Terms of use

Our rules that protect our customers, our website, and our organisation.

1. Introduction and guiding principles

Open Universities Australia Pty Ltd provides the website ("the Site") for your educational and information purposes.

1.2 In order to access some of the functionality of the Site, you will need to open an account ("Create a login") with a username and password. Additional functionality is available to account holders who are also undertaking, or have undertaken, a course of study with us.

1.3 In these terms and conditions, the terms "you" and "your" refer to a person who has an Open Universities Australia website account.

1.4 Your access to and use of the Site is subject to these terms and conditions. Your use of parts of the Site (including those parts of the site which are accessible to members of the public) also may be subject to disclaimers or additional terms and conditions.

2. Your access to the Site

2.1 You must maintain the confidentiality of all login identification name/numbers, passwords and similar information given to you ("Login Information"), and you must not allow or authorise any other person to use your Login Information.

2.2 You must immediately notify us of any suspected or actual unauthorised use of your Login Information.

2.3 You must only use those facilities on the Site which you are authorised to use (depending on your level of membership) and you agree not to attempt to circumvent any access restriction mechanisms on the Site.

2.4 We may in our sole and absolute discretion, for any reason and without notice:

(a) alter or withdraw any functionality on the Site;
(b) withdraw or suspend your access to all or any part of the Site and your account;
(c) monitor your use of the site;
(d) subject to any applicable laws, treat any material that you transmit or display as non-confidential and non-proprietary; and
(e) edit or remove any material that you have may have uploaded, posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted to the Site.

3. What you must not do

3.1 You must not:

(a) use the Site in a manner that:

(i) is contrary to any law or which may encourage a person to act in a way which is contrary to any law;
(ii) may result in damage to the Site or any property or equipment of Open Universities Australia, its contractors or agents;
(iii) is disruptive to the learning of others or that may restrict, disrupt or inhibit any other user from using or enjoying the Site;
(iv) endangers the health or safety of any person; or
(v) may cause an interference to any business conducted by us;

(b) upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any of the following to, or through, the Site:

(ii) confidential material;
(iii) misleading or deceptive material;
(iv) advertising, marketing or promotional material;
(v) material which you do not have a right to upload, post, email or otherwise transmit, such as material which is protected by copyright, patent, trade mark, service mark, or any other proprietary right, without first obtaining express permission from the owner of the material or relevant right holder and providing with the material appropriate acknowledgement of existence of the right and the permission of the right holder; or
(vi) material which contains a virus, or other harmful or potentially harmful code;

(c) download or reproduce any material from or through the Site which you know, or reasonably ought to know, is of a kind described in paragraph 3.1(b) above except as permitted by law;

(d) alter, damage or delete any material on the Site of which you are not the author, unless you have express permission from the author;

(e) impersonate any person or entity, including an Open Universities Australia staff member or any other user;

(f) breach any relevant regulations, statutes and disciplinary procedures of any of the provider institutions;

(g) hold yourself out as having any authority to act on behalf of us; or

(h) collect or store personal information about other users in a manner which is inconsistent with these terms and conditions.

3.2 You must obey any lawful instruction of Open Universities Australia in using the Site.

3.3 If you breach any of the above terms, we may undertake our own investigations and may also inform relevant law enforcement agencies and providers of educational and information services of such conduct.

4. Open Universities Australia and third party content

4.1 While we reserve the right to monitor, edit, refuse to post or to remove any information and/or materials (in whole or in part) in our sole discretion, we may not necessarily choose to do so.

4.2 We do not accept responsibility for material linked to or otherwise accessible through the Site. We do not review independent sites or control their content, but merely provides these links to you for your convenience. These links are not an endorsement of products, services, or information provided by such sites. Further, the inclusion of these links to other sites does not imply that the owners or operators of those other sites have given permission for inclusion of these links, or that there is any relationship between Open Universities Australia and the linked sites. Nor do the owners of the linked sites endorse the Site, any our units or Open Universities Australia itself.

4.3 We are an independent company and references to other companies or institutions do not necessarily imply any partnership, joint venture, or other legal connection.

5. Intellectual property rights

5.1 Unless otherwise stated, the material published on the Site is subject to Australian intellectual property laws and you agree to abide by all copyright notices and other restrictions contained in the Site and in the unit materials. Access to, and use of, the Site is solely for personal, educational and non-commercial use and you must not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, or display any content from the Site and represent it as your own (including by framing pages from the Site), upload to a third party, post, transmit or distribute this content in any way except as permitted by law or expressly provided for on the Site or expressly authorised in writing by Open Universities Australia and, where relevant, any third party owner or rights holder.

5.2 Nothing on the Site should be construed as granting any licence or right of use of any trade mark, service mark or logo displayed on the Site without the express written permission of the relevant owner or rights holder in relation to the mark or logo. All trademarks, service marks, and logos used on the Site are the trademarks, service marks and logos of their respective owners.

6. Privacy

6.1 We are committed to protecting the privacy of its students and users of the Site. See our privacy policy for more information.

6.2 You agree to personal information about you being handled in accordance with:

(a) the Open Universities Australia privacy policy;
(b) any policies, directions, statements or agreements on the Site;
(c) these terms and conditions; and
(d) the regulations and procedures of relevant provider institutions.

6.3 Some information collected by the Site about you will not in itself identify you, but will provide information about your use of the Site (for example, 'clickstream data' or 'cookies'). Such information may be collected and used by OUA to track use of the Site, for the purpose of improving services offered by OUA or by education providers who participate on the Site

7. Liability and indemnity

7.1 To the extent permitted by law, we exclude all representations and warranties, express or implied, other than those contained in these terms and conditions. Where Open Universities Australia is found to be liable for breach of any warranty or condition implied by statute and which we cannot lawfully exclude, our liability is limited (to the extent permitted by law) at the option of us to the following:

(a) in the case of goods supplied or offered by us:

(i) to the supply of those goods again; or
(ii) to the payment of the cost of having those goods supplied again; or

(b) in the case of services supplied or offered by us:

(i) to the supply of the services again; or
(ii) to the payment of the cost of having services supplied again.

7.2 Open Universities Australia, its related bodies corporate, its directors, and its employees accept no liability for any loss (including loss of revenue or anticipated profits, loss of goodwill, loss of business, loss of data, computer failure or malfunction), or injury or any direct, indirect, consequential, special, punitive, or other damages caused by or as a result of:

(a) your use of or inability to use the Site,
(b) any virus or other harmful, or potentially harmful, code which may be transmitted in connection with use of the Site;
(c) any information available on or through the Site or on or through any website to which there is a link from the Site; or
(d) Our negligence or the negligence of any of its related bodies corporate, directors, officers, shareholders, employees, provider institutions or agents.

7.3 You agree that the opinions of our staff, students, provider institutions and members of the general public which are expressed on the Site are not the opinions of Open Universities Australia, and that we will not be liable for any loss or injury or any direct, indirect, consequential, special, punitive, or other damages caused by or as a result of those opinions.

7.4 You indemnify Open Universities Australia, its related bodies corporate, their officers and employees from and against all:

(a) liability for or in respect of any physical injury (including death) to persons;
(b) damage to property; and
(c) other liability, damage or loss;

insofar as the injury, damage or other liability, damage or loss is attributable to your negligence, breach of these terms and conditions, or unlawful or wilful action in connection with these terms and conditions, their performance, or the failure to perform them.

8. General issues

8.1 We may terminate these terms and conditions without notice at any time for any reason in its sole discretion. Clauses 3, 4, 5,6 and 7 survive the termination of these terms and conditions in any event.

8.2 We may modify these terms and conditions at any time and may do so by posting notice of such modifications on the Site. Any modification is effective immediately upon posting the modification on the Site.

8.3 These terms and conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of Victoria, Australia. You irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria in relation to any legal proceeding in respect of this agreement or the use of the Site.

8.4 If any provision of these terms and conditions is held invalid, unenforceable, or illegal for any reason, these terms and conditions remain otherwise in full force and effect apart from such provision which will be read down to the extent of the invalidity, unenforceability or illegality, and if it is not possible to read down the provision it, will be deemed deleted.