Privacy Policy

Introduction

At the American Language Center (ALC), we understand that your privacy is important to you and we are committed to complying with the Privacy Act and Principles in relation to all Personal Information and Sensitive Information that we collect from you. This policy describes our Privacy and Information handling practices.

This Policy outlines the following:

1. The types of Personal Information that we collect and hold.
2. How we collect Personal Information.
3. The purposes for which the information is collected.
4. The way in which we use and disclose Personal Information.
5. The steps we take to protect and secure the Personal Information we hold.
6. How individuals can access and correct their Personal Information held by us.

1. The types of Personal Information that we collect and hold

In the normal course of business activities, we will collect Personal Information from you and this may include collecting some Sensitive Information.

The following are the types of your Personal Information and Sensitive Information that we may collect and hold:

In dealings with the American Language Center

• We collect personal details which can include but are not limited to name, postal and email addresses, date of birth, contact details, residency status, education qualifications, employment history, tax file numbers, passport details, information required for visa application and lodgment (including financial and medical information), occupation and professional memberships of individuals:
  • who enquire about English Language Programs and study opportunities or who are applying to undertake a course of English at the American Language Center or an overseas education institution degree programs
  • who engage our visa application services to apply for USA, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia (including student visa, post-study work visa and skilled migration visa applications)
  • who formally advise/register their interest in being engaged as consultants, or individuals who have been, or are currently, engaged as consultants on projects/programs managed by the American Language Center (ALC)
  • who register to participate in an event organized, managed or presented by the American Language Center (ALC) whether in its own right, or under contract for another organization

This may include copies of documents provided to us as proof of identity – e.g. copies of passport, proof of citizenship or photographs. It may also include Sensitive Information about individuals such:

• If you subscribe to our website (www.alc.edu.np) or register your interest with the American Language Center counsellor, we will collect Personal Information such as your name, postal and email address, date of birth, contact details, country of residence, preferred study destination, occupation, and Sensitive Information such as professional memberships.
• If you order any products from our website, we also collect payment details.
• In registering for an event or conference, such as an Expo you may provide Personal Information or Sensitive Information to us for the purpose of attending the event or conference. We use that information for that purpose and may provide information to you regarding our other services.

2. How we collect Personal Information

We will only collect Personal Information by lawful and fair means. Personal Information may be collected directly from you or your authorized representative, or may be collected from a third party such as a licensee or representative authorized 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 identity, online application and emails.

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.

3.The purposes for which the information is collected

We collect, hold and use your Personal Information so that we can provide our services to you.

Student Placement

Services in our student placement business include for example recruitment, counselling, student placement, visa assistance, English language testing and training, student exhibitions and seminars.

Collection of your Personal Information allows us to:

• assist you to pursue the opportunity to undertake studies in an education institution within Nepal or in foreign countries
• assist you in your application for a student visa in USA, UK, Canada and Australia including contacting the Department of Home Affairs and other organizations on your behalf to discuss your application
• assist you to further your career after completing your studies at an overseas education institution
• provide opportunities to participate in projects/programs as consultants
• 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.

Visa application services for Australian visas

We provide visa application/information services and for American, Canadian, British 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 abroad, 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:

• provide the Department of Home Affairs with all relevant information required for your visa application
• contact the immigration department or other organizations 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

4. The way in which we use and disclose Personal 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 a secondary 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 an ability to opt out of future such communications.

Disclosure

We may disclose your Personal Information to overseas recipients such as education institutions located in US, Canada, Australia, UK, overseas visa agencies, IELTS, TOEFL, SAT , PTE test centers, professional bodies and commercial organizations, 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.

5. The steps we take to protect and keep secure the Personal Information we hold

We take reasonable steps to protect the Personal Information we hold against interference, loss, unauthorized 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, 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.

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.

6. How individuals can access and correct their Personal Information held by us

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 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.

We will endeavor to respond to you within a reasonable time. If you are still not satisfied with the way your complaint is handled by us, you are entitled to have your complaint reviewed under the Privacy Act.

Updates to this Policy

We reserve the right to amend this Policy from time to time. Any revisions to the Policy will be posted on this website.

Further Information

If you would like more information on privacy, you can contact us at info@alc.edu.np

Website usage and other information collected on this website

By accessing and using this website (or other websites owned and operated by the American Language Center you accept and agree to ALC’s Privacy Policy without limitation or qualification.

We will not without your prior consent disclose Personal Information collected about you on this website to any other party. Further, we do not sell, rent or trade your Personal Information to any other third parties except as required by law or permitted under the Privacy Act.

ALC’s Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by us and may differ from the policies of other companies’ or organizations’ websites that you link to from this website.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to measure and analyze its internet usage to ensure the site meets ALC’s business objectives with advertisers and users. Individual privacy is protected but we gain insights on how to make the site more useful for advertisers as well as our users.

Data collected from this analysis include:

• the number of page views (or page impressions) that occur on our sites;
• the number of unique visitors;
• how long these unique visitors (on average) spend on our sites;
• common entry and exit points to our sites;
• files downloaded from the site; and
• forms filled in on the site.

Cookies

Cookies are small data files that are sent from a website and stored in a user’s web browser. ALC’s websites use cookies to improve the user’s web browsing experience (e.g., language preference or selected locality).

If you wish to disable the cookies on this website you will need to follow the steps required for your preferred browser (e.g., In Internet Explorer 10 and 11 this can be found in the Privacy tab under Internet Options).

We currently advertise with Third party vendors, including Google, displaying ads on sites on the internet. These third-party vendors, including Google use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to our website. Some of the information gathered such as age, gender and interests might be used for marketing purposes. Users may opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page a link to http://www.google.com/settings/ads