Public External Website Privacy & Cookie Policy

1. Purpose of Policy

Hein Wagner Academy NPO ("the Academy", "we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of Personal Information collected through its official public-facing website (https://heinwagneracademy.org).

This Policy sets out how we collect, process, use, store, and safeguard Personal Information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 25 of 2002 ("ECTA"), and applicable data privacy standards.

2. Scope and Application

This Policy applies to all users, visitors, prospective students, donors, partners, sponsors, job applicants, and members of the public who interact with our public website, submit forms, or utilize online services provided by the Academy.

It governs data collected online via this website only. Internal operational records, on-campus student files, employee files, and hostel residency files are governed by the Academy's internal Institutional POPIA Compliance Policy and Section 51 PAIA Manual.

3. Key Definitions

Personal Information

Information relating to an identifiable, living natural person or juristic person as defined under Section 1 of POPIA (names, identity numbers, contact details, disability status, etc.).

Special Personal Information

Information concerning religious beliefs, race, ethnic origin, health or disability status, or biometric information requiring heightened safeguards.

Cookies

Small text files placed on your device by websites that you visit to ensure proper technical function and analyse traffic.

Responsible Party

Hein Wagner Academy NPO, which determines the purpose of and means for processing Personal Information.

4. Information Collected Through the Website

Depending on how you use our website, we may collect the following categories of information:

• Inquiry & Contact Forms: Full name, email address, telephone number, organization name, and the text of your message.
• Prospective Student Inquiries: Contact information, geographic location, academic background, and relevant information regarding visual impairment or disability confirmation to assist with course eligibility and assistive software requirements.
• Partnership, Sponsorship & Donor Submissions: Contact person details, company/trust details, donation or learnership intent, and billing contact information.
• Technical & Usage Data: IP address, browser type, operating system, device screen resolution, preferred language, and referral URLs collected automatically through server logs.

5. Use of Personal Information

We process Personal Information solely for legitimate institutional purposes, including:

• Responding directly to prospective learner and general public inquiries.
• Assessing eligibility for TVET Management courses, Cyber Sentinel training, and retraining and upskilling courses.
• Liaising with institutional partners including Boland College, NSFAS, and training accreditation bodies.
• Facilitating student sponsorships, learnership agreements, and corporate placements.
• Ensuring the operational security, technical performance, and digital accessibility of our website.

7. Third-Party Services and External Links

Our website may contain embedded videos (such as YouTube), external radio audio snippets (such as Primedia Cares), or links to third-party institutions (such as Boland College, CompTIA, Cisco, AWS).

We do not control the privacy practices of external websites. When you leave our domain or interact with embedded third-party media, their respective privacy and cookie policies govern your data.

8. Data Security and Technical Safeguards

The Academy enforces stringent physical, organizational, and technological measures to secure personal data submitted via our website:

• Transport Layer Security (TLS/SSL): All website traffic is encrypted in transit using industry-standard HTTPS protocols.
• Server Firewall & Security Hardening: Maintained on secure hosting environments with continuous intrusion detection and access control.
• Role-Based Access: Only designated, authorized personnel (such as our Campus Manager and Admissions staff) have access to submitted applicant forms.

9. Your Data Subject Rights Under POPIA

Under Section 5 of POPIA, website visitors and applicants have the right to:

• Request confirmation of whether the Academy holds your Personal Information.
• Request access to the specific record or a description of the information held.
• Request correction, destruction, or deletion of Personal Information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, or obtained unlawfully.
• Object to the processing of your Personal Information on reasonable grounds.
• Submit a complaint to the Information Regulator if you believe your rights have been infringed.

Formal requests for access to institutional records should be made using the procedure described in our Section 51 PAIA Manual.

10. Digital Accessibility Commitment

As an institution dedicated to training visually impaired and blind individuals, the Academy maintains a deep commitment to digital accessibility.

Our website is engineered to conform to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA and AAA standards. Key accessibility features include clear semantic HTML landmarks, visual skip-to-content navigation, screen reader-tested ARIA attributes, keyboard-operable menus, high-contrast color palettes, and scalable typography.