1. Overview

South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre Ltd (ACN 613 691 526) (SATAC, we, us or our) takes your privacy seriously and is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information received.

SATAC processes and assesses applications to TAFE and university courses on behalf of its participating institutions (Institutions). SATAC undertakes functions necessary to fulfil this responsibility, including:

  • assessing the academic qualifications and other information presented by applicants according to rules and guidelines established by the Institutions;
  • generating offers based on the number of applicants required to fill each course according to instructions from the Institutions; and
  • dealing with enquiries relating to the application and assessment processes.

In order to fulfil these functions, SATAC collects and uses personal (including academic) information. SATAC recognises the importance to applicants of having their personal information kept confidential, and is committed to collecting, managing, using and disclosing personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy, applicable laws including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act), the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs), the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), and prevailing community standards of best practice.

We will update our Privacy Policy from time to time if the way we handle personal information changes or as required by law, and publish it on our website.

2. Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to personal information about current and former applicants which is collected and held by SATAC.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to statistical information or data that does not identify individuals which may be released to tertiary institutions, schools, government departments or agencies, or other persons or bodies for the purposes of research and analysis.

3. Definitions

In this Privacy Policy, the following definitions apply:

“personal information” means any information or opinion about an identified individual or an individual whose identity is apparent or can reasonably be identified, regardless of whether the information or opinion is true or not, or recorded in a material form or not.

“sensitive information” includes any information relating to racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, disabilities, health, political opinions, criminal record, and sexual orientation and any other circumstances which an applicant may wish to bring to the attention of the Institutions for special consideration.

4. Collection of Personal Information

4.1 How do we collect personal information?

(a) SATAC receives, collects, uses, holds, stores and discloses personal information such as your name, postal or email address, date of birth, contact details, citizenship status, applicant reference number, academic details such as student identification numbers and your Australian Government Unique Student Identifier (or USI), enrolment details, results, application course preferences, details of preclusions, schools attended, offer data, and information related to work experience such as employment records and curriculum vitae.

(b) We collect most personal information directly from you through:

(i) your application;

(ii) information entered on our website;

(iii) correspondence between SATAC and third parties; and

(iv) any other information provided during the application process.

4.2 Do we solicit personal information?

(a) SATAC will solicit personal information directly from you except where you authorise us to obtain it from another source(s), or in cases where you would be disadvantaged if the information were not gained from another source.

(b) The SACE Board of SA and its equivalent interstate bodies, with the permission of any students concerned, will provide SATAC with enrolment and results data to facilitate the tertiary entrance process.

(c) SATAC is authorised by applicants, through the acceptance of the terms and conditions pertaining to an application, to obtain and verify any relevant official records from any educational institution, admissions body or any government department, agency or statutory body or officer.

4.3 When you access the SATAC website, the web server may log the following information:

(a)

  • the type of browser and operating system you are using;
  • the address of the referring site (i.e. the site from which you gained access to the SATAC website);
  • the date and time of your visit;
  • the pages you accessed and documents downloaded;
  • search terms that you enter when using our search engine; and
  • anonymous data through third party tracking and use of cookies.

This information is only used for statistical analysis and to maintain and improve our customer services and website. No attempt is made to identify individuals, except in the event of an investigation where a law enforcement agency may exercise a warrant.

(b) The SATAC website contains links to other websites. SATAC is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites and you are advised to refer to the privacy statements of those external web sites.

4.4 Why do we collect your personal information?

(a) Personal information is only collected if it is required for a lawful purpose directly related to a function or an activity of SATAC, or if the collection of the information is required by law. We take all reasonable steps to:

(i) ensure that personal information collected and held is accurate, authentic and reliable;

(ii) inform individuals of how it will use the information it has collected; and

(iii) inform individuals of the implications of providing and of not providing information.

(b) We collect your personal information for the above purposes, including to enable us to:

(i) identify you, conduct appropriate checks and keep your information up to date;

(ii) understand your requirements;

(iii) provide you with a service;

(iv) assess and administer your application;

(v) provide assistance, answer queries and provide support;

(vi) retrieve and verify information about your qualifications and other information used in the application process from external agencies and third parties;

(vii) manage, administer and improve our services and systems, including by participating in or undertaking research activities that relate to SATAC’s functions or activities, or to the development of public policy regarding tertiary admission, education and training (or by providing information to any government department, agency or statutory body or officer, or any institution, carrying out such research activities);

(viii) inform institutions to which you have applied that you have authority to enrol;

(ix) manage complaints and disputes, and report to dispute resolution bodies;

(x) comply with legislative and regulatory requirements; and

(xi) inform you of services that may assist or interest you.

(c) SATAC does not seek or generally collect sensitive information unless you provide it to us in addition to the information we request and where you have provided us with your consent.

4.5 Lawful basis for EU residents

The GDPR requires a “lawful basis” to collect any personal information of people in the European Union. We collect personal information on different lawful bases, including:

  • consent: generally, people provide us with their personal information voluntarily and consent when doing so. If you choose not to provide your consent, this will limit our ability to send communications to you about the benefits, services and assistance that may assist and interest you;
  • performing the contract we have with you: in most circumstances, we process your personal information to comply with our contractual obligations to deliver our services to you and to perform the contract that we have with you. Failure to provide any personal information we require under our contract may limit our ability to provide to you with the services and assistance sought by you, and may result in us not being able to process your application(s) if we are unable to sufficiently provide our services to you;
  • legal compliance: in other circumstances, we collect and use your personal information in order to comply with our legal obligations, such as the range of obligations under various laws including corporate and tax laws requiring us to retain certain records; and
  • legitimate interests: where we have a good and fair reason to use your personal information, we do so in ways which do not hurt your interests and rights. We may, on occasion, process your personal information to pursue our legitimate interests in a way that might reasonably be expected as part of running our business as set out in this Privacy Policy and which does not materially impact your rights, freedom or interests.

4.6 How else may we use or/and disclose your personal information?

(a) Personal information collected and held by SATAC will only be accessed and used by people employed or engaged by SATAC as required in the fulfilment of their duties and in a manner consistent with the original purpose stated at the time of collection.

(b) If we intend to further process your personal information for a purpose other than that for which your personal information was collected, prior to such further processing, we will provide you with information on that other purpose and any relevant further information in respect of such personal information.

(c) SATAC will release applicant enrolment and results information to the Institutions and to tertiary admissions centres as required to facilitate the tertiary entrance process on behalf of applicants. SATAC may also disclose personal information, including your Unique Student Identifier (or any other government student identifier), to any relevant government department, agency or statutory body or officer (including the Office of the Student Identifiers Registrar), Universities Australia (UA), UA member institutions, the members of the Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admissions Centres (ACTAC), any other tertiary educational institution or authority either in Australia or overseas where SATAC reasonably considers it is necessary to make such disclosure, schools, and the media for publication of offers.

(d) Your personal information may also be disclosed:

(i) with your written consent;

(ii) to reduce or avoid a threat to an individual’s life, health or safety or a serious threat to public health and safety;

(iii) when the use or disclosure is required or is specifically authorised by law;

(iv) if you are reasonably suspected of being engaged in current or past unlawful activity, and the personal information is disclosed as a necessary part of the investigation or reporting the matter; or

(v) to certain government departments and statutory bodies as required by law.

(e) If any information provided with and/or obtained in connection with an application, or obtained by SATAC at any other time, is untrue or incomplete in any respect, SATAC and the Institutions are authorised to collect, receive, store, transfer and use this information. They are also authorised to disclose this information and the fact that it is untrue or incomplete to the Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee (AVCC), AVCC member institutions, members of the Australasian Conference of Tertiary Admissions Centres (ACTAC), relevant government departments, agencies and statutory bodies or officers and any other authority that SATAC and relevant Institutions consider in their discretion to be necessary or desirable to inform.

4.7 Overseas disclosures

(a) As SATAC is an Australian-based company, your personal information will primarily be collected and processed in Australia. However, we may from time to time disclose your personal information to organisations or persons located outside of Australia.

(b) If we disclose personal information to a third party in a country which does not have equivalent privacy laws to Australia or the EU, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that you are provided with appropriate safeguards to protect your personal information which may include having appropriate contractual clauses.

5. Storage and security of personal information

5.1 How do we protect your data?

(a) We take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information is protected by all reasonable safeguards against loss, unauthorised access, unauthorised use, modification, disclosure or any other misuse.

(b) We ensure that personal information is kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it may lawfully be used. Hard copy records which are no longer required are disposed of securely and in accordance with any laws or requirements for the retention and disposal of personal information.

(c) We maintain a Privacy Management Plan to document classes of personal information held by SATAC. The Privacy Management Plan contains records of the following types of information:

(i) classes of individuals about whom records are kept;

(ii) sources of personal information held;

(iii) purpose and types of personal information collected and held;

(iv) the period for which personal information is retained; and

(v) who will have access to personal information.

5.2 Access to and correction/rectification of personal information

You have a right to request access to the personal information that SATAC holds about you. If any of your personal information is incorrect in your opinion, you have the right to request the correction/rectification of the information. If we are lawfully unable to provide access to or correct/rectify your personal information we will notify you in writing and provide our reasons. Our Privacy Officer deals with such requests and can be contacted by writing to:

Privacy Officer
SATAC
431 King William Street
Adelaide SA 5000

The primary means for our clients to access and correct/rectify their information is through SATAC’s web-based services.

SATAC’s Privacy Officer will ensure that any requests for access to personal information or for the correction of personal information not available to clients through SATAC’s web-based services are dealt with in a reasonable period from receiving the request and in accordance with SATAC’s policies and procedures.

The Privacy Officer will determine whether SATAC can refuse an individual’s request for access to or correction/rectification of personal information in accordance with the following:

Access

  • typically there will be no reason why an individual may not have access to their personal information; and
  • if a request for access is accepted, an individual will be granted access to their personal information in the manner requested by them, providing it is practicable to do so. If the manner requested is not practicable, SATAC will work with the individual to provide access in a manner that is acceptable to both parties.

Correction/Rectification

  • a request to amend personal information can be refused if it is not reasonable in the circumstances to make those corrections/rectifications, having regard to the purpose for holding the information. For example, requests to correct/rectify details on academic qualifications sourced and verified by issuing authorities will typically be refused;
  • if a request for correction/rectification is accepted, or SATAC is otherwise satisfied that personal information held by it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, having regard to the purpose for which it is held, SATAC will take reasonable steps to correct/rectify the information;
  • where SATAC refuses to make a correction/rectification to personal information requested by an individual, it will, at the request of that individual, take reasonable steps to associate a statement to that personal information to the effect that the information is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading; and
  • if SATAC corrects/rectifies personal information that it has disclosed to another entity it will, at the request of the individual, notify that other entity of the correction/rectification, providing that it is lawful and practicable to do so.

5.3 Specific rights for EU residents only

If you are in the EU, then you have additional rights which apply in specific circumstances, such as:

  • at any time, withdrawing your consent for us to process your personal information without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on consent before the withdrawal;
  • asking us to confirm if we are using your personal information;
  • asking us to delete your personal information in limited circumstances only and not where it remains necessary for us to process personal information for the purposes for which it was collected, where we are required by law to retain the information or where the information is relevant to a legal dispute;
  • asking us to stop or restrict how we process your personal information in limited circumstances only and not when we are required to process the information to carry out our day-to-day business functions or where we have compelling legitimate grounds for processing the information; and
  • asking us about the protections that we have in place if we transfer your personal information overseas.

5.4 How long do we retain your personal information?

(a) SATAC retains your information to support your future applications, as well as for the continuing development of institution admissions rules. Information about your qualifications and demographic data may be used for planning and research purposes while you do not have a current SATAC application.

(b) As such, we only retain your personal information for as long as it is reasonably required for the purposes of providing you with our services, or for one of the lawful bases listed above, or until you withdraw your consent (where applicable) and we are not legally required or otherwise permitted to continue storing such personal information.

(c) We ensure that personal information is kept for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it may lawfully be used. Hard copy records which are no longer required are disposed of securely and in accordance with any laws or requirements for the retention and disposal of personal information.

(d) If your personal information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to ensure it is erased, destroyed, or de-identified, unless such information is contained in a regulatory/governing body’s record, or we are required by law to retain the information.

6. Responsibilities

(a) The CEO is responsible for ensuring that all staff members receive a copy of the Privacy Policy and for ensuring that all applicants have access to this Privacy Policy.

(b) All managers are responsible for ensuring that the staff members they supervise adhere to the provisions of this Privacy Policy. All staff members are responsible for adhering to the provisions of this Privacy Policy.

7. Procedures

(a) The Privacy Policy will be included with any induction materials and/or sessions provided to new staff.

(b) All managers will implement this Privacy Policy in their area.

(c) This Privacy Policy is available at the SATAC website at www.satac.edu.au.

(d) Any individual who believes that SATAC has breached any of the Australian Privacy Principles or a registered APP code that binds SATAC may lodge a written complaint to SATAC’s Privacy Officer. Complaints should be addressed to:

Privacy Officer
SATAC
431 King William Street
Adelaide SA 5000

SATAC’s Privacy Officer will attempt to respond to the complaint within a reasonable timeframe, and according to available resources.

Any individual not satisfied with the response to their complaint may lodge an appeal with the Privacy Officer who will refer the matter direct to SATAC’s CEO for consideration.

If an individual is not satisfied with the response arising from this consideration and an independent response to a complaint is required, an individual may then lodge an appeal which will be referred to the Chairperson, SATAC Committee, or contact the Office of the Australian Information Commission in writing by post, fax or email as follows:

Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax: +61 2 9284 9666
Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

(e) If you reside in the EU, you also have the right to object to SATAC’s use or disclosure of your personal information and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority, such as the United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office, which is a supervisory authority in the EU using the following details:

Post: United Kingdom Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, United Kingdom
Telephone: +0303 123 1113 (inside the UK); or +44 1625 545 700 (outside the UK)
See also https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

(f) Any breaches of this Privacy Policy are to be reported to the Privacy Officer immediately should a staff member become aware of such a breach.

(g) The Privacy Officer will consult with the CEO to determine the appropriate steps to be taken to rectify the breach and prevent any further breaches of this Policy.

(h) The Privacy Officer will take any steps determined to be appropriate as soon as reasonably practicable after being notified of the breach.

(i) The CEO will notify the SATAC Board of any serious breaches and seek external legal advice on reporting obligations under the Privacy Act.

8. Requests for other formats

Where SATAC receives a request to provide a body or person with a copy of this Privacy Policy in a particular format, SATAC will take reasonable steps to comply with this request.

To download a copy of this privacy policy in PDF format choose the link below.

SATAC Privacy Policy (432KB PDF)

Copyright

© South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre (SATAC) 2021 (ABN 22 613 691 526). Unless expressly stated otherwise, SATAC claims copyright ownership of all material on this website. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form (attaching a copy of this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use. SATAC reserves the right to revoke such permission at any time. Apart from this permission and uses permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved. Requests for further authorisations, including authorisations to use material on this website for commercial purposes, should be directed to SATAC.

Disclaimer

In the preparation of these web pages on behalf of its indenture members, every effort has been made by SATAC to offer the most current, correct and clearly expressed information possible. Nevertheless, the information on this website is provided without express or implied warranty as to its accuracy or currency.

  • All access to, and use of, the information is at the user’s risk.
  • SATAC accepts no responsibility for the results of any actions taken on the basis of information on this website, nor for the accuracy or completeness of any material contained herein.
  • SATAC expressly disclaims all and any liability and responsibility to any person in respect of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by such person in reliance, whether wholly or partially, upon this website.
  • SATAC reserves the right to alter, amend, vary or otherwise change any information on this website at any time and without notice to you.
  • The provision of any URL or link is done for the convenience of users of this site. It does not constitute an endorsement by SATAC of that URL or link or the information at that website.