Privacy Statement
The Ontario Universities’ Application Centre (“OUAC”, “we” or “us”), a division of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), is committed to respecting your privacy. We process applications for admission to Ontario university programs on behalf of the Ontario universities. To apply for admission to an undergraduate university program in Ontario, or to an Ontario medical school, law school, teacher education program, or rehabilitation sciences program, the application is processed through the OUAC. We also process applications for other graduate and professional programs offered by the Ontario universities and for transcripts for the Ontario College of Teachers and the Qualifications Evaluation Council of Ontario. The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to inform you about our privacy practices, including how we collect, use and disclose your personal information.
The OUAC, on behalf of the Ontario universities, organizes and administers the Ontario Universities’ Guidance Dialogues (the “Guidance Dialogues”). To this end, the OUAC has contracted a third party, Acadiate, to manage the delivery of, and data collection for, the Guidance Dialogues. The notice of collection of personal information for Acadiate can be found on its website. Please review Acadiate’s policy for further information.
By registering for the Guidance Dialogues, you authorize Acadiate to collect your personal information directly from you, as necessary, to complete and process your registration for the Guidance Dialogues. You also agree that Acadiate will disclose to the OUAC the personal information you provide to Acadiate as part of your registration and/or participation in this event. The OUAC will disclose this personal information to the Ontario universities. The Ontario universities collect your personal information from the OUAC via Acadiate in accordance with their enabling legislation for the purposes of recruitment, admission and registration. Universities may use and disclose your personal information for other purposes in accordance with their own admission and personal information policies and practices. The notices of collection of personal information for each Ontario university can be found on their websites. Please review the policies of the Ontario universities for further information. To opt out of communications from the Ontario universities, unsubscribe through them directly.
What Information Do We Collect?
We collect personal information about you in the following ways:
- We collect the personal information you provide to Acadiate as part of your registration and/or participation in the Guidance Dialogues.
- We may ask for your personal information when you contact us with a comment or question.
How Do We Use Your Information?
We use your personal information to:
- contact you about the Guidance Dialogues and about special programs or surveys, including by email.
- respond to your inquiries and requests.
- create data and aggregated data and reports to be used by us and the Ontario universities.
- conduct research and analysis and to assist others with research.
We may use your personal information for other purposes we have obtained your consent for and for other purposes as may be permitted or required by applicable law.
Acadiate and the OUAC will destroy the personal information you provide as part of your registration and/or participation in the Guidance Dialogues by January 2025.
How Do We Share Your Information?
We keep your personal information confidential and disclose it only for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement. We share your personal information with the following third parties:
Universities
- We disclose to the Ontario universities the personal information you provide to Acadiate. If you submit any university-specific questions, we will disclose the questions, including your personal information, to the applicable universities so they can answer your questions directly. The Ontario universities collect your personal information from the OUAC via Acadiate in accordance with their enabling legislation for the purposes of recruitment, admission and registration. The notices of collection of personal information for each Ontario university can be found on their websites.
Service Providers
- We may transfer your personal information, as required, to third parties who provide services on our behalf, such as hosting, data storage and processing service providers, research and analytics providers and auditors who analyze our systems to ensure that your personal information is protected.
Note: Your personal information may be stored and processed in any country where we engage third-party service providers. As a result, your personal information may be transferred outside of Canada to jurisdictions that may have different data protection rules than Canada. While such information is outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is located, and may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of said country, pursuant to the laws of such country.
How Do We Protect Your Personal Information?
We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards in an effort to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure.
- We restrict access to personal information only to employees and authorized service providers who require the information for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement.
- We store electronic records off-site as part of our disaster recovery procedures. These records remain in Canada.
- We use industry standard security during the transfer of data. All files transferred to or from the OUAC use a Secure Socket Shell (SSH) protocol. Files containing personal information have an additional layer of encryption.
- Our third-party service providers are required to maintain the confidentiality and security of your personal information and to use it only in compliance with applicable privacy laws.
Although we take appropriate measures to safeguard the personal information in our custody and control, we cannot guarantee that your personal information will always be used in ways that are consistent with this Privacy Statement and no method of transmission or storage of information is 100% secure or error-free, so we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure (e.g., if you feel that the security of any information you provided to us has been compromised), please contact us immediately.
Changes to This Privacy Statement
This Privacy Statement is current as of the “Last updated” date at the top of this page. We may update this Privacy Statement periodically to reflect changes to our personal information practices. We will post the revised privacy statement on this website. We treat your personal information in accordance with the privacy statement in place at the time of collection of such information, or as you otherwise consent.
Participant Declaration
By registering for, and/or participating in, the Guidance Dialogues, you consent to the personal information practices set out in the Ontario’s Universities’ Guidance Dialogues Privacy Statement.
How to Contact Us
Contact our Privacy Officer at any time if you:
- have any questions or comments about this Privacy Statement, or about your personal information or our privacy practices;
- wish to access and/or correct the personal information we have in our custody or control; or
- have a complaint about the manner in which we treat your personal information.
Contact the OUAC Privacy Officer:
- Telephone: 519-823-1940
- Email: privacyofficer@ouac.on.ca