Validum Group Pty Limited, trading as Validum Institute (Validum, we, us, our) respects the privacy of any personal information you may provide to us when we deal with you.

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.

This Privacy Policy explains how we manage the personal information we hold about you. Please note that this Privacy Policy is to be read subject to any overriding provisions of law or contract.

Your Acknowledgement and Consent

By continuing to correspond with us, using our website, by providing us with personal information, you are taken to have read and understood this Privacy Policy and you have consented to us managing your personal information in the way described in this Privacy Policy.

Users 16 and Under

If you are aged 16 or under, you must obtain your parent’s or guardian’s permission before you provide any personal information to us. Users without this consent are not allowed to provide us with personal information.

What is Personal Information?

For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), being information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information is true or not, and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

Examples of personal information include an individual’s name, address, telephone number and date of birth.

Collecting Personal Information

What kinds of personal information do we collect and hold?

The types of personal information we may collect include, but are not limited to:

(a) contact details and other details including:

• your full name and date of birth, and personal contact details (including your address, landline or mobile telephone numbers, fax number and e-mail address);
• any information contained in any proof of identity document you provide to us;

(b) identification details of any third party that you have authorised to negotiate or provide your personal information on your behalf (including your employer);

(c) banking and payment details including credit card information, and any other information required for us to issue invoices to you or process your payment;

(d) where relevant, your employer’s details;

(e) corporate details including your company name, job title and business sector, and any other information required for us to engage in a business relationship with you or your company;

(f) any correspondence between you and Validum; and

(g) any other personal information provided to us when you make an inquiry, request information (including our information packs and information about our products and services), respond to marketing or lodge a complaint.

We may also collect sensitive information from you. For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, sensitive information is defined by the Privacy Act to be certain kinds of personal information.

Examples of sensitive information that we may collect from you through providing information and other services to you include health and medical information.

Sensitive information is subject to stricter controls. We will only collect sensitive information about you with your consent. If we receive any sensitive information about you, we will handle it in accordance with this Privacy Policy

How Do We Collect Personal Information?

Where possible, we will always try to collect personal information directly from you – for example when you:

• request information, contact or deal with us through our website, social media or you contact us by telephone;
• correspond with us in writing (such as letters and emails); or
• meet with us in person.

We may also obtain your personal information from third parties we deal with, such as:

• any person you authorise to deal with us on your behalf; and
• any other organisation with whom we deal.

Where we collect personal information from third parties you refer to us, we will assume, and you should ensure, that you have made that third party aware of the referral and the purposes of collection, use and disclosure of the relevant personal information.

Why Do We Collect, Hold, Use and Disclose Personal Information?

We collect, use and disclose your personal information to enable us to deliver VET courses to you, provide related services, products and information to you, carry out our functions and activities, and to otherwise comply with our obligations as an RTO.

For example, we may collect, use and disclose your personal information in order to:

• respond to your requests or inquiries;
• provide you with the services, products and information you requested;
• provide you with information, upcoming event information, promotions or newsletters;
• enable you to become a Validum employee, contractor, corporate partner, or engage in a business or other commercial relationship with us;
• process your enrolment for any training and/or VET courses we provide;
• communicate with you during the course of your relationship with us;
• notify you about important changes or developments to our functions, activities, services or our website and improving our customer services (for example, using customer feedback to improve our website’s ease of use and efficiency);
• administer, support, improve and develop our organisation and services;
• update and maintain our records;
• provide your employer, employment agency or guardian (as the case may be) with progress updates on your studies;
• verify your qualifications and the results of your previous studies with relevant educational institutions;
• if you lodge a complaint or appeal with us – process and respond to your complaint or appeal;
• any other purpose which relates to or arises out of requests made by you;
• do anything which you authorise or consent to us doing (including but not limited to applying for a Unique Student Identifier (USI) on your behalf or verifying your USI); and
• take any action we are required or authorised by law to take.

Disclosing Your Personal Information

In carrying out our functions and activities set out above, we may disclose your personal information to the following:

• our business partners, stakeholder and service providers (such as contractors who may provide website, IT, marketing, administration and other services to support Validum);
• our professional advisers (for example, our insurers, auditors, lawyers and consultants);
• third parties we engage to carry out promotions or other activities you have requested, or for direct marketing purposes (unless you have opted-out of direct marketing communications);
• any entity to whom we are required or authorised by law to disclose your personal information (for example, law enforcement agencies and government and regulatory authorities such as Federal and State consumer affairs departments, and vocational education and training authorities);
• your employer, employment agency or guardian (as the case may be); and
• other entities with your consent (express or implied).

The above entities may in turn disclose your personal information to other entities as described in their respective privacy policies or notices.

Disclosure of Personal Information to Government Agencies

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 Education, Skills and Employment (DESE), 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 at www.ncver.edu.au/privacy.

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

DESE 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 the DESE will handle your personal information, please refer to the DESE VET Privacy Notice at https://www.dese.gov.au/national-vet-data/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.

The information you provide through the USI application process:

• is collected by the Student Identifiers Registrar for a number of purposes;
• may be disclosed to a number of organisations, departments, regulators and other persons where it is reasonably necessary for the purposes of performing functions or exercising powers
• will not otherwise be disclosed without their consent unless authorised or required by or under law.

Detailed information on the use of your information can be found in Division 5 – Collection, use or disclosure of student identifiers of the Student Identifiers Act 2014.

Students can find out more about how the Student Identifiers Registrar collects, uses and discloses their personal information:

• in the Student Identifiers Registrar’s Privacy Policy
• by emailing the Registrar
• by calling 1300 857 536 or +61 2 6240 8740 for international enquiries

The Student Identifiers Registrar’s Privacy Policy contains information about:

• how students can access and seek correction of the personal information held about them
• how to make a complaint about a breach of privacy by the Registrar in connection with the USI
• how complaints are handled

The student can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner about an interference with privacy pursuant to the Privacy Act 1988. This includes the misuse or interference of or unauthorised collection, use, access, modification or disclosure of USIs.

Direct Marketing

If you consent to your personal information being used for direct marketing, we may use your personal information to provide you with information about our products, services and promotions.

If you do not wish to receive such information, you can opt-out at any stage. If you decide to opt-out, you will be removed from our marketing database to ensure that you do not receive future direct marketing material.

There may be times, however, when the law requires us to provide certain information to you. We will continue to send this information to you.

Dealing With Us Online

This Privacy Policy applies to your use of the Validum websites referred to in our Website Terms and Conditions, and any related websites / mobile apps that we may create from time to time and any personal information that you may provide to us via these sources.

When you visit our website, we and/or our contractors may collect certain information about your visit. Examples of such information may include:

Cookies

Cookies are small amounts of information which we may store on your computer (after you register on our website) to enable our server to collect certain information from your web browser. Cookies do not identify the individual user, just the computer used. Cookies and other similar technology make it easier for you to log on to and use the website during future visits (for example, they may maintain a shopping basket for your orders or remember your user name when you login to the Validum Institute Portal).

They also allow us to monitor website traffic, to identify you when you visit our website, personalise website content for you, enable you to both carry out transactions and have access to information about your account. Cookies themselves only record which areas of the site have been visited by the computer in question, and for how long.

Allowing us to create a cookie does not give us access to the rest of your computer and we do not use cookies to track your online activity once you leave our site. Cookies are read only by the server that placed them, and are unable to execute any code or virus.

Site Visit Information

We also collect general information about your visit to our websites. The information we collect is not used to personally identify you, but instead may include your server address, the date and time of your visit, the pages you accessed and the type of internet browser you use.

This information is aggregated and used for the purposes of system administration, to prepare statistics on the use of our website and to improve our website’s content.

Login Information

Some functions of our websites and other online tools are subject to specific login credentials before access is granted. This may include forums and the Validum Institute Portal (our online learning portal).

We may also collect personal information (including financial details) to facilitate future visits or use of our website.

We seek to keep current with available security encryption technology so as to maintain the effectiveness of our security systems.

However, no transmission over the internet can be guaranteed as totally secure and accordingly, we cannot warrant or ensure the security of any information you provide to us over the internet. Please note that you transmit information at your own risk.

Our website may also contain links to other websites which are outside our control and are not covered by this Privacy Policy. If you access other websites using the links provided, the operators of these websites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may differ from ours.

Social Media

We collect personal information from our followers/subscribers on social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

The information is used for the purposes of developing and displaying our promotion materials, providing updates on our activities, as well as to send notifications via mobile applications regarding event notifications such as education and seminar times.

We have procedures in place to ensure your personal information is collected from social media channels in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information Storage and Security Arrangements

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from interference, loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may store your personal information in different forms, including in hardcopy and electronic form. We have established policies, procedures and systems to keep your personal information secure – including but not limited to password protection and securing physical storage arrangements.

When we no longer require your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to destroy, delete or de-identify your personal information in a secure manner. However, we may sometimes be required by law to retain certain personal information.

Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information

Correcting Your Personal Information

So that we can carry out our activities and functions, it is important that the personal information we hold about you is complete, accurate and up to date. At any time while we hold your personal information, we may request that you inform us of any changes to your personal information.

Alternatively, if you believe that any of the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading or needs to be corrected or updated, please contact us using our Contact Details below . We will respond to a request to correct your personal information within a reasonable time.

Accessing Your Personal Information

You may also request access to the personal information we hold about you by contacting us using our Contact Details provided below. We will respond to a request for access within a reasonable time – either by giving you access to the personal information requested, or by notifying you of our refusal to give access.

Access and Correction Arrangements Generally

We may require you to submit your requests in writing and require that you verify your identity before we respond to any request.

However, in certain circumstances we may charge you a fee for providing you with access to your personal information, for example if you make multiple request for information, the information requested is voluminous or we incur third party costs in providing you with access to your personal information.

If we cannot respond to you within a reasonable time, we will contact you and provide a reason for the delay and an expected timeframe for finalising your request.

Please note that in certain circumstances, we are permitted by law to refuse to provide you with access to your personal information.

If we decide not to provide you with access to or correct your personal information, we will provide you with written reasons for our decision and advise you of the further complaint mechanisms available to you.

Lodging a Query or Complaint

If you have a query or complaint about how we handled your personal information or about any decision to refuse access or correction of your personal information, please contact us using the Contact Details below. We will request that you lodge your complaint in writing.

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint as soon as possible after receiving your written complaint. We will then investigate the circumstances of your complaint and provide you with a response within a reasonable timeframe.

Our Contact Details

If you wish to contact us regarding our handling of your personal information or any of the matters covered in this Privacy Policy, you may do so in a number of ways.

Phone: (07) 3193 5270 (Monday to Friday, 9 am to 5:30 pm (Brisbane time))
Post: PO Box 278, BRISBANE MARKETS QLD 4106
Email: admin@validumgroup.com.au

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to revise or supplement this Privacy Policy from time to time.

Any updated version of this Privacy Policy will be posted on our websites and will be effective from the date of posting. You should bookmark and periodically review this page to ensure that you are familiar with the most current version of this Privacy Policy so that you remain aware of the way we handle your personal information.