Security Risk management for academic institutions

The issue of security in academic institutions of all levels has been starkly highlighted by events in the last decade. Education administrators are not only required to provide a high level of education but also owe a duty of care to all those under their jurisdiction whether they are in class, around campus or taking part in off-campus activities.

The threat of violence on campus is one that has long been present in schools and universities around the world but it was the events at Columbine High School in Colorado, USA in April 1999 that had the most profound impact. In this attack a total of 13 students were killed by two fellow students who then turned the guns on themselves. The Columbine High School massacre was in no way an isolated incident and many other similar events have been witnessed around the world - 24 in the USA alone since Columbine and another 15 in schools and universities globally that have claimed many lives and injured countless others. (Perhaps the worst such case was the Virginia Tech massacre in April 2007 when a student shot 32 students before killing himself).

Aside from physical injury, the effects of these incidents can be extensive. The loss of life and trauma of an event can have a great emotional toll on a community necessitating counselling for students, staff and families of those affected by the event. Such an event can also have serious damaging effects on an institutions reputation resulting in huge public relations expenses. Further costs such as extra security, substitute teachers and medical costs can mount up to make an incident damaging to an institution both in human and financial terms.

Violence however is just one of many threats to the safety of students and the financial well being of an institution. Universities in particular have diversified their activities which in turn have created a new wave of risks.

Many universities have extensive research facilities of which some will include testing on animals. This brings with it the risk of threats from animal rights activists to injure researchers or to damage property. Researchers at the University of California have twice been targeted in such a way in the recent past. In 2006 a researcher ended up halting his experiments on primates after he received threats from an animal activist group, his personal details were placed on group's website and a bomb that was meant for the researcher was mistakenly placed in front of the wrong house. In 2007 an animal welfare group put a bomb under the car of a researcher who had been experimenting on cats and primates, though thankfully the bomb malfunctioned and did not explode.

A huge source of revenue growth for universities has come from international expansion in the form of study abroad programs and overseas campuses. While this offers wonderful opportunities for the students, it brings with it a greater exposure to a range of security risks such as political instability, kidnapping and unlawful detention.

Eight undergraduates and their staff leader from Cornell University were caught up in the post-election violence in Kenya in January 2008. They were forced to evacuate their compound and make a 40 mile journey, without security, to the Ugandan border. This highlights how the political situation in a country can change overnight and students can suddenly find themselves in a very different environment to the one they signed up to.

Kidnapping is a common threat in many areas of the world and the victims are often targeted due to their personal or companies' wealth or perceived wealth. Targets can also be selected because of who they are and where they are from which can often make students an easy target. In June 2006, a 20-year-old US exchange student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem was kidnapped by a Palestinian gunman who threatened to kill him if Israel did not release Palestinian prisoners. A videotape had been released showing the student wearing a kippa and holding his Hebrew University ID card. He was released the following day.

When studying abroad, students can fall victim to foreign laws, whether we feel them to be lawful or otherwise. A PhD student from Duke University was detained by Armenian authorities in 2005 for nearly two months and convicted of smuggling academic books out of the country. The student was arrested at the airport trying to leave the country with almost 100 second-hand books he had bought for his dissertation.

By the nature of their activities, universities increasingly manage network threats such as cyber extortion and the threat to release confidential personal information. In 2003, a medical transcriptionist in Karachi, Pakistan tried to extort money out of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, from whom work had be sub-contracted.

As a result in the increasing frequency and severity of these violent and other security-related incidents, academic institutions are coming under greater pressure to have suitable risk management practices in place. This involves the ability to display they have done as much work as possible pre-incident to help mitigate the risk while also putting in place the correct procedures so that any incident is handled in the best way possible and post-incident loss and damage is kept to a minimum.

Any academic institution should review their insurances to see whether their Personal Accident cover responds in the event of assault on students and staff. They should also consider whether those students and staff that are travelling abroad are covered for evacuation expense, tuition reimbursement and emergency assistance expense if there is a sudden incidence of political instability that necessitate departure from that foreign country.

JLT can offer a solution in the form of the Academic Security Risk Management Program which has been designed to tackle the range of complex security related risks facing academic institutions today. It not only puts in place important financial insurance cover but also offers both pre-loss prevention advice and post-loss assistance with the help of expert security consultants. It can play a unique and vital role in an institution's efforts to incorporate security and risk management into their core business practices.

For more information on the School Security Program, the Academic Security Risk Management Program or Kidnap & Ransom Insurance, please contact:

Charlie Matheson
Associate, Jardine Lloyd Thompson Limited
Direct Tel: +44 (0) 20 7528 4177
Email: Click Here