In the past year, the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in the higher education sector, with the majority now anticipating that a hybrid learning model blending digital and in-person teaching methods remain the norm.
In the past year, the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in the higher education sector, with the majority now anticipating that a hybrid learning model blending digital and in-person teaching methods remain the norm. This will require far more than simply translating traditionally delivered material to on-demand media. To remain competitive universities must embed the digital experience into their curricula from the ground up. Students in 2021 expect seamless integration of the systems they use for learning, to facilitate an increasingly personalised service delivery which meets their individual needs and preferences. While this new digital environment brings many advantages, there are also challenges for IT departments in integrating new technology.
The role of technology in higher education is now front and centre on the agenda, but the success of digital transformation programmes in the sector requires engagement from stakeholders across departments, who can offer valuable insights into the needs of future students. The landscape is shifting so rapidly that designing a digital strategy purely around the way the university currently operates is likely to render it outdated almost before it is implemented. Successful digital transformation projects will require universities to procure new software and platforms in alignment with current needs, whilst also allowing for development over time as students’ learning habits, living patterns, and expectations change.
Contract governance is key. Once an IT solution has been procured, all too often its implementation and support are managed without reference, or with only minimal reference, to the contract itself. However, the contract is central to managing risk, and often includes helpful provisions enabling a dissatisfied customer to exert pressure on the supplier, which can assist in renegotiating terms where that is desired. Where changes to the contractual scope are required, it is important to document them using the contractual mechanism for doing so, in order to record agreement as to whether the supplier or the customer is liable for any concomitant increase in costs, and as to the impact of the changes on the contractual timescale.
Third party IP rights must be kept under review. Higher Education Institutions need to monitor how they are licensing software to ensure that the arrangements they have in place adequately match the ways in which students and other users are accessing their systems, particularly as student living and working patterns become more flexible in the future. Issues can arise where, for example, there are geographical restrictions on where software can be accessed, and students’ locations cannot be as accurately predicted as was the case prior to COVID-19.
Data security. Universities hold a vast amount of personal data relating to students and staff, as well as valuable data generated through research. As such, they are attractive targets for cyber-attacks. In addition, there are many more routes into a university’s network than is the case for most large companies, by virtue of the number of students connecting personal devices to the university network. It is almost impossible to protect fully against a cyber-attack and so having robust and defensible processes in place to deal with one when it occurs is essential. This should include GDPR and IT security training for all staff, as well as having technical and organisational measures in place to ensure (as far as possible) that cyber attackers will not be able to access systems, and disaster recovery and business continuity plans to implement in the event of a major incident, as these factors are taken into account by the ICO when setting the level of any fine following a data breach.
Systems integration. Traditional departmental structures make decentralised IT systems a common feature in many universities. The result can be a web of disparate infrastructure which can hinder the adoption of new technologies due to the difficulty and cost of integrating legacy systems with new systems. Where new systems are procured, a thorough analysis of the need giving rise to the procurement, and level of customisation of the new solution required in order to integrate it with existing systems should be conducted in conjunction with the supplier, to mitigate the risk of expensive changes to project scope, and arguments about who should pay, later on.
The focus should always be on avoiding disputes with suppliers in the first place. In many cases this can be achieved through more active contract management, and through building sufficient flexibility into new contractual arrangements to be able to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape of student needs. Where difficulties or disputes do arise, early analysis of the parties’ contractual obligations against what has happened is paramount, to avoid inadvertently waiving any valuable contractual or common law rights and to ensure that all available legal mechanisms can be deployed to best advantage to manage risk and resolve the issue.
For further information and support on any of the above issues, contact Sophie Ashcroft, one of our Partners specialising in technology disputes.
There’s been little evidence of interventions or financial management reviews this year and it appears the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has re-focussed on financial delivery. It’s also telling that there were no discernible changes to the reporting of financial irregularities in the Academies Trust Handbook 2022.
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There’s greater opportunity than ever for parents, carers and guardians to voice any concerns they have relating to their child’s education and for their concerns to be heard and to be taken seriously. While most staff in schools and academies are conscious of their legal duties relating to complaints management, many are struggling to cope with such a significant increase in the volume of complaints they must manage.
We’re pleased to collaborate with Lloyds Bank, who recently asked us and audit and risk specialists Crowe UK to offer guidance that academy trusts would find helpful when considering setting up a trading subsidiary.
The DfE has published new guidance and opened the application process for window two of the Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) for 2022/2023, with a fund of £86m in trust capacity funding focused particularly on education investment areas.
The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was established in March 2015. We now have its report. As you would expect with such a broad scope, the report is long and makes a number of far-reaching recommendations. In this article, Dai Durbridge highlights seven of the 20 recommendations, sets out how they could impact on schools and suggests what steps to take now.
Browne Jacobson’s education team has been named as winner of the ‘Legal Advisors to Education Institutions’ category at the Education Investor Awards 2022 for a record sixth time.
Since the new Suspensions and Exclusions Statutory Guidance was published, we have received a lot of questions about the use of managed moves. For the first time, the Statutory Guidance does explain what a managed move is, but in relatively broad terms and does not cover the mechanics of how a managed move should operate.
Over 3000 young people from across the UK and Ireland took part in a virtual legal careers insight event, aimed at making the legal profession more diverse.
Holly Quirk, an associate barrister in Browne Jacobson’s Manchester office, was awarded the Legal Professional of the Year Award at this year’s Manchester Young Talent Awards.
The risk of assault against staff is, sadly, something that all schools need to consider carefully. Here one legal expert explains what they can do to protect staff and ensure they fulfil their duty of care.
Browne Jacobson’s education team has again been confirmed as a national powerhouse after securing five Tier 1 rankings relating to Education in the latest edition of Legal 500 and maintaining a Band 1 UK-wide ranking for Education in Chambers & Partners UK 2023.
Created at the end of the Brexit transition period, Retained EU Law is a category of domestic law that consists of EU-derived legislation retained in our domestic legal framework by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. This was never intended to be a permanent arrangement as parliament promised to deal with retained EU law through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (the “Bill”).
In this article we set out the criteria, expectations and support schools should consider if notified they fall within this new category.
The words “Grammar schools” are once again being whispered in government and the question of whether the creation of new grammar schools will finally be implemented as a central focus to DFE policy has re-surfaced.
As a result of a recent Charity Commission legal action, the former trustee of a Welsh charity was ordered to pay over £117,000 to Wrexham charities which support cancer patients.
Academy trusts no longer need to seek consent for contractual indemnities within the ‘normal course of business’. What do trusts need to consider?
