IDP Group Privacy Policy

At IDP* we understand that your privacy is important to you. We are committed to meeting your expectations and will comply with all applicable privacy and data protection legislation in relation to your personal information and sensitive information.

We also know you love the small print, but here’s a summary of how we protect your privacy:

1. We only collect what we need to help you with your request or provide you with information that you ask for, personalising it to your interests.

2. We won’t hang on to your information. If we don’t need it, and you don’t want us to keep it, we’ll delete it.

3. We want you to understand everything we do with your information, so we’ll try our best to explain with no nonsense.

4. No surprises — you decide what and how you hear from us.

5. That goes for everyone. We do not pass your information to third parties for marketing purposes without your knowledge.

The rest of this policy provides you with more detail of our privacy and personal information handling practices.

Who we are

IDP is a global organisation that assists individuals to study abroad and provides English language testing around the world. This requires us to collect personal information from you. “We”, “us” and “our” refers to the IDP Group of companies, including IELTS Australia and Hotcourses Limited. 

Definitions of specific terms referred to in this policy can be found under the heading ‘Glossary’ at the end of this document.

Data Controller Contact Details

IDP Education Limited Level 8
535 Bourke Street
MELBOURNE 3000
Victoria
Australia

Contact our Privacy Officer via email to: privacyofficer@idp.com

We will endeavour to respond to you within a reasonable time.

IDP is also a joint Data Controller in certain circumstances. Links to the privacy policies of these joint Controllers are found below:

• With Hotcourses, in supplying international education information and services at:

  www.hotcoursesgroup.com/privacy_notice/

• With the other IELTS Owners, for the purposes of delivering the IELTS Test.

  The British Council’s is found at:

  www.britishcouncil.org/privacy-cookies/data-protection

• Cambridge Assessment English’s is found at:

  www.cambridgeenglish.org/footer/data-protection/ 

International Education Information, Advice and Counselling

The services we offer to help you study abroad include counselling, application assistance, visa assistance, English language testing and training, student exhibitions and seminars.

If you register on our websites (www.idp.com or www.ieltsessentials.com) or register to participate in an event we will collect personal information such as your name, email address, contact details, country of residence, nationality, preferred study destination, and when you intend to study.

If you enquire about study opportunities directly with an IDP counsellor, or we assist you with your application to study, we may also request additional information such as education qualifications, employment history, occupation, areas of interest and professional memberships, copies of documents as proof of identity – e.g. copies of passport, proof of citizenship or photographs, marital status and how you will fund your studies. We may also request sensitive information about you such as racial or ethnic origin (from information on your country of origin), and/or your health or medical information (e.g. from a medical examination required for your visa application for an Australian visa).

Collecting your personal information allows us to:

• assist you to pursue the opportunity to undertake studies in an education institution outside your home country;

• provide you with relevant information on your study options;

• present you as a candidate to your preferred institutions across all education sectors, which are seeking to recruit international students who want to study in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Canada or New Zealand;

• assist you to further your career after completing your studies at an overseas education institution;

• provide opportunities to participate in projects/programs as consultants;

• provide opportunities to provide feedback and testimonials on your experience

• inform and provide students, institutions and other clients of developments in the services we provide (including events and opportunities to participate in projects/programs);

• conduct research for statistical, analytical and training purposes;

• manage our internal business operations and events; and

• respond to your questions.

Student Essentials Services

IDP offers services from third parties to help support you in your studies abroad and we call these Student Essentials. These services include Overseas Student Health Cover (OHSC), accommodation arrangements, a 24/7 emergency helpline, referral to guardianship services, visa application services and career skills training.

If you purchase a Student Essentials service we may collect personal information such as your name, date of birth, and financial information, and sensitive information such as your health or medical information. We may also collect payment information, however IDP does not store information like credit card details.

Collection of your personal information and sensitive information (such as your health or medical information) allows us to:

• provide the health insurance provider nominated by you with all relevant information for your OHSC;

• facilitate your accommodation arrangements with third party providers;

• contact the relevant organisations, authorities or other third parties in relation to your overseas guardianship application;

• respond to your query and/or direct your query when you contact the IDP 24/7 Helpline

• contact the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) with all relevant information required for visa renewal or parent visa application;

• contact Australian institutions or other organisations on your behalf to facilitate visits, career skills training or internship placements;

• arrange or provide other products and services to you.

Visa application services for Australian visas

We provide visa application services for Australian visas including guiding you through the application process and helping you prepare the necessary documents for your nominated visa application.  These visa application services not only cover visa applications required for study, but also post-study work and skilled migration visa applications.

Collection of your personal information and sensitive information (such as information from your medical examination) allows us to:

• assist you in your application for a student visa in Australia including contacting the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and other organisations on your behalf to discuss your application;

• provide the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) with all relevant information required for your visa application;

• contact the DHA or other organisations on your behalf to discuss or ask questions about your visa application; and

• keep you updated with the progress of your visa application and advise you of the outcome of your application.

Retention

IDP’s vision is to build a global community of connected students from classroom to career.  This means we would like to stay in touch for as long as you would like to hear from us, but we will only retain your information as long as is necessary for the purpose it was given to us.

As a guide we will keep your personal information for up to 7 years after commencing your studies or your last activity with us so that we can continue to support you through your journey, unless required to retain it for legal or regulatory purposes

In your dealings with Hotcourses for studying abroad

Hotcourses Limited is an IDP Education owned company, and is the principal company and the Data Controller in the Hotcourses Group of companies (Hotcourses India PVT, Hotcourses Pty Ltd (Australia), Hotcourses Inc (North America) and Complete University Guide).

Hotcourses helps students find suitable courses and learning providers both at home and abroad and processes your personal data to help you make informed decisions when selecting courses and learning providers. If you engage with the counselling services on the Hotcourses Abroad website (www.hotcoursesabroad.com), your data will be shared with IDP, which operates the in-person counselling services.

The Hotcourses Group Privacy Policy provides more details on any other dealings with Hotcourses Group at: www.hotcoursesgroup.com/privacy_notice/

IELTS Australia is a subsidiary of IDP Education and is a joint Data Controller with the other IELTS Owners (the British Council and Cambridge English Language Assessment) for the purposes of delivering the IELTS test..

We deliver and administer the IELTS test at test centres around the world. IELTS test centres exist in more than 140 countries, across Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, North America, South America, Africa and the Middle East.  IELTS Australia operates and manages some of these IELTS test centres and the British Council operates and manages others, to which you may be referred.

The IELTS Australia privacy policy provides more details on the specific policy for IELTS: www.ieltsessentials.com/global/footerlinks/privacypolicy 

In your dealings with us for conferences and events

IDP organises various events and conferences related to international education and English language teaching and assessment which may be managed or presented by IDP or the IELTS Owners, whether in our own right, or under contract for another organisation. The information we collect is relevant to your attendance and participation.

In registering for, or participating in, an event we collect your personal details such as name, postal and email addresses, date of birth, contact details, residency status, education qualifications, employment history, occupation, areas of interest and professional memberships.

Collection of your personal information allows us to:

• register you to attend the event;

• provide services to you related to the event (e.g. to list you as a speaker in the program or list you as an exhibitor or sponsor in our exhibitor directory)

• respond to enquiries from you pre and post the event;

• keep you informed about the event you registered for and/or future events

• manage our operations for the event, including the fulfilment of any legal requirements;

• collect customer views on our services with a view to developing new and/or improved services;

• obtain website usage data to monitor our website performance; and

• if applicable, process payment for registration or other event-related services/products e.g. accommodation payments/deposits, additional social event tickets, etc).

AIEC

IDP is the owner of the Australian International Education Conference (AIEC). The conference is the major opportunity each year for international education practitioners, teaching staff, researchers, policy makers and other stakeholders to learn about major industry trends and to network with Australian and international colleagues.

For privacy details specific to AIEC, please visit: www.aiec.idp.com/info-privacy-policy

CamTESOL Conference

The annual CamTESOL Conference Series was established by IDP Education (Cambodia) in 2005. CamTESOL is a conference for professionals in the field of English Language Teaching and related issues. CamTESOL has now become the premier professional development conference in the Asia Pacific region with an average audience of 1,700 attending annually from more than 30 countries with several components: educational and cultural tours, Regional ELT Research Symposium, and the main CamTESOL conference.

For more information: www.CamTESOL.org

Global Alumni Convention (GAC)

The annual Global Alumni Convention series was established by IDP Education (Cambodia) in 2015. The GAC has three components: The Global Education and Career Expo, the Global Education and Business Forum and the Global Alumni Reunion Dinner. The GAC hosts education institutions from Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the US, Canada and from around the globe showcasing world class education options, featuring panel discussions by leaders and experts from governments, embassies, civil society and industries, and providing a unique networking platform for alumni and others for business partnerships, policy dialogues, and career opportunities.

For more information: www.CambodiaGA.org

IDP is a leading provider of English language teaching (ELT) in South East Asia with 11 campuses across Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam delivering English programs ranging from short IELTS preparation courses to extensive business English programs.

IDP Education’s English language schools are called:

• IDP English in Thailand;

• ACET in Vietnam; and

• ACE in Cambodia.

You can refer to the specific privacy policies for our schools here.

http://www.acet.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Privacy-Policy.pdf

https://acecambodia.org/

International education market research and insights

As part of our commitment to the international education and English language testing sectors, IDP Education conducts market research to obtain feedback from customers, potential customers and other stakeholders.

The information collected in a research context may be used to improve services, develop new products or services, gauge customer satisfaction, understand decision making behaviours, or to test reaction to products, services or communications.

If you have an existing relationship with IDP we may contact you via email to invite you to participate in our research. If you are not a customer, you may also be invited to participate in research via social media or similar channels.

We collect personal data from research participants to allow us to provide them an incentive or if they are successful in a prize draw (as per prize draw terms & conditions).

Retention

We do not retain personally identifiable information for the purposes of market research. We may retain contact information we collect for prize draws for up to 6 months, as per prize draw terms and conditions, to allow for a re-draw if required.

Other ways you may deal with IDP include:

• registering your interest in being engaged as a consultant or employee

• registering with a service offered by IDP (e.g. the Graduate Recruitment Service); or

• as a representative of an educational institution.

We will provide specific notice at the point your information is collected. Any unsolicited personal information will be securely destroyed.

We will only collect personal information by lawful and fair means. Personal information may be collected directly from you or your authorised representative, or may be collected from a third party such as a licensee or representative authorised by us to provide services to you. You may supply your personal information to us when communicating with us via social networks and other online channels, e.g. through your Facebook or Twitter identity.

We do not collect personal and sensitive information unless the information is reasonably necessary for our business functions or activities. We will obtain your consent before collecting any sensitive information.

When you deal with us, you will need to identify yourself in order for us to provide our services to you, as such we do not accept the use of pseudonyms.

If you access our websites, we may collect additional personal information about you in the form of your IP address and/or domain name. For more details please see our Website Cookie Policy for further information.

We will use or disclose your personal information only for the purposes for which it was collected. We will use or disclose your information for another purpose only if you have consented, or if you would reasonably expect us to do so or as required by law.

We may use your personal information for the purposes of our own direct marketing, however we will ensure you have the ability to opt out of future such communications.

Disclosure to others

We may disclose your personal information to overseas recipients such as education institutions located outside your home country, overseas visa agencies, IELTS test centres, professional bodies and commercial organisations, or regulatory authorities when you have sought our assistance to apply for study at those institutions or where disclosure is required for verification purposes.  As such, the location of these overseas recipients would depend on the specific institutions to which you apply or where such verification is required.

Information disclosed by us to overseas recipients for the purposes of providing IELTS testing services to you may be transferred offshore to the other IELTS Owners (British Council and Cambridge). These recipients are United Kingdom based entities, subject to the Data Protection Act (UK).  Where we transfer data to offshore recipients, the data is subject to use restrictions and safeguards against unauthorised access.

For events or conferences, we may disclose, with your consent, some of the information that is collected via the online registration form such as your name or your email address to sponsors for marketing purposes.

Some IDP IT systems and data are hosted on servers in countries outside Australia or the UK and we may send your information to one of those servers as part of our business.

IDP may hold or transfer the data we collect in or to the following countries (in addition to your home country):

• Australia

• UK

• Germany

• India

• Ireland

• Singapore

• Hong Kong

• United States

This information is stored and accessed only as required to provide our services to you. Where we transfer data to offshore servers, the data is subject to use restrictions and safeguards against unauthorised access.

The information disclosed to overseas recipients consists of any information you have given us to provide the relevant services. By accepting services from us, you consent to us providing your personal information to the relevant overseas recipient as mentioned above. IDP takes appropriate steps to ensure there are adequate safeguards in place for the transfer of your personal information including standard protection clauses in our contracts and an IDP Group Data Transfer agreement.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect the personal information we hold against interference, loss, unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure, and other misuse.

The steps we take include:

• maintenance of computer technology, people and process-based security measures for example firewalls, network security configurations, encryption, use of passwords and other appropriate measures where information is held in electronic form;
• regular updates to security systems and configurations to protect our systems from malicious activity;
• restriction of access to data to only those staff that need access to carry out our business activities;
• training and ensuring that all our employees are required, as a condition of employment, to treat personal information held by us as confidential.

However, you should be aware that if you submit information to us electronically the internet is not a secure environment. We take reasonable steps to provide a secure channel for receiving information but cannot absolutely protect personal information before it reaches us.

Retention

When the personal information that we collect is no longer required, we will destroy, delete it in a secure manner, or ensure that the information is de-identified in accordance with our information destruction and de-identification policy, unless we are required by law to retain a copy of the personal information or the information is contained in a Commonwealth record.

You have the right to seek access to any of your personal information held by us unless there is a valid reason under the Privacy Act or Data Protection Act for us to withhold the information.

Valid reasons include:

We have reason to suspect that unlawful activity or misconduct of a serious nature has been engaged in and giving access would be likely to prejudice the taking of appropriate action in relation to the matter; or

Giving access would reveal evaluative information generated within us in connection with a commercially sensitive process.

If your personal details change, or you believe the information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us so that we can correct our records.

Right to erasure

At your request, we will remove all the data we have for you which we are not required legally to retain.

Right to restrict processing

You have the right to restrict processing when you have exercised one of the above rights and it may take some time to process that request. For example: when you contact us to update your details you have the right to request restriction until your details are being updated.

Right to withdraw consent

For the processing activities where we have asked you for consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any point by unsubscribing from a message from us, or by contacting privacyofficer@idp.com.

Right to object

You can object to the processing of your personal data.

Right to not be subject to automated decisions and profiling

None of our processing activities are purely automated and no decisions are made without human intervention. There are instances where we process data to analyse or predict behaviour but we will ask you for explicit consent when this processing will involve your personal data.

Right to data portability

If you have provided us with your personal data with consent or under the contact obligations, you have the right to request the data you have provided to us in a machine-readable format should you decide to move to another data controller.

Making a request

Requests for access or correction to your personal information or other privacy rights described above should be addressed to The IDP Privacy Officer by emailing privacyofficer@idp.com. All requests will be responded to in writing within a reasonable period of time. As part of this process we will verify the identity of the individual requesting the information prior to providing access or making any changes. If we cannot fulfil your request, we will respond provide you with an explanation. 

We have procedures in place to deal with your inquiries or complaints.

If you have any questions about our policy or any complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy by us, please contact privacyofficer@idp.com.

If you feel we have intruded on your privacy or misused your data, you are able to complain.

In Australia

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) website at www.oaic.gov.au

The contact details for the OAIC are:

Office address:

Level 3, 175 Pitt Street, Sydney 2000
Postal address (Sydney): GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001
Postal address (Canberra): GPO Box 2999 Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 1300 363 992
Fax: + 61 2 9284 9666

Email: enquiries@oaic.gov.au

In the UK

Information Commissioners Office

https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ 

Updates to this Policy

This version of the policy was published 10/09/2018. From time to time we may update this privacy policy. We encourage you to take the time to review it any time you provide us with personal information.

We aim for there to be no surprises in our dealings with your personal information. If we make significant changes to the policy and we have your email address, we will send you an email informing you of these changes, how they may impact you, and reminding you of your privacy rights.