Personal information is a broad category of information and is constantly evolving through changes in technology and changes in law. Without creating a very long list, the best way to summarise personal information is any information which relates to an individual (whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not), that relates to an individual (living or deceased), whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained from the information or opinion. This can include:
UWA manages personal information it collects, uses, discloses and retains in accordance with the Information Privacy Policy and Guideline, and the University’s Privacy Collection Notices. The Privacy Office operates a Privacy Program of work, which includes administering the Information Privacy Policy and Guideline, rolling out mandatory training for all staff and implementing controls to ensure personal information is managed in accordance with our obligations under the Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Act 2024 (WA) (PRIS Act) and Information Privacy Principles (IPPs).
We retain your personal information for a long as is required for the purpose it was collected, and in accordance with our obligations under the State Records Act 2000 (WA). This may mean in some cases we are obliged to retain your personal information for a longer period of time than expected in order to meet legal obligations.
If you have any concerns, you should contact the UWA Privacy Office with the details of your concerns or complaint.
If you believe you have been a victim of cyber-crime, or suspect your personal information has been involved in malicious activity please report this immediately to University IT.
Yes. UWA may share or disclose personal information in a range of circumstances, including where required by law or where it is necessary to support the services provided to students, staff and the community.
Where possible, UWA de-identifies, anonymises or minimises the sharing of personal information. Information is only shared after an assessment in accordance with the Information Privacy Policy.
More specific circumstances and examples can be found in our Privacy Collection Notices.
For information about your privacy rights in accordance with the Privacy and Responsible Information Sharing Act 2024 the Office of the Information Commissioner Western Australia publishes advice and FAQs regarding privacy and responsible information sharing in Western Australia.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner also publishes a significant amount of advice and information for individuals and organisations.
You can also contact the UWA Privacy Office.
Yes you can.
In the first instance, contact the relevant UWA area and request a copy of the personal information held about you. If the request cannot be managed administratively, you will be told why and advised how to refer the matter to the UWA Privacy Office.
In some circumstances, you may need to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (WA).
In the first instance you should contact the relevant function within UWA who holds the personal information and request the necessary corrections. If this is not possible and you do not accept the reasons given why it cannot be corrected, you can lodge a request with the UWA Privacy Office.
No. In some instances geolocation information is obtained from devices such as smartphones and laptops/tablets when they interact with University IT services such as UniFi. However this information is not used to track individuals. It may be used in an aggregated or de-identified form to analyse traffic patterns, space usage or allocation. This information is managed as personal information in accordance with the University’s Information Privacy policy.
If you subscribe to services which are dependent on location-based services, then the University will seek to notify you at the point of subscription and obtain your opt in for these services. If you choose to not opt in or turn off the location services on your device your quality of services received will be degraded or using the service may not be possible.
Yes. The University is in a highly competitive service industry and needs to analyse data relating to the services it provides, how it provides them, how successful they are, and to who they are delivered and utilised by. This information supports strategic decision making and helps UWA safeguard and shape its future.
Where possible, this data is aggregated or de-identified so individuals cannot be identified. If that is not possible, UWA reduces the personal information used as much as practicable while keeping the data useful for analytics.
The Information Privacy Policy makes clear that this is one way UWA uses the personal information it collects.