UOW is committed to protecting the privacy of each individual’s personal and health information as required under the NSW Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIPA) and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIPA). In addition to these obligations, UOW is actively taking steps to comply with the principles of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which may apply in certain circumstances in relation to UOW’s activities.
The management of personal and health information by UOW is detailed in its Privacy Policy and Privacy Management Plan which are available on UOW’s privacy homepage at https://www.uow.edu.au/privacy. These resources outline UOW’s privacy obligations and explain the various ways that the privacy principles are applied to our functions and activities.
UOW's Privacy Information Sheet provides a summary of the information protection principles that UOW must comply with when handling your personal and health information.
Collection
UOW collects your personal and/or health information for lawful purposes that are directly related to UOW's functions or activities. When UOW collects your personal and/or health information, you will be informed as to why it is being collected, what will be done with it, whether it's required by law or is voluntary and your rights of access to and correction of that information.
UOW prepares privacy statements when collecting information from you in order to outline the reasons for the collection and the way that UOW intends to handle that information. Please see the Privacy Statement section on this page for the relevant privacy statements. For example:
- The Student Privacy and Disclosure Statement lists the intended use/disclosure of personal and/or health information collected from students. This Statement also provides details of how students can request access or seek amendments to their personal and/or health information.
- The Privacy Collection Statement for Recruitment and Employee Records provides details of the types of information collected from employees and/or prospective employees, how that information is held and used by UOW, circumstances where it may be disclosed and details of how the employee can access his/her record.
- The Privacy Statement for UOW's alumni, donors and members of the community provides details of the way that it connects with and handles the information of its alumni, donors and community when engaging with UOW.
Protection of information
UOW takes all reasonable steps to protect your personal and/or health information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
UOW's Data Breach Response Plan provides a consistent set of procedures that UOW will follow in the event of a data breach. This plan will ensure that appropriate steps are taken to respond promptly and appropriately, in accordance with the NSW Information and Privacy Commission best practice.
Use and Disclosure
UOW will only use or disclose your personal and/or health information for the purpose for which it was collected, for a directly related purpose or as otherwise required, permitted or authorised by law.
For example, in limited circumstances,
- UOW may use your personal information to contact you in the event of an emergency or crisis.
- a court or similar body has ordered the information’s release, or
- it is reasonably necessary to disclose your personal and/or health information to deal with or to prevent or lessen a serious and imminent threat to the life or health of any individual.
