Privacy and confidentiality (General)

1. WU is committed to protecting the privacy of personal information of staff and students. WU understands and seeks to comply with the information privacy principles in respect of personal information:
   1. Information should only be used and disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected unless the person has consented.
   2. WU staff will take reasonable steps to ensure personal information collected, used or disclosed is accurate, complete and up to date.
   3. WU staff will take reasonable steps to protect information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access or disclosure.
   4. Non-students have the option to interact anonymously with WU.
   5. WU only transfers personal information if there is appropriate privacy protection in the recipient country.
2. The following kinds of information are confidential:
   1. information on individuals (health and medical records, disciplinary records, records of personal counseling, student and family financial information, transcripts or student permanent academic records, student placement records and other personally identifiable information.
   2. any matters that the board or president wishes to keep confidential.
   3. information that is commercial in confidence.
   4. information received in the course of a staff member’s duties.
3. Staff members may not make public statements on behalf of WU unless the board or the president specifically authorizes it.
4. Staff members may not disclose private or confidential information or allow it to be disclosed unless authorized by WU, or by the person providing the information, or as required by law.
5. WU collects personal information only by lawful and fair means.
6. Personal information collected will be used only for WU's internal purposes and administrative processes:
   1. providing its courses and related services,
   2. data that is required by government agencies to be collected.
   3. reporting that is required by government agencies.
7. Personal information, including transcripts, will not be disclosed to third parties, unless:
   1. stated in WU policies to which students and/or staff have agreed
   2. the person provides prior, written consent to release information to other parties, or,
   3. government organizations require details on enrolled students for the purpose of surveying and statistical management, or,
   4. disclosure is required by law.
8. Students may apply for and receive a copy of their personal information held by WU.
9. WU qualifications are verifiable:
   1. Privacy laws allow information to be used for the primary purpose for which it is obtained, that is, so that students can graduate with a qualification, and have it recognized by potential employers and other institutions to which they might want to continue studies.
   2. WU will verify students' qualifications for third parties that already have adequate identifying information on the individual. However, WU shall not disclose any information other than the verification.
10. Student's names and qualifications are not private information and may be announced at graduation ceremonies, published in graduation literature, and given to verify qualifications.
11. Theses are public documents unless WU agrees in writing to keeping them confidential.
12. As there are inherent risks associated with transmission of information via the Internet, WU cannot ensure the confidentiality of information during electronic transmission.
13. The Internet Service Provider for WU web sites may record visits and may log the following information for statistical purposes:>
    1. visitors' server address (which includes your top level domain name (e.g .com, .gov, .org);
    2. the date and time of visitors' visit to the site;
    3. the pages visitors' accessed and documents downloaded;
    4. the previous site visitors have visited;
    5. the kind of browser visitors are using.
WU will not attempt to identify users or their browsing activities or through cookies. However, law enforcement agencies or other government agency may exercise their legal authority to inspect our Internet Service Provider's logs.
14. In the case of persons enquiring to WU by email, their e-mail address will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided and it will not be provided to third parties or used for any other purpose without the sender's consent.
15. Student records shall be confidential and available only to WU officers and staff, duly authorized auditors, and duly authorized officers of government departments. Until the time of the student’s death, those records may only be made available to other parties with the prior, written consent of the student involved. This shall not include the inclusion of such data in statistical information where the content and identity of individual student records remains confidential.
16. Records may be used for staff training purposes.