University of Waikato Privacy Statement

Print Version

The University of Waikato (referred to in this Privacy Statement as "we", "us" or "our") cares about your privacy and wants to be open with you about what we do with your Personal Information. Personal Information means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

This Privacy Statement describes how we collect, store, use, and share personal information and explains your rights in relation to those activities.

We must comply with the Privacy Act 2020, the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, the Public Records Act 2005 and, if you are in the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Where they conflict we are required to comply with New Zealand law.

The University’s Personal Information and Privacy Policy sets out the specific responsibilities of staff with respect to the collection and management of personal information. This policy applies to anyone who visits our website, used our educational platform to study or research, or interacts with us.

If you would like to get in contact with us about your privacy, you can email us at privacy@waikato.ac.nz or call 0800 WAIKATO (924 5286).

We collect information about you in three ways:

1. Information that you provide to us

This includes information provided:

• as part of our marketing, recruitment, enrolment, conferment and employment processes and operations
• when you register for, enrol in, or use our services, systems and facilities
• when you register or attend events, functions and conferences
• when you participate in surveys and competitions
• through your discussions and interactions with us
• when you apply to go on an exchange programme, field trip or work placement
• when you apply for a scholarship or award
• if you make a donation or gift to us and
• when you advise us of your Covid-19 vaccination status and, where relevant, your test results

2. Information we automatically collect

This includes information collected:

• from your use of our websites (including via cookies), emails, and other services and systems that we provide to you (including Wi-Fi), and
• from CCTV footage.

3. Information we collect from third parties

This includes information collected or provided:

• from publicly available sources (including media articles, social media, company and charity filings, and the internet)
• by relevant government or education agencies and providers (including the New Zealand National Student Index)
• by our student and employee recruitment agents
• by third parties that provide services to us or you (including exchange partners scholarship providers and accommodation providers)
• through reference or other pre-employment checking prior to employment or provision of a benefit
• by our photographers and videographers, and
• by third parties with whom we also share information (see below).

Collection of this information is necessary for our Purposes and Legitimate Interests (see above) and, in some cases, is required under New Zealand law (including the Education and Training Act 2020). Without it, we may not be able to enrol you as a student, employ you as a staff member or provide services and benefits to you.

Student

If you are a student (or prospective student), the information we collect includes your:

• biographical details (including name, former name, alias, gender identity and date of birth)
• contact details (including address, telephone, email, and emergency and alternative contact details)
• education record and academic/research history
• citizenship and residency information
• country of origin and ethnicity (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• iwi affiliation (if you are a Māori student)
• National Student Number
• National Health Number
• interactions and communications with us and our systems
• whether you have been suspended from another New Zealand tertiary education institute
• photograph (for student ID cards)
• Covid-19 health information, in particular your vaccination status and, where relevant, your test results, and
• other information that you have decided to share with us or that we have requested from you.

In addition, depending on your programme of study or involvement with specific services that we offer, we could also collect information about your:

• areas of study interest (if you are a prospective student)
• passport and visa details
• English language proficiency
• health and disability information (where you have enrolled with our Student Health and Student Counselling Services, Disability Services, Accommodation Services or our recreation services, applied for a field trip, student exchange or study abroad programme, or have otherwise consented to us collecting this information - see “Sensitive Information” below)
• career information (including aspirations and relevant work history/experience)
• financial information (including how you will pay for your studies, bank account details, where you have provided these to us)
• criminal convictions (if necessary for certain programmes or work placements – see “Sensitive Information” below)
• information provided through reference checking processes for accommodation or other benefits
• health and travel insurance arrangements (if, for example, you are an international student or going on a field trip or student exchange), and
• the website from which you have been directed to our websites; the date and time of your visits; your device type, screen resolution and browser version; your internet service provider; information on your operating system, including language settings; and information on the pages you have visited on our website.

The accuracy of student information is important to the functioning of the University and the credibility of the qualifications it offers. You are required to provide complete and accurate information when applying to enrol, and to keep your information updated during the course of your enrolment. If you withhold information or provide incomplete, false or misleading information the University may decline or cancel your admission or enrolment and may withhold your academic record if its veracity cannot be confirmed.

Staff member or contractor

If you are a staff member, the information we collect includes your:

• biographical details (including name, former name, alias, gender identity and date of birth)
• contact details (including address, telephone, email, and emergency contact details)
• education record and academic/research history
• professional affiliations
• previous employment history (e.g. your CV)
• bank account and tax information
• citizenship and passport details, and (where relevant) information on your entitlement to work for us in New Zealand
• criminal convictions, credit history and other pre-employment vetting and verification information (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• country of origin and ethnicity (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• health and disability information (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• interactions and communications with us and our systems
• photograph (for staff ID cards and the staff directory)
• drivers licence information (if you use a University fleet vehicle)
• information provided through reference checking processes
• trade union membership (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• Covid-19 health information, in particular your vaccination status and, where relevant, your test results, and
• other information that you have decided to share with us, or that we have requested from you.

If you are a prospective staff member applying for a position with us, or a contractor engaged (or seeking to be engaged) to provide services to us, the information we collect about you will include the categories of information described above that are necessary for us to consider and decide upon your application for employment, or to decide and manage your terms of engagement with us.

Alumni

If you are an alumni of the University of Waikato the information we collect includes your:

• biographical details (including name, former name, alias, gender identity and date of birth)
• contact details (including location, address, former addresses, telephone, email, social media and website links, contact preferences)
• education record and academic history (including your associations with us – such as your hall of residence and club membership)
• ethnicity (if we were required to collect this under New Zealand law when you were a student – (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• interactions and communications with us and our systems
• responses to our electronic communications (including what you open, any comments you make, and your location), and
• events you have been invited to and whether or not you have responded or attended.

In addition, we could also collect information about your:

• family details, including spouse/partner and children
• links with other organisations and individuals (including alumni, supporters and potential supporters)
• business details including positions, organisation, professional memberships and qualifications
• career highlights and other lifetime achievements
• outside interests and membership of groups
• media articles
• Covid-19 vaccination status, and
• other information that you have decided to share with us or that we have requested from you.

We use your information to help us plan our alumni and donor activities and determine whether or not we should contact you in relation to particular communications or activities. This assists with ensuring that our communications and activities are relevant and of interest to you and ensuring our alumni are connected with the University.

If you would not like us to carry out the above activities, please email privacy@waikato.ac.nz or phoning 0800 WAIKATO (924 5286).

Donor

If you are a donor, or a person we have identified as a potential donor, the information we collect includes your:

• biographical details (including name, former name, alias, gender identity and date of birth)
• contact details (including location, address, former addresses, telephone, email, social media and website links, contact preferences), and
• interactions and communications with us and our systems.

In addition, we could also collect information about your:

• education record and academic history (including your associations with us if you were a student of the University of Waikato– such as your hall of residence and club memberships)
• ethnicity – (see “Sensitive Information” below)
• responses to our electronic communications (including what you open, any comments you make, and your location)
• events you have been invited to and whether or not you have responded or attended
• family details, including spouse/partner and children
• links with other organisations and individuals (including alumni, supporters and potential supporters)
• business details including positions, organisation, professional memberships and qualifications
• career highlights and other lifetime achievements
• outside interests and membership of groups
• wealth and philanthropic interests
• media articles
• donations of time, expertise or money (including to organisations other than the University of Waikato)
• Covid-19 vaccination status, and
• other information that you have decided to share with us, or that we have requested from you.

We may carry out research to assess your likely ability and willingness to make donations or gifts to the University so that we can better tailor our fundraising approaches or requests. This research, which is sometimes known as prospect research may include collecting, storing and using information about you that is publicly available as well as information that you have provided to us. We may carry out this research ourselves or we may use a third party. If we use a third party, we will ensure that your information is held confidentially, with appropriate security safeguards and only used in accordance with our strict instructions.

If you would not like us to carry out the above activities in relation to you, please email privacy@waikato.ac.nz or phoning 0800 WAIKATO (924 5286).

Website visitors

If you visit our website or any of its sub-sites, the information we collect could include your IP number.

Other association with us

If you have had another association with us (you may have taken part in an exchange, attended an event or have some other association with us), the information we collect could include your:

• biographical details (including name, former name, alias, gender identity and date of birth)
• contact details (including location, address, former addresses, telephone, email, social media and website links, contact preferences)
• interactions and communications with us and our systems
• links with organisations and individuals (including alumni, supporters and potential supporters)
• business details including positions, organisation, professional memberships and qualifications, and
• Covid-19 vaccination status.

ID numbers

If you are a student or staff member, a unique identifier (in the form of a Student or Staff ID number) will be assigned so that we can carry out our Purposes and Legitimate Interests (see above) effectively and efficiently.

Profiling and automated decision making

We may carry out profiling, analytics or tracking activities (including by automated means) to:

• improve the quality of our teaching and learning activities
• improve the experience of users of our website and its sub-sites
• tailor support services and pastoral care for you
• support you in your learning and academic achievement, and
• personalise our communications with you.

The University is prohibited under the Human Rights Act 1993 from engaging in any form of profiling that would give rise to a claim of discrimination.

Communications and marketing

We will use your information to communicate with you and carry out our marketing activities.

Generally, these communications would be by email, post or telephone. You can unsubscribe from these communications at any time by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link in an email, by emailing privacy@waikato.ac.nz or phoning 0800 WAIKATO (924 5286).

We do not pass on your information to other organisations for their own communications and marketing purposes.

Graduation and degree information

We will publish your name, degree and year of graduation in our Council papers or in our graduation programme (where appropriate) and make this information available to My eQuals.

Research activities

If you agree to participate in a research activity involving personal information, we will obtain your consent to any collection, storage, use and sharing of that information. The personal information you provide will be used by the University strictly in accordance with your consent and any ethics approval, and in accordance with our Ethical Conduct in Human Research and Related Activities Regulations.

Health information held by The Psychology Centre, Student Health and Student Counselling services or Disability Services is managed in accordance with the Health Information Privacy Code and any specific Privacy Statement relating to that information. This Privacy Statement does not apply to that information.

We are required under New Zealand law to collect information relating to your criminal convictions as part of our pre-employment vetting processes, particularly if you are being employed in a role covered by the Vulnerable Children Act 2014, or where you have applied to enrol for certain programmes (e.g. education or health).

We may also collect information relating to:

• your ethnicity, for statistical purposes, the promotion of equity and diversity and to tailor support services
• your trade union membership information, to ensure that you are employed on the correct employment agreement. and
• your health information, in particular your Covid-19 vaccination status and, where relevant your test results, as part of our employment processes, where you have enrolled with our Student Health and Student Counselling services, Disability Services, Accommodation Services or our recreation services, or applied for a field trip, student exchange or study abroad programme. This helps us ensure we can provide a safe and healthy environment.

We do not collect any other form of sensitive information. However, if you or others have provided it to us, we may hold it in our systems.

If you are in the European Union, please note that some New Zealand law requirements regarding our collection of sensitive information may conflict with your rights under the GDPR. Where they conflict we are required to comply with New Zealand law. If you have any concerns about our collection of sensitive information, please email privacy@waikato.ac.nz or phoning 0800 WAIKATO (924 5286).

We take all reasonable steps to keep your information safe and secure. In some instances, your personal information may be transferred, and held, by service providers in New Zealand and overseas (for example, where it is stored using a cloud-based storage service). Where this occurs, we do everything reasonably within our power to ensure that the service provider also has reasonable security measures in place to protect your information. You should bear in mind that submission and transmission of information over the internet is never entirely secure. We cannot guarantee the security of information you submit via our website or by email whilst it is in transit and any such submission is at your own risk.

We will not transfer your information to an overseas-based service provider unless we are satisfied that the service provider will protect your information in a way that is comparable to the protections afforded by New Zealand privacy law.

We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil our Purposes and Legitimate Interests (see above), comply with our legal obligations and perform our contracts with you.

We are required under New Zealand law to retain some information. If you are in the European Union, please note that in some situations, this may conflict with your rights under the GDPR.

You have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong (and you are unable to update it yourself through a relevant online service). If you would like to do this, please email privacy@waikato.ac.nz.

We'll respond to your request as soon as reasonably practicable and no later than 20 working days after we receive it.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner if you think we have breached, or may have breached, your privacy. You can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.org.nz.

In addition, you have the right to:

• withdraw consent, where consent is the legal basis for our processing of your information
• request to be forgotten, that is your information to be removed from systems that we use to process your personal information. However, under New Zealand law, we may be required to retain certain information
• request copies of your personal information in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and/or request us to transmit this information to another person (where this is technically feasible)
• restrict our processing in certain ways, such as by opting out of the provision of some personal information or of its processing
• object to certain processing activities by us, and
• make a complaint to a supervisory authority.

Please note that exercising the above rights with respect to processing may restrict the University’s ability to provide services and benefits to you and to undertake its Purposes and Legitimate Interests (see above).

The University of Waikato reserves the right to change this Privacy Statement from time to time.

This Privacy Statement was last updated in March 2024.