Privacy as a foundation of building trust

Whether by necessity to ensure continuity during the pandemic, or to support synchronous learning opportunities, the delivery of education has evolved to include more online teaching. Consequently, ACU is dealing with increasing challenges as we work to protect privacy.

Good privacy practice not only plays a critical role in making these initiatives a success but also provides the very foundation for trust. Good privacy practice is not only about preventing harm to students, staff and members of the public - it also enables stronger relationships between ACU and our community through the building of trust.

Our students, staff, organisational partners and our wider community expect us to handle personal information responsibly and to always be transparent and accountable. Organisations are more likely to be trusted with personal information when they have demonstrated good privacy practices.

It is critical that we always ensure a solid foundation of privacy, which means that our privacy approach and program must continually evolve in response to new technology, innovation in learning and changing community expectation. Trust is built upon this foundation of privacy.

ACU understands that privacy is essential for the autonomy and self-determination of every individual. The university is committed to protecting every individual’s right to determine when, how and which aspects of their own personal information will be used and by whom, and to being an organisation worthy of every individual’s trust.

This Privacy Awareness Week, take time to consider whether your privacy practice stacks up to build trust in the eyes of our community.

What else you can do to protect personal information and ensure ACU’s success as a trusted partner?

Natalie Koppe is ACU’s Privacy Coordinator. You can reach out to her via email with your query, challenge or for a chat.