University of Melbourne statement on OVIC Report

Statement attributable to Ms Katerina Kapobassis, University of Melbourne Vice-President (Administration and Finance) and Chief Operating Officer.

The University takes its privacy obligations seriously and has cooperated openly and responsively to the Deputy Commissioner in the conduct of her investigation.

The University is pleased that the Deputy Commissioner concluded that the University did not contravene the Information Privacy Principles in relation to the review of staff emails.

The University acknowledges that it could have provided clearer active notice to students and staff members in relation to the use of WiFi location data, and a number of remedial actions are progressing.

However, we maintain that the use of WiFi location data in student misconduct cases was reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances, given the overriding need to keep our community safe and conduct our core activities of teaching, learning and research.

The University has already completed a number of actions that are proposed in the final report and all others are progressing. We will ensure the University community is kept informed as these changes are made.