 days of receiving a request. We may require that you provide us with certain details to authenticate who you are and that you have a right of access to such information. This might include a 3-point identification check.

When requesting access to personal information from Wikipedu, there may be instances where we are required to charge you a reasonable fee for any expenses incurred by Wikipedu for such access. In these circumstances, if you are unable or unwilling to pay those expenses, we may not be able to provide you with access to your personal information.

Further to this, there are circumstances outlined in APP 12.3 Exception to Access and APP 13.3 Refusal to Correct Information, where we do not grant access to or implement a proposed correction to your personal information. In this event, Wikipedu will provide you with a written explanation that outlines our position and reasons for not providing you with access or implementing a correction. You will be able to respond to such letter, but Wikipedu any such disclosure or correction will be subject to Wikipedu’s discretion

Credit Reporting

Wikipedu from time-to-time may ask you to complete a credit application which will permit the disclosure of your personal information to an approved credit reporting agency. Wikipedu provides various goods and services under commercial terms and those terms may require that you undergo a credit check.

Such disclosure falls under the Privacy (Credit Reporting) Code (the Privacy Code), and this Policy does not limited or exclude those obligations.

If we require that as part of commercial arrangement with Wikipedu for you to complete a credit check, or you are guaranteeing the obligations of a credit applicant, we will require that you sign our credit application permitting us to obtain credit related personal information.

In order to obtain such reports we may be required to disclose personal information provided by you, and we may hold and disclose any types of credit-related personal information about you. The information collected will be also be used to determine whether you are a suitable customer in relation to your credit worthiness.

Third Party Websites

We may include hyperlinks to other websites on the Wikipedu website or in correspondence to you, via email or through other mediums from time-to-time. Those third party websites are not party to or subject to Wikipedu’s policies, including this Privacy Policy. We strongly encourage that you familiarise yourself with those third party’s privacy policies, as well as any other policies and procedures that may be relevant to your needs. Wikipedu does not warrant the accuracy or correctness of any third party website and urges that you make your own independent enquiries.

Compliance with this Policy

Wikipedu’s implementation of this Privacy Policy is done so through its procedures, current business practices, staff training and auditing. All Personnel, including agents, contractors, employees and officers of Wikipedu are made aware of this Privacy Policy and handle personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. All Personnel are required to uphold and protect individual’s Personel Information in accordance with the Privacy Act and this Privacy Policy.

Further Information

Wikipedu’s Privacy Officer is responsible for all matters pertaining to this Privacy Policy. Privacy related matters may be emailed to account@wikipedu.com.au or formally notified by post to our head office address. All reasonable endeavours will be made to respond to such requests and we resolve any complaint within 30 days from the day it is received by Wikipedu. If you believe that Wikipedu has not appropriately dealt with your request, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and their contact details are: 1300 363 992 or email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

Approval and Revision

This Policy and Procedure was approved by Wikipedu on 17 August 2020.