UNSW Privacy Statements
UNSW Privacy Statements
UNSW Websites Privacy Statement
The UNSW Websites Privacy Statement describes the ways in which the University manages personal information collected through UNSW websites.
The University is committed to being transparent with the community about how it manages privacy and we have implemented measures to comply with our obligations under the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW) ("the Act") and other privacy laws including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU). All staff are bound by the Act and by the UNSW Privacy Policy.
If you are a student, employee, alumni, or donor of the University the following statements also apply:
- Student Privacy Statement
- Employee Privacy Statement
- Alumni Privacy Statement
- Donor Privacy Statement
Note: The Websites Privacy Statement was updated on 30 August 2023.
Collection of your personal information
The University’s websites allow for anonymous browsing and will not generally collect your personal information unless you choose to provide it.
The University collects your personal information directly from you through its websites when:
- you complete a webform, send an inquiry, register for an event, subscribe to a service, or join a mailing list; or
- you have accessed the website via a personalised link sent to you by the University or logged in with a unique personal identifier (zID) as a student or staff member.
Personal information collected by the University includes your name, contact details, and information that you supply to us (such as in your requests, inquiries, or complaints). The personal information collected will depend on the reason you are interacting with us. You will be notified on how your privacy will be protected within the webform, registration or subscription that you complete. You may choose what personal information you provide, though this may affect the service we can provide to you.
Personal information is only collected for purposes that are directly related to and reasonably necessary for the legitimate functions and activities of the University.
Cookies and other information collected
UNSW websites use cookies to improve your experience. A cookie is a small message given to your web browser by our web server. Your browser stores this message and is sent back to the UNSW website server each time you visit a UNSW website. Information collected using cookies includes your browser’s internet provider (IP) address, the date and time of your visit and duration of time for each webpage, the pages you accessed, and documents downloaded, and the type of browser you used.
You can disable the acceptance of cookies by your web browser at any time. However, doing so may restrict your ability to access some web pages.
UNSW uses cookies for the following reasons:
- essential functionality required for our websites to operate correctly
- enabling your access to secure areas on our websites and saving your preferences
- analysing your activity to constantly improve your experience by showing you relevant content
- analysing the performance of our websites so we can make improvements
- managing our advertising through remarketing on other websites with Google Analytics and providing you with more targeted advertising based on the information you access.
Other websites
The University’s websites may contain links to third parties’ websites. Third party websites are not subject to the University’s Privacy Policy or privacy notification statements, and the University recommends you familiarise yourself with the relevant third party’s policies. Unless expressly advised, the University does not endorse, approve, or recommend the services or products provided on third party websites.
Security and retention of your personal information
The University stores your personal information in systems owned and managed by the University, and in other systems under license or by agreement. Service providers of such systems are contractually bound by the University’s privacy and security requirements. Access to your personal information is limited to University employees and contractors who have a legitimate reason to access the information.
The University is required by law to retain records that may contain your personal information for certain periods of time depending on the type of record.
Use and disclosure of your personal information
The University will use and disclose your personal information only for the purpose(s) for which it was collected. In addition to any specific notification made to you at the time of collection, purposes include:
- corresponding with you
- actioning your request, inquiry, subscription, or complaint
- for benchmarking, analyses, quality assurance and planning purposes
- facilitating employee training, research and statistical analysis, systems development and testing, and data analysis to develop and improve services and activities (e.g. marketing etc.).
The University will seek your consent prior to the use or disclosure of your personal information for any other purpose than as advised at the time of collection, except where that other use is authorised or required by law. If you give your consent you may subsequently withdraw your consent in writing at any time.
Your rights in relation to your personal information
Unsubscribing
To unsubscribe from receiving communications from the University, you can use the unsubscribe link contained in the relevant email(s) or contact the relevant Faculty or Division of the University from whom you receive correspondence. Please note that the University enables you to maintain some communications while unsubscribing from others, therefore you may wish to contact all relevant areas of the University from which you wish to unsubscribe.
General rights to access and amendment
You may request access to, and amendment of your personal information that is held by the University, including for corrections, amendment, deletions, or data portability. Any such request will be subject to any legal rights and obligations imposed upon the University to retain such information (e.g. retention obligations under the State Records Act).
If you wish to access, amend, or delete your personal information, or withdraw consent for a specific use or disclosure of your personal information, you should contact the relevant Faculty or Division of the University.
For more information on how the University manages personal information, all other privacy enquiries, and how to make a privacy complaint, contact the UNSW Privacy Officer at privacy@unsw.edu.au.