Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Higher Ed Services (HES) is an ‘entity’ within the meaning of the Privacy Act 1988 (Commonwealth) and the 2014 Australian Privacy Principles (APP).  These regulate how organisations collect, use, keep, secure, disclose and dispose of personal information.  HES is bound by the Act and APP’s – the Act and Principles are available for perusal at www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-act/privacy-law-reform.

The Australian Privacy Principles aim to ensure that organisations holding information about people, handle that information responsibly.

HES takes its obligations to protect privacy very seriously. This policy statement has been prepared to help us to comply with our privacy obligations and to inform you of your privacy rights.

2. Privacy Compliance

Our policy is to comply in all respects with our privacy obligations. This policy is binding on HES as an organisation as well as on our staff.

3. Definition

Under the Privacy Act 1988 and the APP’s:

‘Personal information’ is defined as any ‘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’. Common examples are an individual’s name, signature, address, telephone number, date of birth, medical records, bank account details, employment details and commentary or opinion about a person.

Within this definition, there is no distinction as to the source of the information or the forms in which it is held.  It is personal information whether it is provided by an individual, an organisation or generated by HES.

4. Collection, use and control of personal information

HES:

  1. Collects and uses personal information only where it is necessary for one or more of our functions and activities - the nature of the activity will determine the type and extent of information collected.;

  2. When processing your order or event registrations we collect personal information about you for the primary purpose of providing you with a high level of customer service and,  we may also use this information to inform you about other related services;

  3. When collecting personal information, we will do so only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way;

  4. Where personal information is collected for a specific purpose it will  not be disclosed to  others  unless the individual involved consents or the disclosure is required by or under an Australian law or court;

  5. Personal information will only be transferred outside Australia if the individual consents, or where such disclosure is in accordance with one or more of HES activities, to which the individual already participates;

  6. When collecting information that is regarded under the Privacy Act as sensitive, it will be collected only from the person concerned and with his or her consent;

  7. Will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we collect, store, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date; and

  8. Will take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse and loss, and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure in accordance with this Policy and the Privacy Principles.

5. HES will use personal information provided for the following purposes:

  1. Providing you with products and services you have ordered, or contacting you in relation to these orders

  2. Answering direct enquiries

  3. Billing and account management

  4. Informing you of new products which may be of interest to you

  5. Providing customer service

  6. Complying with legal obligations where necessary

  7. Allowing us to run our business and perform administrative and operational tasks, such as training staff; developing and marketing products and services; risk management; systems development and testing, including our websites and other online channels; undertaking planning, research and statistical analysis;

Unless you tell us otherwise, we may use this information to bring you products and services which we believe will benefit you and your business. Upon receiving new products and services for the first time, you will be given the option to opt out immediately of receiving future offerings of the item in question.

6. Collection of personal information

HES collects both personal information and anonymous information. We collect personal information about you and your interactions with us, for example when you purchase an item from us or register for one of our events (eg. conference)

The types of personal information collected and held by HES will vary depending on your dealings with us, and may include any or all of the following:

  • name, address(es), telephone number(s) and other contact details;

  • associated company name(s), position, occupation and other business details;

  • electronic address(es);

  • bank account details;

  • credit card details; and 

  • transaction details relating to your use of our products, services or benefits.

7. Requests for access to and correction of your personal information

You have the right to access your personal information.  You may request copies of the personal information we hold about you by writing to us or contacting the HES Privacy Manager during business hours.

If you are aware that the personal information we hold is out of date, incomplete or inaccurate, please let us know.  We will correct any incorrect personal information and we will not refuse to make a correction without giving you our reasons.  However, if we do refuse to make a correction, we will take reasonable steps to place with the disputed information a statement from you saying that in your opinion it is out of date, incomplete or inaccurate.

8. Direct Marketing

Unless otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy and in accordance with the Privacy Act and APP’s, HES retains the right to use your personal information for direct HES marketing purposes: that has been collected from you in circumstances where:

  1. you have provided consent to do so; or

  2. it is within your Reasonable Expectations.

In each direct HES marketing communication, we will include:

  1. a statement appearing on the relevant piece of marketing material notifying you of your right to Opt-Out from further direct marketing communications; and,

  2. a simple means for you to opt-out of receiving further direct marketing communications of that kind.

Should you choose to opt-out, we will stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes.

9. Third-Party Web Tracking EG Google Analytics

We use third-party web tracking from Google to help analyse where visitors go and what they do while visiting our website. Google use browser cookies to collect anonymous traffic data.

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (Google). It uses cookies and JavaScript code to enable analysis on usage of this website. The data collected about your use of this website, (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored on Google's servers.  Google will use this data for the purpose of compiling reports on website activity for us and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage.

Google will not collect personal information about you and the reports provided by Google to us will only contain aggregate non-personal data about your use of this website We will use the data collected by Google Analytics to improve the functionality of this website.

Please note that this Privacy Policy will be subject to regular review and updated as required.