By using this website you accept the terms of this privacy statement, the copyright statement and the terms and conditions on this website.
Our commitment to privacy
This privacy statement explains how we (IELTSonline.net) collect information from you via the website or in any manner expressly described in the privacy statement and how this information is then used. When you provide us with your personal data in the manner described, you consent to the processing of all such personal data as set out in the privacy statement. Please read this privacy statement carefully and revisit this page from time to time to review any changes that we may have made. If you have any questions or comments about how we handle your personal information, please e-mail us. You may also use these contacts to tell us about any concerns you may have about our privacy statement.
Giving information for other people
When you give us information about another person, the other person must have agreed to let :
us process all their personal data; and
you receive any data protection notices for them.
When you send information for someone else, you are confirming that you have told them :
which data they must give;
which information is voluntary; and
how they can access and, if necessary, correct the data we hold about them.
The information we collect during registration or enrolment
When you register with us, you (or the person registering for you) must tell us :
your full name;
your address;
where you heard about us;
We also request other information including your title, middle name, phone number and email address, but you don't have to give us these details (except that you must provide us with an e-mail address and telephone number where you buy a course online). Following registration and/or enrolment via the website, we, or our approved learning providers, may request additional personal data from you in order to further support your learning. You do not have to provide this information, but if you do not, you may not get the most out of your learning. When you register, we will give you a username and ask you for a password. You will also be asked to give the answer to a question you choose which will identify you.
your age;
your education so far;
your citizenship status; and
where you live and how long you have lived there.
We, or our approved learning providers, may require additional information from you in order to support an application for funding. If you do not want to provide us with this information, we will not be able to offer you the course at the reduced price.
The information we collect when you access course materials
We collect information about how you use course materials to monitor your learning and improve our users' learning experience.
The information we collect when you enter competitions
From time to time we may run competitions and promotions on the website. If you enter these, we may ask for your name, address, e-mail address and username so that we can administer and control the competition and, of course, notify the winners.
Other information we collect
If you require a free information pack, we ask you to provide us with the information on the "request more information" form on the website, including :
Title;
Full name;
Full address;
You can also decide to give us your home and mobile telephone numbers and your email address but you only need to do this if you want us and/or our approved learning providers to contact you about IELTSonline.net developments and offers.
If you do not register as a member but use one of our online tests to test your skills, we ask you to provide your full name. This information is not retained by us but is used only when sending you your test results.
You may also provide personal data through:
letters and e-mails;
customer feedback forms;
our messaging system; or
any conference, chatroom, message board, web space or other learning or communications facility operated by us.
Sensitive personal data
When you register as a member or learner, you do not have to provide us with sensitive personal information. Where we invite you to provide such information, we will ask you to consent to our proposed uses of such data.
At enrolment you may be asked for sensitive personal information. If you do not wish to provide this information you may select the "Not Known/Not Provided" option.
You may also volunteer sensitive personal data to us or our approved learning providers, for example, when you submit a query or comment to us via the website or some other means of communication. If you do so, you explicitly consent to our using such information as described in this Privacy Statement.
Sensitive personal data includes details of your :
race or ethnic origin;
political opinions;
religious or other beliefs;
trade-union membership;
physical or mental health;
sexual life; or
criminal records (including information about criminal proceedings and suspected criminal activities).
How we use the information we collect
We use your personal information :
to answer your queries or complaints;
to deliver our membership services, for example on-line tools to test your skills, chatrooms, message boards;
to support your learning;
to provide course materials;
to carry out administration;
for general statistics and research;
for obtaining any relevant professional advice;
as may be required by law or in connection with legal proceedings (including where we intend to take legal proceedings), or as may be necessary to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.
Third parties and sponsors
To achieve the purposes set out in this privacy statement we may need to give your information to our service providers (including our approved learning providers), agents, professional advisors and auditors and to your tutor(s). When you enrol on a course, we will tell you which of our approved learning providers will be delivering and supporting your learning. Following registration and/or enrolment via the website, all of our approved learning providers will have access to your name and contact details to help us deliver our services to you.
We may also give your information to third parties who may take over part or all of the IELTSonline.net business in the future, but only for the purposes outlined in this privacy statement. If your employer, trade organisation or other group is sponsoring you, we may give the personal information we have collected to your sponsor to monitor your learning.
Communications between you and your tutor using any of the tools or functions we make available to you (including unopened messages sent via our messaging system) may be monitored by IELTSonline.net staff to check the quality of tutor support. IELTSonline.net staff and auditors may also access these communications when we want to investigate or audit learner funding arrangements.
Keeping you informed
We, and our approved learning providers, will use your information to send you regular updates about :
our services and materials;
additions to the website; and
specific activities such as customer feedback surveys and competitions.
If you wish to join IELTSonline.net but do not wish to receive this information, untick the relevant boxes on the 'join us' page (inviting us to contact you by post and for customer feedback purposes). If you do wish to receive information about IELTSonline.net developments and offers by email, please invite us to contact you by ticking the appropriate boxes. If at any time, you change your mind about receiving updates, you can change your preferences using "your details" on your member home page.
We will never use your sensitive data for marketing purposes or to target you for customer feedback purposes without your express consent.
Requests for information
If you have not registered as a learner or member but are simply making an enquiry or request for information, we will use your personal information to reply to your enquiry or request. We will not use this information for marketing purposes without your permission or unless you invite us to do so.
Protecting your personal information
As a registered data controller, we are required to take appropriate technical measures to protect your personal information including making a regular backup of our system and data. We have security measures in place to make sure any personal information we collect is secure. Your account is password protected and all information including your password is on a secure server, which only a limited number of employees and sub-contractors can access. All parties with access to your information are subject to confidentiality obligations. If you think someone else knows your password, or is using it, tell us immediately and change your password using the "change my password" option under "your details" on your member home page.
Even though we take appropriate technical steps to protect your security, you should remember that data transmission over the internet cannot always be guaranteed as 100% secure so you use the website at your own risk.
Please look at the terms of Use (Terms and Conditions) on this website for our policy on purging emails and webspace. The terms and conditions tell you when we may close your account and delete all your records, files and information.
Keeping your personal data
We keep personal data :
for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for;
as required by law; or
to enforce or defend legal claims.
Sometimes we will keep information that you have deleted as a record of your learning experience. We will keep this information for a reasonable time.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files which are sent to your browser by a web server and stored on your personal computer's hard disk. We use cookies on our site to :
cut down the number of times you have to type in data;
record the success of advertising, to target advertising and to track visitor usage; and
track responses to regular customer surveys and to make sure you don't see the same survey more than once.
The cookies used on the website do not collect your personal information.
You can disable cookies but if you do, you may not be able to use certain features on our site and you may need to enter your password more frequently.
Transparent gif files
Some of our webpages may contain invisible electronic tags that allow us count users that have visited certain pages. These files are only used to identify which advertisements bring customers to our website and you cannot be identified by them. They are not issued by us but by the relevant advertising provider. You can find out more about cookie type devices issued by third party advertisers by clicking through to the website operated by the relevant advertiser.
Links
Our website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies of other sites and we advise you to read the privacy statement of every website that collects personal information from you.
Last updated : 24th August 2007