Corporate Website Policy
Responsible officer: Vice-Chancellor
Designated officer: Director, Marketing and Communications
Council approval: C05/10, 22 February 2005
Last amended: C06/119, 5 December 2006
Related policies:
Related external legislation:
- Copyright Act 1968
- Freedom of Information Act 1992 (Qld)
- Information Privacy Standard (IS 42) (Qld)
- Disability Discrimination Act (1992)
Overview
The following policy sets out the purpose, responsibilities and management, and other issues concerning the corporate website at <www.usc.edu.au>. The corporate website is the University’s principal official site.
Definitions
A website is a unified collection of web pages or files linked together and available on the World Wide Web.
A web page may incorporate any combination of text, graphics and other media as appropriate, and may use hypertext links to move between its different parts and other web pages.
A web server is a computer connected to the internet. The web server stores web pages and makes those pages available when requested by the user seeking information.
The URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, is the unique address given to every web page, eg <http://www.usc.edu.au/students/handbook>.
A shortened URL is a succinct web address which redirects the user to the correct web page, eg <www.usc.edu.au/jobs> is the shortened URL for <www.usc.edu.au/University/Employment/CurrentOpportunities>.
Policy
1. Purpose of the Corporate Website
1.1 The purpose of the University’s corporate website is to:
1.1.1 establish a corporate identity and create visibility for the University
1.1.2 provide an efficient method of delivering current, factual, official information
1.1.3 market the University to potential students, prospective staff, alumni, partner institutions, business and the community
1.1.4 publish information about the University to support strategic goals and meet legislative requirements
1.1.5 promote the University resources and facilities available to the external community
1.1.6 support the interchange of information between the University and partners in business, the higher education sector, academe and the professions, students and staff and the community, both in Australia and internationally
1.1.7 provide a gateway to the University’s intranet and other web services
2. Responsibility and management of the Corporate Website
2.1 The Vice-Chancellor, or designate, is responsible for the authorisation of external links, advertising, sponsorship and shortened URLs.
2.2 The Director, Marketing and Communications, is responsible for corporate identity, visual design, content and project management.
2.3 The Corporate Website Application Support Group contributes to the effective planning, implementation and support of ICT services for the corporate website as defined in the Terms of Reference for the Group.
2.4 The Director, Information Technology Services, or designate, is responsible for managing the corporate website server including hosting and technical ICT support.
2.5 Coordinators and Authors are responsible for the content emanating from their respective areas.
3. URL and domain
3.1 The University's URL <www.usc.edu.au> and domain name <usc.edu.au> is managed by Information Technology Services.
4. Hosting
4.1 The corporate website is hosted on a University web server connected to the Internet and has a University Internet address.
5. Format
5.1 The visual design, navigation, architectural structure, content and style conventions are consistent across the website.
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6. Content
6.1 All content on the corporate website must:
6.1.1 be relevant to teaching, learning, research or administrative functions of the University
6.1.2 comply with University policy and relevant legislation
6.1.3 be primarily intended for an external target audience
6.1.4 not include illegal, and/or offensive material or unauthorised data
7. URLs
7.1 The University’s URL is used on all web pages and is the only URL used unless approval has been granted by the Vice-Chancellor, or designate.
7.2 Shortened URLs will be allocated to a defined number of pages as approved by the Vice-Chancellor, or designate.
8. Advertising and sponsorship
8.1 All advertising and sponsorship must support the purpose and content of the website and be approved by the Vice-Chancellor, or designate.
8.2 Advertising and sponsorship is not permitted on the homepage or the navigation pages.
9. External logos
9.1 Logos of companies external to the University will not be placed on the corporate website without the approval of the Vice-Chancellor, or designate.
10. Copyright
10.1 Unless otherwise indicated, information contained on the corporate website is Copyright © University of the Sunshine Coast.
10.2 Content and material for which the University does not own the copyright must only be made available in accordance with relevant Commonwealth legislation and the University’s copyright policy.
10.3 Infringing material will be removed from the website.
11. Privacy
11.1 The material on the corporate website must comply with the University’s Privacy Plan and Privacy Statement.
12. Records management
12.1 The content and electronic transactions on the corporate website are public records that must be retained and managed in accordance with the University’s Records Management Policy.
13. Accessibility
13.1 The University is committed to improving the accessibility of information on the corporate website.
13.2 The primary language of the corporate website is English.
14. Quality assurance
14.1 The University has implemented processes to ensure quality control on the corporate website.
15. Breaches
15.1 The University reserves the right to remove material from the website and take appropriate action for breaches of University statutes, policies and rules.
15.2 Breaches that violate Commonwealth and/or State law will be reported to the appropriate authorities and removed from the corporate website.
16. Publishing to the live site
16.1 Updates to the website are scheduled to automatically publish to the live site each day.
16.2 Manual updates will be undertaken at the discretion of the Director, Marketing and Communications, or designate, if:
16.2.1 automatic scheduling fails
16.2.2 the University needs to communicate information about major incidents involving staff and students
16.2.3 access to Library core services is unavailable due to an unscheduled outage
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