Privacy policy

Platform Privacy Policy

We are all concerned about the privacy and security of our personal and professional information. It seems like hackers abound everywhere! Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc. is concerned about the security of information/content on the platform and contracts with established, reliable digital security advisors to protect the platform.

The information that you provide as a student - as a User — is protected to the best of the ability of G&A Institute, its service providers, and the third party providers of course material.

Students ' education records are generally subject to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 ("FERPA") — to the extent FERPA applies to platform use. For information: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

Students' User Names

Given the nature of the platform as a learning, sharing venue certain comments or other content posted by you to platform forums, wikis or other areas should be considered to be designed for public communications or communications among registered class members.

Your material may be or probably will be viewed and downloaded by others who are Users of the platform We suggest that you "think through" the information that you intend to share with others. Even if you have a User Name, your identity may be easy to detect.

You Agree to Have G&A Institute Process Information
Outside of Your Home Country

We welcome students/user from all corners of the globe. By becoming a user of the G&A Institute e-learning platform, and providing information to G&A and/or third party course providers, you agree to the collection, use and retention of information in the United States of America and its territories.

Note that the privacy policies or protection of intellectual property may vary from jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction. The laws and regulations of the United States of America will apply to the use of this platform. If the policy is changed, there will be notice provided to users outside of the U.S.A. and posted on the platform.

If you do not agree with these terms, please do not access the platform. If you elect not to provide us with the individual identify information that we request, we may not be able to establish a user account for you to provide you with the services offered in the platform.

About Your Personal Information

Your "Personal Information" or "Professional Information" means any information about you that you may provide to us in using the Platform. This may include your full legal name; contact information; legal address; country-of-origin; gender; date of birth; organization name; your title; and other information.

We encourage third party course providers to consider what information they need in designing their course work — and in the information that they will require from Users.

Information provided by the User will be protected to the best of the ability of Governance & Accountability Institute, Inc., and the third party course providers. That includes the information provided to third parties involved in payments for courses.

Under no circumstances does G&A Institute "rent," "lend," or otherwise allow third parties access to platform user information (such as student/user contact information).

Your Information — How It is Used

We collect information, including Personal Information (described above), when you sign up for a user account, participate in on-line courses, register for a paid certificate, send us email messages, post information, and/or participate in our public forums.

We also track, monitor or collect certain usage information about student performance and patterns of learning. In addition, we track information about platform usage.

To ensure the best user experience, we may keep track of your IP address, the operating system that is used, and any browser software on the student end.

How We Use Information on the Platform

G&A Institute and the course providers may use information in certain ways as part of the e-learning operations.

All of the third parties providing curriculum and course work on the platform agree to manage your information in a secure manner and strive to protect the information related to your course experience. These are some of the conditions that course providers agree to:

Track both individual and aggregate attendance, progress and completion of an on-line course, and to analyze statistics on student performance and analyze how students learn the course work.
Monitor and detect violations of the Terms of Service, Honor Code and Privacy Statement. And to report to G&A Institute misuse of the platform.
Response to your questions and provide you with the information that you need in a private fashion.
Send users/students updates about the present course, and future course offerings using the information provided by the user.
To archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you.
Help maintain and enhance the functioning and security of the platform, our software, systems, and network capabilities.

Generally, the information provided by users/students is shared with the other students in the course, and with the course providers (SMEs, professors, experts).

In the operation of the platform we may share certain information with other users — for example, the posting in a specific course that all users have access to. We may have to provide certain information to third party service providers for financial transactions (payment related), and with our software development team members.

Sharing Your Information With Third Parties

We share information we collect with certain third parties. These will typically be with the service providers or contractors that perform certain functions directly on behalf of G&A Institute, including processing information that you provide to us as part of your registration and payment for the course and related materials.

We may share certain aggregated information that does not personally identify you with the our course providers in the interest of improving the platform, enhancing user learning experience, and with certain of our trusted business partners (such as security or software services).

About Links to Information on Outside Web Sites

The platform contains links to various platforms and websites maintained by third parties. We provide links related to the operation of the platform as well as to information sources.

Many of these external platforms and websites are not controlled by us — users agree to not hold us responsible for the activities taking place on external platforms, such as collection of your personal information. It is a good policy to learn about the privacy practices and policies of third party website providers that you visit, and where you are sourcing information.

If You Have Privacy Concerns

If you have privacy concerns, have disclosed data you would prefer to keep private, would like to report abuse on the platform, or would like to know about the information we maintain about you, please contact us at: Training@ga-institute.com or by U.S. Mail: 14 Wall Street, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10005.