Privacy Policy

Data Controller

This website is operated on behalf of Global University Systems Canada Holdings Inc.., a company registered in Canada with its registered office at 626 West Pender Street, Suite 100, Vancouver, British Colombia, V6B 1V9, Canada

We have appointed a data protection officer (DPO) who is responsible for overseeing questions in relation to this privacy notice. If you have any questions about this privacy notice, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact the DPO using the details set out below.

Contact details

Our full details are:

Full name of data controller legal entity:  Global University Systems Canada Holdings Inc. 
Name or title of DPO:  Amanda Dishaw, Director of Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management
Email address: compliance@guscanada.ca 
Postal address: 626 West Pender Street, Suite 100, Vancouver, British Colombia, V6B 1V9, Canada

You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the Office of the Information & Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, the BC supervisory authority for data protection issues. (www.oipc.bc.ca/)

We would always prefer that you come to us to help address any concerns of a privacy nature before you go to The Office of the Information Privacy Commissioner, so please contact us in the first instance.

Changes to the privacy notice and your duty to inform us of changes

This version was last updated on 27 August 2021 and historic versions can be obtained by contacting us.

We may from time to time change the detail in this notice.  Any changes we may make in the future will be posted on this page.  Please check back frequently to see any such updates or changes.

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

Third-party links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. Anonymous data is therefore not treated as personal data.

We have grouped together different kinds of personal data which we may collect, use, store and transfer as follows:

• Identity Data includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier, marital status, title, date of birth and gender, nationality, residency status, disability declaration, criminal conviction declaration, and photographic images.
• Contact Data includes residential address, country of residence, email address and telephone numbers
• Emergency Contact Data about next of kin names and contact details for use when there is an emergency that has involved you.
• Employment Data includes employment details, start date, end dates, your job title, contact details at work (email address, telephone number and postal address).
• Financial Data includes student loan information, bank account and payment card details.
• Marketing and Communications Data includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.
• Profile Data includes any of your usernames and passwords, enquiries made by you, purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
• Monitoring and Reporting Requirements Data includes data reported to third parties for regulatory purposes
• Transaction Data includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.
• Technical Data includes your IP address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
• Usage Data includes URL data, web analytics data in relation to how you arrived at our sites, from where, what search items you looked for, which pages you visited on our sites, the duration of your visits and such other information about how you use our websites and the information provided on them, and how you use our products and services so as to assist us to improve our website offering to you.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

Special Category Data

When you make an application on our website, we may ask whether you have any disabilities. You are not obliged to inform us but any information you do provide will assist us to assess how we will meet our statutory obligation in relation to your disability.

Criminal Offence Data

For the purposes of compliance with our Safeguarding Policy, we may ask for Background checks or seek criminal records information.  This type of data is regulated under The Privacy Act 1983 and we ensure that we limit the use of any such data both in time and in scope and that we meet appropriate lawful grounds for processing such data.

For further information please contact us at compliance@guscanada.ca.

If you fail to provide personal data

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by communicating with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:
• apply for our products or services;
• create an account on our website;
• use our site;
• subscribe to our service or publications;
• request marketing to be sent to you;
• enter a promotion or survey; or
• give us some feedback.
• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. [Please see our cookie policy for further details].
• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources as set out below:

Technical Data from the following parties:

1. analytics providers such as Google analytics, Google optimizer, Google Webmaster tools, Google tag manager, Facebook, Instagram and Conversant based out of Europe & Convertr Media based in UK and other similar services which we will be using in the future;
2. advertising networks such as Google Advertising Network, Facebook, Instagram, Bing and Linkedin based outside BC and similar network we will be partnering with; and
3. search information providers such as Google, Bing and other search engines based inside and outside BC, social media networks such as Facebook, Linkedin and Instagram, based inside the EU and others providing similar services.
4. Contact, Financial and Transaction Data from providers of technical, payment and delivery services such as Conversant, Google Analytics, Facebook, Instagram, Bing, Linkedin and Stripe, based outside BC and Convertr Media based inside the UK including similar services we will partner with in future.
5. Identity and Contact Data from data aggregators.
6. Academic, contact, identity, marketing and communications and technical data from (i) publishers, who are owners of private websites, and are based in and outside Europe and (ii) agents, referring organisations such as other universities.

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Please see the table below to find out about the types of lawful basis that we will rely on to process your personal data.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data other than in relation to sending direct marketing communications to you via email or SMS. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us at compliance@guscanada.ca or by clicking the unsubscribe link in the relevant emails.

We have set out below a description of all the ways we plan to use your personal data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so. We have also identified what our legitimate interests are where appropriate.

We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To respond to your request for a call (or email) back, course enquiries, applications	(a) Contact Data	Performance of a contract with you (in our anticipation of entering into such contract with you)
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Direct marketing of or about GUS Canada activities and events or services.	(a) Contact Data	Consent
Direct marketing may include cookie based remarketing services intended to deliver targeted marketing to you based on your internet searches	Legitimate interest
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To process your application including for the provision of services including:	(a) Identity Data	(a) Performance of a contract with you
(a) Manage payments, fees and charges	(b) Contact Data	(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us)
(b) Collect and recover money owed to us	(c) Financial Data	(c) Consent
(c) accounting for GST purposes	(d) Transaction Data
	(e) Marketing and Communications Data
	(f) Academic Data
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To manage our relationship with you which will include:	(a) Identity Data	(a) Performance of a contract with you
(a) Notifying you about changes to our terms or privacy policy	(b) Contact Data	(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
(b) Asking you to leave a review or take a survey	(d) Marketing and Communications Data	(d) Necessary for the candidate’s legitimate interests
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Equal opportunities monitoring	Gender ethnicity religion and nationality	Legal Obligation
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Make adjustments to meet disability requirements / medical conditions	Health Data	Consent
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Provide health and safety first aid assistance emergency evacuation, hazard risk assessment, accident monitoring	Health Data	Vital interests; Consent
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Emergency accident / health management	emergency contact / next of kin details	Vital interests; Consent

Customers (or prospective customers) of online courses and published media

Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Register new customer of online materials	(a) Identity Data	Performance of a contract with you
	(b) Contact Data
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Process / fulfil / deliver customer order	(a) Identity Data	(a) Performance of a contract with you
Manage payments, fees and charges	(b) Contact Data	(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us or defend legal claims)
Collect/ recover monies owed	(c) Financial Data	(c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
Accounting records	(d) Transaction Data
Defence of legal claims brought against us	(e) Marketing and Communications Data

Clients of GUS CANADA (including employer clients)

Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To register you as a client of GUS CANADA	(a) Identity Data	Performance of a contract with you
	(b) Contact Data
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Process / fulfil / deliver customer order	(a) Identity Data	(a) Performance of a contract with you
Manage payments, fees and charges	(b) Contact Data	(b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (to recover debts due to us or defend legal claims)
Collect/ recover monies owed	(c) Financial Data	(c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
Accounting records	(d) Transaction Data
Defence of legal claims brought against us	(e) Marketing and Communications Data
For All:
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Recruitment	(a) Identity Data	Performance of a contract
	(b) Contact Data
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
Relationship management	(a) Identity Data	(a) Performance of a contract with you
Updating privacy policy and notify you of the same	(b) Contact Data	(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
Updating terms and conditions and notify you of the same	(c) Profile Data	(c) Necessary for our legitimate interests (continuous improvement / updating records/ analyse customer behavior patterns)
Seeking your feedback	(d) Marketing and Communications Data
Processing complaints
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To administer and protect our business and our Website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data)	(a) Identity Data	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, network security, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation or group restructuring exercise)
	(b) Contact Data	(b) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation
	(c) Technical Data
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To deliver relevant website content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you	(a) Identity Data	Legitimate interests (to study how customers use our products/services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
	(b) Contact Data
	(c) Profile Data
	(d) Usage Data
	(e) Marketing and Communications Data
	(f) Technical Data
Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, student and partner relationships and experiences	(a) Technical Data	Legitimate interests (to define customer types for our products /services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy)
	(b) Usage Data
To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you	(a) Identity Data (b) Contact Data (c) Technical Data (d) Usage Data (e) Profile Data	Necessary for our legitimate interests (to develop our products/services and grow our business)

The law requires us to meet additional conditions for collecting, storing and using personal data that is considered ‘special category’ data. We have in place an appropriate policy document and safeguards which we are required by law to maintain when processing such data. We may process special categories of personal information in the following circumstances:

Purpose/Activity:	Type of data:	Lawful basis
To monitor and report on equal opportunities	Data relating to race and ethnic	(a) Compliance with a legal obligation

The above information may also need to be used using the lawful basis of pursuant to a legal claim or to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests) (where you are not capable of giving your consent (for example if you suffer a medical problem preventing your ability to communicate).

Consent

We do not need your consent in circumstances where we use special categories of your data in accordance with our legal obligations (and we set this out in our written policies).

On rare occasions we may ask for your explicit (written) consent to use certain special categories of data. If we do this, we will make sure you have a detailed explanation of the data we need and why. This will enable you to make an informed decision whether you wish to consent.

Marketing

We strive to provide you with choices regarding certain personal data uses, particularly around marketing and advertising. We will always give you options to determine how we use your personal data in this regard.  

Promotional offers from us

You will receive marketing communications from us if you have requested information from us or purchased products or services from us or if you provided us with your details when you filled out a survey or feedback form and, in each case, you have not opted out of receiving that marketing.

Opting out

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by following the opt-out / unsubscribe links on any marketing message sent to you at any time or by contacting our Privacy team at: compliance@guscanada.ca

Where you opt-out of receiving these marketing messages, this will not stop us from storing your data provided to us.

Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please read below.

We use “cookies” on this site.

A cookie is a piece of data stored on a site visitor’s hard drive to help us improve your access to our site and identify repeat visitors to our site. For instance, when we use a cookie to identify you, you would not have to log in a password more than once, thereby saving time while on our site. Cookies can also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our site. Usage of a cookie is in no way linked to any personally identifiable information on our site.

Third-party vendors, including Google may use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to GUS Canada’s website. Users may opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google advertising opt-out page.

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to get an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact our DPO.

If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

We may have to share your personal data with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in the table in paragraph 4 above.

• Internal Third Parties as set out in the Glossary.
• External Third Parties as set out in the Glossary.
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

We share your personal data within the GUS Group of which GUS CANADA is a part of. This will involve transferring your data outside Canada.

Some of our external third parties are based outside Canada so their processing of your personal data will involve a transfer of data outside Canada.

Whenever we transfer your personal data out of Canada , we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• We will only transfer your personal data to countries by following the guidelines set by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) on the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission. For further details, see Guidelines for Processing personal data across borders available at: https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/privacy-topics/airports-and-borders/gl_dab_090127/
• You have explicitly consented to the proposed transfer, after having been informed of the possible risks of such transfers for you due to the absence of an adequacy decision and appropriate safeguards.
• The transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and us as the data controller or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken at your request.
• The transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in your interests between us as the data controller and another natural or legal person.
• The transfer is necessary for important reasons of public interest.
• The transfer is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
• The transfer is necessary in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of other persons, where you are physically or legally incapable of giving consent.

Please contact our DPO if you want further information on the specific mechanism used by us when transferring your personal data.

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

How long will you use my personal data for?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: Email our DPO at compliance@guscanada.ca  for more information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data. Please click on the links below to find out more about these rights:

• Request access to your personal data.
  • You have the right to access your personal data (known as an “access request”). This enables you to receive a copy of the personal data we hold about you and check that we are lawfully processing it.
  • To make a request: If you wish to make a request for access to your information, please contact us at 626 West Pender Street, Suite 100, Vancouver, British Colombia, V6B 1V9, Canada or by email at compliance@guscanada.ca 
  • What we may need from you: We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response to provide you with your information promptly

• Request correction of your personal data

This enables you to have any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you corrected, though we may need to verify the accuracy of the new data you provide to us.

• Request erasure of your personal data

This enables you to ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law. Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

• Object to processing of your personal data

You may raise an objection to the processing of your personal data where we are relying on a legitimate interest (or those of a third party) and there is something about your particular situation which makes you want to object to processing on this ground as you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms. You also have the right to object where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

• Request restriction of processing your personal data

You may request to restrict our processing of your personal data. This enables you to ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following scenarios: (a) if you want us to establish the data’s accuracy; (b) where our use of the data is unlawful but you do not want us to erase it; (c) where you need us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or (d) you have objected to our use of your data but we need to verify whether we have overriding legitimate grounds to use it.

• Request the transfer of your personal data

You may exercise your right to transfer your personal data to you or to a third party. We will provide to you, or a third party you have chosen, your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format. Note that this right only applies to automated information which you initially provided consent for us to use or where we used the information to perform a contract with you.

• Right to withdraw consent]

This applies only where we rely on your consent to process your personal data. However, this will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdraw your consent. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide certain services to you. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent.

In certain circumstances, you can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also contact us at compliance@guscanada.ca if you wish to exercise your rights.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact our DPO.

Many of the online site(s) and service(s) we provide allow you to manage your personal information. Should you need further assistance, please contact GUS CANADA’s Privacy Officer at compliance@guscanada.ca.

Lawful Basis

Legitimate Interest means the interest of our business in conducting and managing our business to enable us to give you the best service/product and the best and most secure experience. We make sure we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative) and your rights before we process your personal data for our legitimate interests. We do not use your personal data for activities where our interests are overridden by the impact on you (unless we have your consent or are otherwise required or permitted to by law). You can obtain further information about how we assess our legitimate interests against any potential impact on you in respect of specific activities by contacting our DPO.

Performance of Contract means processing your data where it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party or to take preliminary pre-contractual steps at your request before entering into such a contract.

Comply with a legal or regulatory obligation means processing your personal data where it is necessary for compliance with a legal or regulatory obligation that we are subject to.

Third Parties

Internal Third Parties

Other companies in the GUS Group acting as joint controllers or processors and who are based throughout the world and provide shared services such as IT, legal services, system administration services and leadership reporting.

External Third Parties

• Service providers acting as processors based outside Canada that provides IT, marketing and system administration services.
• Professional advisers acting as processors or joint controllers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers based throughout the world who provide consultancy, banking, legal, insurance and accounting services.
•  Canada Revenue Agency, The British Columbia (B.C.) government, regulators and other authorities acting as processors or joint controllers based in Canada   and other countries who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.
• Employers who request a reference from GUS CANADA
• External Examiners for examination, assessment and moderation purposes
• Professional/Funding bodies, Student Loans company
• Marketing service providers

Other universities, employers, prospective employers, providers of supervised trainings.