Connect with Ontario’s Universities Privacy Statement and Participant Declaration

Last updated: September 23, 2024

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, your 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.

By completing and submitting (selecting the “Get Information” button) the Connect with Ontario’s Universities Form (the “Form”) through the OUAC, you (the “Participant”) authorize us to collect your personal information directly from you and from other organizations, as necessary. You also agree that we will disclose to the universities you choose on the Form (the “Chosen Universities”) the personal information you provide to us and other personal information we collect in connection with your Form. The Chosen Universities collect your personal information through the OUAC 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 your Chosen Universities for further information. To opt out of communications from your Chosen Universities, unsubscribe through them directly.

What Information Do We Collect?

We collect personal information about you in the following ways:

Information You Provide to Us

  • We collect the personal information you provide in your Form, or in reference to your Form.
  • We may ask for your personal information when you contact us with a comment or question.

Information We Collect Automatically

  • We collect the following information when you visit the OUAC’s websites:
    • your device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g., IP 324.45.123.11);
    • your device’s operating system and the web browser you use to view the OUAC’s websites;
    • the referring site;
    • the pages you visit on the OUAC’s websites; and
    • the date, time and duration of your visit.
  • We track your online activity on the OUAC’s websites using cookies and web analytics.

How Do We Use Your Information?

We use your personal information to:

  • process your Form and provide other services to you.
  • maintain and improve the OUAC’s websites.
  • contact you by email about recruitment events and resources. If you do not want to receive emails from the OUAC about recruitment events and resources, you can unsubscribe.
  • 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.
  • protect our systems and the integrity of our auditing process.
  • investigate legal claims and enforce our rights and those of the Ontario universities.

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.

We keep the personal information you provide in your Form until the end of the annual application cycle (December 2025), then destroy the personally identifiable information and archive the remaining information.

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 the personal information you provide in your Form and other personal information we collect in connection with your Form to your Chosen Universities. The Chosen Universities collect your personal information through the OUAC 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.
  • If you choose to submit an Undergraduate application through the OUAC, we may combine the personal information you provide in your Form with your personal, academic, application choice, offer, confirmation and registration information collected as part of your Undergraduate application to create data and aggregated data and reports for the Ontario universities. The Ontario universities may use the data and aggregated data and reports, in accordance with their own personal information policies and practices, for admission, enrollment and other academic policy development and research purposes. 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.

Additionally, we may use and disclose your information when we believe such use or disclosure is permitted, necessary or appropriate:

  • under applicable law;
  • to comply with the legal process or other legal obligations, including our obligations under contracts;
  • to respond to requests from governmental authorities;
  • to protect our operations or those of the universities or other third parties;
  • to protect our rights, privacy, safety and property, and those of our affiliates, you and others; and
  • to allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

We may transfer your personal information and other information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our operations or assets.

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. 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.

How Can You Access or Correct Your Personal Information?

During an application cycle, you will not be able to access or update the personal information you provide in connection with your Form online. You will also not be able to submit a written request to review any personal information about you that we hold.

Third-party Websites and Services

Our websites provide links to third-party websites relevant to the university application process. This Privacy Statement does not extend to any websites, products or services provided by third parties. These linked websites have separate and independent privacy policies, which we recommend you read carefully.

We have no control over such websites and therefore have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use, disclose or otherwise process your personal information.

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 submitting (selecting the “Get Information” button) the Connect with Ontario’s Universities Form, you consent to the personal information practices set out in the Connect with Ontario’s Universities Privacy Statement.

How to Contact Us

Contact our Privacy Officer at any time if you:

  • have any questions or comments about this Privacy Statement and Participant Declaration, or about your personal information or our privacy practices or
  • have a complaint about the manner in which we treat your personal information.

Contact the OUAC Privacy Officer: