Privacy Policy and Notice

Privacy Policy and Notice

This Privacy Policy & Notice sets out how the Foundation Education Pty Ltd (ABN 63 147 567 986) respects and protects your right to privacy, and explains how Foundation Education collects, shares and uses personal information about you, and how you can exercise your privacy rights. This policy applies to all sources of data Foundation Education receives directly and indirectly, including information collected by users of www.foundationeducation.edu.au and via Foundation Education’s sister Registered Training Organisation (RTO), the Australian Institute of Personal Trainers (AIPT).

Foundation Education reserves the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy & Notice from time to time at our sole discretion. Changes will be communicated via the Student Handbook on the website, which is in accordance with this Privacy Policy & Notice and the Australian Privacy Principles. This policy explains the categories and purpose for collecting personal data, how we process your data, and how we keep it safe. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of your personal information, enquires are welcomed via the contact details found at the bottom of this notice.

Privacy Notice

Why we collect your personal information

As a registered training organisation (RTO), we collect your personal information so we can process and manage your enrolment in a vocational education and training (VET) course with us. Note that the provision of your personal information to Foundation Education is entirely optional to you. You can elect not to provide personal information to Foundation Education; however, this may impact your ability to effectively enrol.

How we use your personal information

We use your personal information to enable us to deliver VET courses to you, and otherwise, as needed, to comply with our obligations as an RTO.

How we disclose your personal information

We are required by law (under the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) (NVETR Act)) to disclose the personal information we collect about you to the National VET Data Collection kept by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd (NCVER). The NCVER is responsible for collecting, managing, analysing and communicating research and statistics about the Australian VET sector. We are also authorised by law (under the NVETR Act) to disclose your personal information to the relevant state or territory training authority.

How the NCVER and other bodies handle your personal information

The NCVER will collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with the law, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and the NVETR Act. Your personal information may be used and disclosed by NCVER for purposes that include populating authenticated VET transcripts; administration of VET; facilitation of statistics and research relating to education, including surveys and data linkage; and understanding the VET market. The NCVER is authorised to disclose information to the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), Commonwealth authorities, State and Territory authorities (other than registered training organisations) that deal with matters relating to VET and VET regulators for the purposes of those bodies, including to enable:

• administration of VET, including program administration, regulation, monitoring and evaluation

• facilitation of statistics and research relating to education, including surveys and data linkage

• understanding how the VET market operates, for policy, workforce planning and consumer information.

The NCVER may also disclose personal information to persons engaged by NCVER to conduct research on NCVER’s behalf. The NCVER does not intend to disclose your personal information to any overseas recipients.

For more information about how the NCVER will handle your personal information please refer to the NCVER’s Privacy Policy.

If you would like to seek access to or correct your information, in the first instance, please contact your RTO using the contact details listed below.

DEWR is authorised by law, including the Privacy Act and the NVETR Act, to collect, use and disclose your personal information to fulfil specified functions and activities. For more information about how DEWR will handle your personal information, please refer to the DEWR VET Privacy Notice.

Surveys

You may receive a student survey which may be run by a government department or an NCVER employee, agent, third-party contractor or another authorised agency. Please note you may opt out of the survey at the time of being contacted.

Contact information

At any time, you may contact Foundation Education to:

• request access to your personal information

• correct your personal information

• make a complaint about how your personal information has been handled

• ask a question about this Privacy Notice

If you need to contact Foundation Education regarding the above, you can do so via the below:

Phone: 1300 130 157

Email: privacy@foundationeducation.edu.au

Mail: PO Box 508 Fortitude Valley, Qld, 4006

Foundation Education’s full Privacy Policy & Notice, including Collection Notice information (in accordance with Australian Privacy Principle 5), can be found here.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

Foundation Education collects and uses personal information for the following purposes:

• To provide information about you to our network of industry partners and contractors (consultants or contracted third parties including mentors and employers) for the purposes of assisting you to effectively manage your progress, and to support your individual needs (all third parties will abide by this Privacy Policy & Notice and the Australian Privacy Principles).

• Provide information, products and services to you and request information to manage and administer those products and services (including enrolment, assessment and issuing certificates, record of results, statement of completion or attainment, and/or testamurs),

• Respond to your queries relating to our website, our products, advice and services,

• To better understand your needs, and help us to improve our products and services,

• Internal record keeping,

• Circulation of promotional emails about new products and services, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting (you may opt out at any time),

• Contact you for market research or direct marketing purposes (you may opt out at any time),

• Customise the website according to your interests and needs, and

• To customise documents according to your business needs,

• Personal information may also include medical information which can be shared with a third party once Foundation Education has received written consent from the student​.

Foundation Education may contact you via a variety of measures including by telephone, email, SMS or mail. All communications from Foundation Education will be via your contact details recorded on file. You may also engage with Foundation Education via various social media platforms, which collect and store your personal information and data. It is your responsibility to keep your details up to date. You may update your contact details or preferred method of communication, unsubscribe, or opt out from any marketing communications by contacting Foundation Education at any time.

Disclosure of Personal Information

Foundation Education may disclose your personal information under the following circumstances:

• for the purpose of providing third parties (including employers and mentors) with information about your progress,

• for the purpose of providing information, products and services to clients,

• to assist us with functions such as recruitment of students, work integrated learning placements or providing overseas student health cover,

• to register and administer events, promotions or competitions,

• to verify personal information details upon request from third parties, such as completion of courses, a request from a potential employer verifying a qualification and further enrolment into another institution,

• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including disclosure and reporting to Commonwealth, State and Territory government agencies for planning, evaluative, administrative and funding purposes. This may include:

  • disclosure and reporting to Commonwealth and State government agencies (including State Training Authorities) for the purpose of administrating entitlements to financial assistance under Commonwealth and State government programs for supporting students.

  • disclosure to government agencies responsible for administrating and regulating education and training providers in Australia, Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), Tuition Protection Service (TPS), and

  • disclosure to government agencies with responsibility for administering immigration and student visa arrangements (including disclosure of suspected breaches of student visa conditions)

• for students under 18 years of age; information regarding attendance, progress and general well-being may be provided in order to keep parent(s) and/or guardian(s) adequately informed,

• to credit reporting agencies and courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities where students fail to pay for goods or services provided by us to them,

• to courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities, and law enforcement officers as required by law, in connection with any actual or prospective legal proceedings, or in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights,

• to one or more Consultants for the purpose of providing information and services to you,

• to the relevant third party or parties, with our client’s consent, if the matter involves third parties, and

• to third parties, including agents, referral partners, contractors and sub-contractors for the purposes of providing information, products and services to you. This may include parties located, or that store data, outside of Australia. All third parties will abide by this Privacy Policy & Notice, the Australian VET Data Policy, and the Australian Privacy Principles.

If there is a change of control of our business, sale, or transfer of business assets, we reserve the right to transfer to the extent permissible at law and the Standards for RTOs 2015, our user databases, together with any personal information and non-personal information contained in those databases. This information may be disclosed to a potential purchaser. Foundation Education would seek to only disclose information in good faith and where we have sought to maintain confidentiality.

Foundation Education does not typically, or routinely disclose personal information to overseas recipients, unless the overseas recipient is a contracted third party acting on behalf of the RTO, or an exception under the Australian Privacy Principles applies. Foundation Education will only disclose personal information to overseas recipients where reasonable steps have been taken to ensure the overseas recipient does not breach Foundation Education’s Privacy Policy & Notice, the Australian National VET Data Policy, or the Australian Privacy Principles.

Security

Foundation Education is committed to ensuring that the information you provide to us is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial mechanisms and procedures to safeguard and secure that information, and to protect your sensitive information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.

While no information transmitted via the internet can ever be guaranteed to be secure, therefore the transmission and exchange of information via the internet is at your own risk, we apply every reasonable measure to provide the highest degree of security possible in accordance with this Privacy Policy & Notice, the Australian National VET Data Policy and the Australian Privacy Principles.

How we use Cookies

Foundation Education may use Cookies on our Websites which are small files that ask permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the Cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular website. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs and preferences by collecting and remembering information about you.

Foundation Education uses traffic log Cookies to identify which pages are being used, which helps us analyse information about web page traffic and improve our Website by tailoring it to your needs. We use this information for statistical analysis purposes only, following which the data is removed from the system. Overall, Cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A Cookie does not give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you provide to us.

You can choose to accept or decline Cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can usually modify your browser settings to decline cookies if you prefer. This may however, prevent you from taking full advantage of the website. Foundation Education may also use web beacons on this website from time to time. Web beacons or clear .gifs are small pieces of code placed on a web page to monitor the behaviour and collect data about the visitors viewing a web page. For example, web beacons can be used to count the users who visit a web page or to deliver a cookie to the browser of a visitor viewing that page.

Links to Other Websites

Our Website may contain links to other websites of interest, however we do not have any control over those websites. We are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting websites linked to our website. Linked websites are not governed by this Privacy Policy & Notice and you should exercise caution when accessing linked websites by reviewing the associated Privacy Policy applicable to individual websites.

Controlling your Personal Information

Choice, Declaration and Consent: Providing Foundation Education with your personal information is entirely optional to you. You can choose not to provide personal information, however this may impact your ability to effectively enrol. When you provide us with your personal information, you consent to the terms in this Privacy Policy & Notice, and to us disclosing or receiving your personal information for the purposes listed herein.

Foundation Education will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are legally required to do so. When enrolling, you will be asked to declare that you have provided all necessary information reasonably required to enrol you, and that you understand and consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy & Notice, Australian Privacy Principles, and the National VET Data Policy.

Anonymity: Foundation Education will provide individuals with the option of remaining anonymous or using a pseudonym in their dealings with us where it is lawful and practicable (e.g., when making an enquiry). Generally is it not practicable or lawful for us to deal with individuals anonymously or by pseudonym once enrolled. To make formal enquiries on your enrolment, you will be required to verify your legal identity.

Restrict: You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information. If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, to third parties including employers or mentors, you may change your mind at any time by contacting us in writing.

Access: You may request details of personal information that we hold about you in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). A small fee may be payable for the provision of information to cover administrative costs. If you would like a copy of the information which we hold about you, a request can be submitted in writing, however, Foundation Education reserves the right to refuse the application in certain circumstances, as set out in the Privacy Act.

Correction: If you believe that any of the information that Foundation Education holds on you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, you may apply in writing at any time to amend or update your details. We rely solely on clients advising us when their personal information changes and take no responsibility for communications which are missed or not received due to information held on file which is out of date. Any request to update personal information must be received in writing and will be responded to within a reasonable timeframe, with file records updated promptly.

Marketing: Foundation Education will communicate marketing materials with you from time to time, however you have the right to unsubscribe or opt out of communications at any time by contacting us to update your preferences. Foundation Education’s contact details are listed at the bottom of this policy.

Complaints

If you believe that Foundation Education has breached the Australian Privacy Principles, the National VET Data Policy, or this Policy & Notice, a breach of privacy notification can be submitted in writing, which will be investigated in full within a reasonable timeframe. Upon completion of the investigation, you will be provided with the investigation outcome, including what action has been taken to remedy the breach.

Foundation Education can be contacted via:

Foundation Education Pty Ltd

54-58 Brookes St, Bowen Hills, Qld, 4006 PO Box 508 Fortitude Valley, QLD, 4006

privacy@foundationeducation.edu.au