The University of Melbourne is governed by the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014 (Vic) and the Health Records Act 2001 (Vic) when collecting and processing the personal and health information of individuals. In certain circumstances, including where we process the personal or health information of individuals located in some international jurisdictions, we are also subject to the requirements of federal and international privacy legislation. (Together, Privacy Laws).

Personal information (sometimes referred to as “personal data”) is defined in the Privacy Laws. Broadly, this covers information or opinion, whether true or not, that relates to an identified or identifiable individual. Sensitive information and health information are specific types of personal information defined in the Privacy Laws and subject to additional protections.

The University collects and processes the personal information of alumni, friends and supporters through lawful and fair means and in a non-intrusive way throughout your engagement with the University. We will collect this information directly from you wherever possible.

If you studied at the University, information that you provided upon enrolment and during your time as a student, or which is otherwise collected by the University during your studies, is then provided to the Alumni Office. The collection and processing of students’ personal information is explained in the University’s Student Privacy Statement. If you do not wish to be contacted as an alum of the University, please contact Stop1 by phoning 13 MELB (13 6532) as a student of the University, or the Alumni Office at advancement-operations@unimelb.edu.au in your interaction as an alum.

If you register for events, campus tours, newsletters or are a supporter of, or a volunteer at, the University, we will collect and process the personal information provided by you during your interactions with us. This is explained in the relevant privacy collection notices specific to those activities. You may also provide us with your personal information when you agree to participate in user experience research or provide feedback.

The University also collects and holds personal information derived from publicly available sources, either directly or through targeted internet searches, to maintain our records. These public sources may include social media, business-related resources including company websites, honours lists, and reliable news sources.

Examples of categories of personal information which we may hold are:

• Biographical/contact details – such as your name, postal/email address and telephone number, date of birth, gender, nationality, marital status, and your unique personal identifier (student number and our Advancement database ID);
• Education details – for example, the courses you completed and dates of study;
• Professional details – such as your employer, occupation and work address;
• Any preferences provided by you for a specific purpose such as access requirements or other adjustments and dietary preferences for event management purposes, and your communication preferences;
• Philanthropic details – for example, your history of donations made to the University, both of time (for example, volunteering or participation in mentoring programs) and money, and your areas of philanthropic interest and publicly known philanthropy;
• Engagement details – such as your membership of clubs, societies and groups, as an alum or when you were a student, your attendance at University events or participation in programs, your relationships with other alumni or supporters of the University, your access to alumni benefits and services, and your publicly-known relationships with non-University stakeholders; and
• Photographs – including those we have taken (for example, at events or to accompany a published interview) and those which are in the public domain.

The primary purposes of collecting your personal information are:

• To maintain strong relationships with our alumni and supporters, enable our alumni community to remain connected to the University and each other, for the pursuit of the University’s legitimate interests in support of its charitable mission, and for fundraising purposes;
• To fulfil and monitor our responsibilities to comply with legislative reporting requirements;
• To support the performance of tasks carried out in the public interest (such as teaching, learning and research), or in the exercise of our official authority, for example the completion of the Graduate Outcomes Survey; and
• for the purposes of benchmarking, analysis, quality assurance and planning, and to ensure that we can provide you with the services and information requested by you.

In some circumstances we will need to obtain your consent for specific use of your personal information (for example, if you are not an alum of the University, or if, because of a disability, we need to make reasonable adjustments for you at an event we are organising), or where that personal information includes sensitive information or special category data. You can withdraw your consent to our specific use of such information at any time.

We also process personal information for the following purposes:

• To inform you of opportunities to engage with and support the University;
• To generate philanthropic support (for example, fundraising and/or volunteering) for University charitable projects. More specifically, these activities may include:
  • sending you publications, such as the alumni magazine, email newsletters about the University and its fundraising projects, and updates on University hosted, sponsored or affiliated events, in a way which is tailored and relevant to you;
  • helping you keep in touch with other alumni and/or University supporters and donors by inviting you to alumni and University events;
  • informing you of and providing benefits available to alumni (where you are interacting with us as an alum);
  • through a variety of channels, such as phone, email or social media, asking you if you would like to support the University by, for example, making a donation, contributing to surveys, volunteering, or acting as a mentor;
  • thanking you for any gifts of time and money that help the University’s charitable causes;
  • undertaking any necessary due diligence to align with the University’s Gift Policy and the Donations Framework; and
  • internal record-keeping and administration (for example, to process a donation or administer an event which you are attending).
• To validate your address and to prepare reports using maps by ‘geocoding’ your address against publicly available web mapping services;
• To inform you about University courses or events;
• To seek feedback of your experience as an alum or supporter of the University;
• To publish photographs and videos relating to our activities and events. We will inform you about such processing at the time that the information is obtained or as soon as reasonably possible thereafter;
• To compile anonymised statistics for benchmarking in which the University participates;
• To attend to routine administrative matters, and to provide associated services such as security, parking and information technology; and
• To use the information as required or otherwise permitted by law.

We may occasionally carry out wealth screening. This involves using trusted third parties who review information which is in the public domain (for example, FTSE100 directorships, company directorships, property holdings, Forbes rich lists, etc.) on our behalf to give an indication of the financial giving capacity of individuals. We never use the data produced by this exercise as the sole basis for sending out communications; it is a starting point for further research we carry out about a person to identify if they may be interested in supporting the University, which includes considering any previous engagement with the University, their philanthropic interests and previous donations. This enables us to identify and contact only those individuals whose interests we believe align with our charitable fundraising mission.

The University will only use or disclose your personal information in the following instances:

• for the purpose for which it was collected;
• for a related purpose which you would reasonably expect;
• with your permission (consent) to the disclosure;
• if we are required or permitted to do so by law;
• where it is relevant and necessary for the pursuit of our legitimate interests; or
• to enable our contracted service providers or partners to perform functions on our behalf.

Within the University, your information is shared with only those University staff who need access for the purpose of delivering our alumni and supporter activities. Your personal information is held securely on the University’s Advancement database, which is restricted to nominated and authorised university employees.

Your personal information is shared as necessary, on a considered and confidential basis, with several external organisations which assist with our alumni and supporter activities. These organisations act on our behalf in accordance with our instructions for the purposes outlined in this statement, and do not process your information for any purpose over and above what we have requested. We make sure we have appropriate agreements with them in place.

We may also share personal information with third parties as follows:

• Organisations engaged by the University to provide alumni, supporter and fundraising related services, such as banks, mailing houses, logistics, IT service providers, social media platforms and caterers for University events – we share biographical, contact and education details, professional details, volunteering and philanthropic details;
• Event venue providers – names and accessibility and assistance requirements and related information;
• Your nominated financial institution and government departments such as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) (where you make a donation);
• Occasionally, and when necessary, internal and external auditors or regulators; and
• In the event of an emergency or law enforcement matter, police, medical or hospital personnel, civil emergency services, your legal representative, or other person assessed as necessary to respond to the emergency.

Where appropriate, examples of third parties the University provides personal information to and for what purposes are captured in privacy collection notices specific to particular activities, which are provided to you at the time your personal information is collected (or as soon as reasonably possible thereafter).

We do not sell your personal information to third parties under any circumstances or permit third parties to sell on the information we have shared with them.

If you choose not to provide the personal information requested, the University may not be able to process your particular request or benefit, or to inform you of courses or engagement opportunities in which you have expressed interest.

The University takes care to manage personal information appropriately and securely. Your personal information is processed in a variety of formats, both electronic and hardcopy, including in enterprise-wide databases. Accordingly, your personal information is not segregated or treated differently from any other personal information based on your geographic location or jurisdiction.

The University takes reasonable steps to ensure that any personal information we (or parties operating on our behalf) collect, transmit, store or otherwise process, is accurate and complete, and that technical and organisational measures are in place to protect it from accidental or unlawful destruction, misuse, loss, alteration, or unauthorised access or disclosure. These measures include access controls, authentication safeguards, secure storage and transmission practices, audit and monitoring procedures, and requirements that third-party providers implement equivalent protections.

Access to your personal information is limited to authorised University staff, and authorised representatives of affiliates where necessary, and contracted third parties, for the purpose of carrying out necessary duties in supporting the University’s functions and activities. Where personal information is disclosed to third parties, it will be done so only to the extent necessary to fulfill the purpose of such disclosure. Where required, the University ensures that appropriate agreements, confidentiality obligations, or information-sharing arrangements are in place before personal information is accessed by or disclosed to third parties or affiliates. Access and handling practices are supported by organisational and technical measures designed to safeguard personal information, in accordance with the University’s information security, records management and privacy governance frameworks.

Staff receive regular privacy and data protection training, and the University has implemented organisational and technical measures so that personal information is processed in accordance with applicable Privacy Laws.

In some instances, your personal information may be transferred outside Victoria or Australia. For example, where providers are located internationally or use a cloud-based system with servers based in other jurisdictions. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the interstate or overseas transfer of personal information is in accordance with this privacy statement, relevant University policies, and applicable Privacy Laws, including ensuring that appropriate safeguards or contractual protections are applied.

Once your personal information is no longer required for the purpose it was collected, or for another legitimate purpose, it will be securely destroyed in compliance with the University’s retention and disposal authority.

We retain your personal information for as long as there is a lawful basis for processing it, in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

Where you have consented to receive direct marketing communications, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

If you change your mind about receiving information about the University’s alumni and supporter services and activities, you can contact us at advancement-operations@unimelb.edu.au.

You may request access to, or correction of, your personal information held by the University, or exercise your individual rights as applicable, unless this would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others or would contravene our other legislative obligations.Personal information obtained via the alumni portal can be viewed by you through the portal. If this information is incorrect, or needs to be updated, you will be able change it. Depending on the type of change, this can be done online or by contacting the Alumni Office at advancement-operations@unimelb.edu.au.

To access other personal information we hold about you, contact the relevant faculty or area of the University in the first instance. Sometimes the University may need to manage requests for access to, or correction of, personal information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic). Further information about this process is available on our Freedom of Information webpage.

If the lawful basis for us collecting and processing your personal information was with your consent, you may withdraw this at any time. This will not, however, affect the lawfulness of our processing of your data prior to that point. We would also need to consider such a request in relation to any other legal obligations we may have.

The University Secretary is the University's designated Privacy and Data Protection Officer (PDPO). The privacy office in Legal and Risk provide guidance on the University’s privacy obligations and responsibilities.

Please refer to our Privacy webpage, view our Privacy Policy or contact privacy-officer@unimelb.edu.au for more information about how the University processes personal information and for details of how to make an enquiry or lodge a complaint.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your query or concern, you may lodge a complaint with the applicable supervisory authority:

• The Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, in most instances; or
• The Health Complaints Commissioner (specifically regarding health information); or
• Another privacy and data protection authority (federal or international), to the extent that their jurisdiction might apply to the University’s activities.

The University periodically refines its privacy statements. We encourage you to regularly review this statement for any updates.

The most recent substantive changes were made 15 April 2026.