Collection statement for Student Register

This collection statement sets out the way the Board and Ahpra may collect, use and disclose personal information to carry out functions in relation to the registration of students.

Privacy and confidentiality

The personal information (that is, information identifying you) collected via education providers:

• is required by the National Law, and the Board and Ahpra are authorised to collect it to determine if you are eligible to be registered as a student;
• is required by the National Law to include you (or maintain you) on the student register if you are enrolled in an approved program of study or you are undertaking clinical training in a health profession;
• is required by the National Law to ensure student registers are kept up-to-date;
• will be used to manage your student registration (including your compliance with the National Law);
• will be used to verify your identity;
• may be used for the proper operation of the National Law (e.g. for research relevant to the National Law); and
• may be used for communications purposes and to provide you with relevant updates and general information about Ahpra’s and the Board’s activities.

If personal information is not provided by your education provider, your student registration may be delayed and/or you may not be registered as a student or your details on the student register may be incorrect or out of date. Your education provider will be asked to provide the missing personal information.

The Board and Ahpra may:

• ask other people (such as education providers, government agencies and health authorities) for information relevant to your student registration, such as identification (including your unique student identifier), name of approved program of student, criminal record, and work history;
• disclose your information to such people where this is required or permitted by the law (e.g. to advise of your student registration status, or where the information is required for a health regulator to perform its functions). Note: the health regulators we may disclose your information to may be overseas, if, for example you have an international practice;
• use third parties to verify and validate information provided to us in support of your application, which may include those third parties directly requesting personal information from you to complete the verification and validation process,
• use third parties to hold, process and maintain personal information. For example, we use third party data processors to store our data in hosted facilities; and
• use third party IT support providers who may also access our information systems remotely and this may involve access to personal information. Some of these third parties are located in countries outside Australia. Those countries include Japan, Canada and the United States of America. In all cases, we seek to share the minimum amount of personal information necessary.

Where Ahpra uses third parties, we require the third parties to comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and impose, as far as possible, confidentiality and privacy obligations at least as demanding as those that apply to us.

The Board and Ahpra are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Ahpra’s Privacy Policy explains how you may: access and seek correction of your personal information held by Ahpra and the Board; complain to Ahpra about a breach of your privacy; and how your complaint will be dealt with. The policy can be accessed on the Privacy page.

If you have any questions about this collection statement or Ahpra’s Privacy policy, please visit Ahpra’s Privacy webpage or contact:

Privacy Officer
Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
GPO Box 9958
Melbourne VIC 3001

Phone: 1300 419 495