Student Privacy Statement

RMIT requires your personal information to fully and properly administer your enrolment or candidature in accordance with our policies, procedures and processes.

We also collect your information for a related purpose, such as to:

• inform you about global experiences and career opportunities, professional associations or future programs that may be of interest
• facilitate access to learning and general support services
• provide events and alumni relations following your graduation
• inform you about arts, sports or leisure activities that may be of interest.

Failure to provide the information requested may mean we cannot provide services to you such as enrolling you in a program or course of study or granting you access to systems and services to support our education provision to you. 

We will always try and collect the information directly from you. If you provide your information through an agent, we will only share information where we have a relationship with that agent and you have given your consent. 

RMIT will only use your information as described in this collection statement and in accordance with the RMIT Privacy Statement.

These are some of the ways RMIT uses or discloses your personal information for legitimate reasons: 

• Verifying information we hold about you and we use third party services to help us. We use Vix Verify, an external company, to conduct the online verification of students’ citizenship at RMIT. As part of that process, the information you provide to us is matched to information held by the issuer or official record holder to confirm your identity.  
• Starting and operating externally hosted applications as part of providing education and candidature services to you. These services include Google, Microsoft, our Learning Management System (LMS) - Canvas, online courses and pre-enrolment testing providers, where applicable, such as BKSB for pre-training reviews. We will only use and disclose information that is necessary to effectively operate these services or applications.
• Releasing information to external agencies and government departments/agencies to facilitate activities such as bulk mail outs, debt collection activities, student surveys, and for enrolment and award verification purposes. 
• Releasing your student number, program name, conferral/graduation date and grades to external agencies and/or institutes to prevent the fraudulent use of RMIT qualifications. 
• Analysing student information, including usage of learning support and management systems such as Canvas, the RMIT network and library systems to enable analytics, improve learning and teaching or student experience, and to identify and contact students who may need additional support in their studies. Sometimes, we invite students to participate in research service improvement initiatives and we will provide you with specific information on the use and disclosure of your personal information.
• Analysing student information for benchmarking, analysis and quality assurance purposes and reporting. We will use de-identified data for this purpose wherever possible.
• Providing space and timetabling services, such as delivery or class scheduling and assessments, including exams.
  
• For RMIT students studying at a partner location or online, releasing student information and data including examination results, academic and administrative information to partner institutes to administer enrolments and program delivery in those locations (whether in Australia or overseas). 
• Arranging and coordinating work integrated learning activities as part of course delivery.
  
• Accessing student data to conduct duly authorised research or to seek specific consent to participate in such research. The identity of the individuals will not be disclosed in any resulting report or publication unless specifically authorised by the individual concerned.
• Releasing enrolment and statistical information as required by law to Australian and Victorian Government agencies including the Department of Education and Training Victoria, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, Centrelink, the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
• Reporting enrolment information as required by law in overseas delivery locations to local government authorities and agencies. RMIT will de-identify information where possible.
• For students eligible for FEE-HELP, HECS-HELP, SA-HELP, OS-HELP or VET Student Loans, to assess your entitlement to Commonwealth assistance under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 and VET Student Loans Act 2016, and allocation of your Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN). The CHESSN is a number that uniquely identifies a Commonwealth assisted student. You can use your CHESSN to access information on your Commonwealth assistance through myHELPbalance.
• For vocational education students, releasing information to assist with the allocation of a Victorian Student Number (VSN) and updating personal information on the Victorian Student Register. 
• Reporting vocational education student and training activity data to the Department of Education and Training Victoria in accordance with Victorian VET Student Statistical Collection Guidelines. See special acknowledgments for vocational education students, below.
• Reporting relevant information to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and other external parties engaged by the University to provide services under the Australia Awards Scholarship program for the administration of Australia Awards Scholarships.
• Assisting students with purchasing overseas student health care, where relevant.
• Releasing the names of recipients of prizes, scholarships or similar awards to the respective student sponsors, scholarship providers and in RMIT publications.
• Releasing information between RMIT entities that you are or will be engaged with during your enrolment. 
• Facilitating alumni relations on your graduation including adding you to the RMIT alumni database.
• Facilitating university elections and voting processes that you may participate in during your enrolment.  
• Providing information for law enforcement purposes where required or authorised by law.
• Notifying you of emergencies. For example, we provide student information to an SMS service provider who may text you in the event of an on-campus emergency or declared State of Emergency in Victoria.
• Executing RMIT’s COVIDSafe Plan response. For example, contacting you about our COVIDSafe measures and your obligations when attending campus, and responding to government directions.
  
• Using digital photos or identifications – i.e. for your student card, class lists, and for security purposes. RMIT campuses operate CCTV.

Your personal information may be held in externally hosted applications. Some of these are located outside of Victoria and/or Australia and, as a result, personal information collected and held by RMIT may be transferred outside of Victoria (but within Australia) or outside Australia. These host organisations and contracted service providers are required to provide the same privacy safeguards as RMIT. Information stored in externally hosted applications is still managed and controlled by RMIT. 

Your personal information such as your Student ID, name, email and assessment results may be disclosed to, or stored with, these service providers for the purposes described in this statement. Third parties include, but are not limited to: 

• Google, Microsoft and Adobe applications
• our learning management system, Canvas and associated plug-in applications
• library databases provided by third party publishers accessed via the Library webpage
• RMIT partner applications used in the delivery of RMIT programs and courses to you online and at on-campus locations such as in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, India and the United Kingdom
• other third-party applications including software subscriptions that RMIT identifies as necessary for the purposes described in this statement.

For students studying at RMIT in Australia the following section also applies. 

The Department of Education, Skills and Employment in accordance with the Student Identifiers Act 2014 (Cth) and the Student Identifiers Regulation 2014 (Cth) is authorised to collect and handle student enrolment data including the Unique Student Identifier (USI). 

For further information about Unique Student Identifiers, including access, correction and complaints, go to the Australian Government USI webpage. 

In addition to the USI, the Victorian Department of Education and Training Victoria under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) is authorised to collect and handle student enrolment data including Victorian Student Numbers (VSNs).

The Victorian Department uses student and training data, including personal information, for a range of VET purposes including: 

• administration, monitoring and planning.  
• using USIs for verification of student data provided by RMIT,  
• the administration and audit of VET providers and programs,  
• education related policy and research purposes, and 
• to assist in determining student eligibility for training subsidies. 
• disclosing information to its consultants, advisers, other government agencies, professional bodies and/or other organisations. 

For further information about the way the Victorian Department collects and handles personal information, including access, correction and complaints refer to the Victorian Government’s Privacy policy.

If you are a vocational education (VE) student at RMIT the following also applies to you.

Privacy Notice under National VET Data Policy

Under the Data Provision Requirements 2012, RMIT is required to collect personal information about you and to disclose that personal information to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research Ltd (NCVER).

Your personal information (including the personal information contained on this enrolment form), may be used or disclosed by RMIT for statistical, administrative, regulatory and research purposes. RMIT may disclose your personal information for these purposes to:

• Commonwealth and State or Territory government departments and authorised agencies; and
• NCVER.

Personal information that has been disclosed to NCVER may be used or disclosed by NCVER for the following purposes:

• populating authenticated VET transcripts;
• facilitating statistics and research relating to education, including surveys and data linkage;
• pre-populating RTO student enrolment forms;
• understanding how the VET market operates, for policy, workforce planning and consumer information; and
• administering VET, including program administration, regulation, monitoring and evaluation.

You may receive a student survey that may be administered by a government department or NCVER employee, agent or third-party contractor or other authorised agencies. Please note you may opt out of the survey at the time of being contacted.

NCVER will collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the National VET Data Policy and all NCVER policies and protocols (including those published on NCVER's website at www.ncver.edu.au).

You have the right to request access to and/or correct any personal information concerning you that is held by RMIT. For the most part, you can do this via myRMIT. For further information please contact RMIT Student Connect. 

Complex access requests may require a formal application under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 and such requests should be directed to the RMIT University Freedom of Information Officer.