Terms of use

Last updated: 3 October 2026

1. About these terms

This website, www.hes.edu.au (the website), is operated by Higher Ed Services Pty Ltd (ABN 31 060 566 029), trading as HES (HES, we, us or our). HES is a not-for-profit company owned by Universities Australia that works for the Australian higher education sector.

These terms of use (terms) apply to your access to and use of the website, including its public pages, member areas, online forms and payment portal. By using the website, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the website.

If you use the website on behalf of an organisation, such as a university or other higher education provider, you confirm that you are authorised to accept these terms on its behalf, and references to "you" include that organisation.

Some HES services are provided under separate agreements or terms, including forum and group memberships, procurement arrangements, analytics and benchmarking services, and My eQuals. If a separate agreement applies to a service and is inconsistent with these terms, the separate agreement prevails for that service.

2. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time, for example to reflect changes to the website, our services or the law. The current version is always published on this page, with the date it was last updated. Updated terms apply from the date they are published and do not apply retrospectively.

If a change materially affects member areas, we will take reasonable steps to let members know, for example by email or a notice on the website. If you do not agree to the updated terms, you should stop using the website.

3. Acceptable use

You may use the website only for lawful purposes and in line with these terms. You must not:

  • use the website in a way that breaches any applicable law or infringes the rights of another person

  • attempt to gain unauthorised access to the website, member areas, other users' accounts, or the systems and networks that support the website

  • circumvent, or attempt to circumvent, any security measure, access control or paywall

  • interfere with or disrupt the website, including by introducing malicious code or placing an unreasonable load on it

  • use automated tools such as bots, scrapers or crawlers to access, copy or extract content, including for data mining or training machine learning models, without our prior written consent (public search engines indexing public pages are excepted)

  • impersonate another person or organisation, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or organisation

  • submit information that you know is false or misleading

  • use the website to send unsolicited commercial messages.

If you become aware of a security vulnerability affecting the website, please tell us using the details in the Contact us section so we can investigate.

4. Member areas and accounts

Parts of the website are available only to members of HES forums and groups, or to other users we authorise (member areas). Access is generally provided to individuals nominated by, or associated with, a participating institution, and may depend on that institution holding a current membership.

If you have an account, you must:

  • provide accurate and current information and keep it up to date

  • keep your login details confidential and not share your account with anyone else

  • tell us promptly if you suspect your account has been accessed without your authority

  • use member area content only for the internal purposes of your institution.

You are responsible for activity that occurs under your account, except to the extent it results from our error or our failure to take reasonable care.

Content in member areas, such as papers, presentations, recordings and benchmarking information, may be confidential or may have been shared by other institutions. You must not disclose or publish member area content outside your institution without the permission of HES or the owner of the content.

5. Payments

The website includes a payment portal that can be used to pay HES invoices and fees, such as forum membership fees. All amounts are in Australian dollars. Where GST applies, it is shown on your tax invoice.

Card payments are processed by third-party payment service providers on our behalf and are subject to their terms.

The fees, payment terms and any cancellation or refund arrangements for a service are set out in the agreement, invoice or membership terms for that service. Nothing in this section limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law.

6. Intellectual property

Unless we indicate otherwise, HES owns or licenses the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the website and its content, including text, graphics, logos, documents, reports and recordings. The HES name and logo and other marks displayed on the website are trade marks of HES or their respective owners.

You may view, download and print content from the public pages of the website for your personal, non-commercial use or for internal use within your organisation, provided you do not alter the content and you keep all copyright and other proprietary notices intact.

Apart from this, and except as permitted by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), you must not reproduce, adapt, publish, communicate to the public or commercially exploit any content from the website without our prior written permission.

7. Information you submit

If you submit information or material through the website, for example through an enquiry form, an expression of interest or a member area, you confirm that:

  • you have the right to submit it

  • it is accurate and not misleading

  • it is not unlawful, defamatory or offensive, and does not infringe the rights of any other person, including intellectual property, privacy and confidentiality rights.

You grant HES a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use the material for the purpose for which you submitted it and for operating the website and our services. We may remove material that we reasonably consider breaches these terms.

8. Links and third-party services

The website contains links to websites and services operated by third parties, and to HES services hosted on other platforms, such as My eQuals. Links are provided for convenience. We do not control third-party websites and are not responsible for their content, availability or privacy practices. Their own terms and privacy policies apply when you use them. A link does not mean we endorse the linked website or its operator unless we say so.

You may link to the public pages of the website, provided you do so in a way that is fair and does not suggest an association with, or endorsement by, HES that does not exist.

9. Privacy and cookies

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the Australian Privacy Principles and our Privacy Policy.

The website uses cookies and similar technologies, including analytics tools, to operate the website and understand how it is used. You can manage cookies through the cookie banner and your browser settings. Some features may not work properly if cookies are disabled.

If you subscribe to updates from HES, we will send them in accordance with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in each message or by contacting us.

10. Information on the website

The information on the website is general in nature. It is not legal, financial, procurement, technical or other professional advice, and it does not take your particular circumstances into account.

We take reasonable care to keep the website accurate and current. However, information may be incomplete or out of date, and may change without notice. You should make your own enquiries, and obtain independent advice where appropriate, before relying on it.

11. Availability and security

We aim to keep the website available and secure, but we do not promise that it will be uninterrupted, error-free or free from malicious code. We may change, suspend or withdraw all or part of the website, including for maintenance or security reasons. You are responsible for taking reasonable precautions to protect your own devices and systems.

12. Australian Consumer Law and liability

Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy you have under the Australian Consumer Law (Schedule 2 to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)) or any other law that cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified (your non-excludable rights).

Subject to your non-excludable rights:

  • we provide the website and its content on an "as is" and "as available" basis and, to the extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, representations and guarantees that are not expressly set out in these terms

  • we are not liable for loss or damage arising from your use of, or inability to use, the website, except to the extent the loss or damage is caused or contributed to by our negligence, our wilful misconduct or our breach of these terms

  • neither you nor HES is liable to the other for indirect or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, revenue, data, goodwill or opportunity, arising in connection with the website

  • each party's liability is reduced to the extent the other party caused or contributed to the loss or damage.

If the Australian Consumer Law applies to goods or services we supply, and they are not of a kind ordinarily acquired for personal, domestic or household use or consumption, then to the extent permitted by section 64A of the Australian Consumer Law our liability for a failure to comply with a consumer guarantee is limited, at our option, to:

  • for services, supplying the services again or paying the cost of having the services supplied again

  • for goods, replacing or repairing the goods, or paying the cost of having the goods replaced or repaired.

13. Indemnity

You indemnify HES against loss, damage, costs and expenses that we reasonably incur as a direct result of your breach of these terms or your unlawful or unauthorised use of the website, except to the extent we caused or contributed to the loss. We will take reasonable steps to mitigate any loss we seek to recover from you.

14. Suspension and termination of access

We may suspend or end your access to the website or a member area if we reasonably believe that:

  • you have breached these terms

  • it is necessary to protect the security or integrity of the website, or the interests of other users

  • your institution's membership or your authorisation to use a member area has ended.

Where it is reasonably practicable, we will give you notice and an opportunity to resolve the issue first. Suspension or termination does not affect any rights that accrued beforehand, including rights under a separate agreement or under the Australian Consumer Law.

15. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of Victoria, Australia. You and HES submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Victoria and the courts of the Commonwealth of Australia sitting in Victoria.

The website is operated from Australia. If you access it from outside Australia, you are responsible for complying with the laws that apply where you are.

16. General

If any part of these terms is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that part is severed and the rest of these terms continues to apply. If we do not enforce a right under these terms straight away, that does not mean we have waived it.

17. Contact us

If you have a question about these terms, please contact us:

Higher Ed Services Pty Ltd (trading as HES)
ABN 31 060 566 029
PO Box 604, Ashburton VIC 3147
Phone: 1300 181 297
Online: Contact page