ON CAMPUS
campusreview.com.au
University is susceptible to a variety of
risks. These can include anything from
the aforementioned fires or human
viral threats, to chemical spills, traffic
accidents, floods, damage to infrastructure
and buildings, and other extreme
weather events.
COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY TO
EFFECTIVE RESPONSE
geographical spread of many of these
institutions can make this a challenging
prospect. The Macquarie University
campus in Sydney, for example, spans
more than 126 hectares and brings
together more than 40,000 students,
5000 staff and countless visitors from the
surrounding community.
It is not only responsible for
communicating to its people located on
campus, but also to the thousands that
travel to the university daily, or work at
and travel between multiple university
locations. Most pertinently, its duty of
care extends to international students
and teachers who may travel out of the
country during term breaks.
Like at any university, the safety of staff
and students is of the utmost importance.
With people constantly coming and going
from campus, the need to be able to reach
them anywhere, on any device, and at any
time during an emergency is critical.
Surrounded by business parks, shopping
centres and bushland, and with different
organisations located on campus, such as
hospitals and research centres, Macquarie
In any environment, effective, real-time
communication is vital. In the event of an
incident, from a minor event such as a false
fire alarm to the most serious, such as a
terror attack, correct information needs to
be disseminated to staff and students, first
responders and other emergency services.
In critical circumstances, a delay of even a
matter of seconds can count.
There must also be the ability for
two-way communications where people
can confirm their safety and location,
further enhancing the efficiency for first
responders. Geo-targeted messages can
also help security operations contact staff
and students in need of assistance. For
those providing that duty of care, a fast
and effective response is also about having
approved emergency plans captured in a
robust, secure system.
Macquarie University’s campus security
manager, John Durbridge says: “To be
able to communicate quickly, effectively
and in real-time is absolutely critical in
an emergency.
“We have a large-scale operation
that requires a robust, interoperable
solution that can easily communicate
across multiple channels with multiple
people, including our security staff,
teachers, students and the campus
community – as well as police, fire and
emergency services.”
The duty of care for educational
institutions extends far beyond major
‘physical’ incidents. Schools and
universities are responsible for holding
significant amounts of personal data, and
they have a duty to keep that information
as safe and secure as their people.
This means using trusted systems to
ensure the protection of sensitive personal
details and any communications sent
or received.
Particularly in the case of the
coronavirus, another major challenge is
the spread of misinformation, exacerbated
by social media. However, if used in the
right way, social media can also be an
effective way of getting important updates
out to an audience.
Macquarie University uses an integrated
system that sends the same message
to students and staff through Twitter,
Facebook and desktop notifications, which
are aggregated into an RSS feed. This is
supplemented by text, telephone and email
notifications, plus an alert sent to security
staff through a dedicated first response
mobile app. This multi-modal approach
enables Macquarie University to reach a
wider audience from a trusted source.
TECHNOLOGY UNDERPINS
DUTY OF CARE
For Australian educational institutions,
there has never been a more important
time to ensure the safety and security
of staff, students, contractors and wider
communities that contribute to the
education environment.
Along with strict regulations, technology
underpins these obligations, to enable
effective communication, protection of
data, timely responses to incidents and
ongoing business continuity. However,
institutions must be able to trust that
technology to protect the people and
The recent bushfires,
floods and healthcare crises
have prompted educational
institutions to question whether
they are truly crisis-ready and
cyber-resilient.
information they are responsible for, and
ensure it’s easy to use, easy to maintain and
affordable within strict budgets.
The recent bushfires, floods and
healthcare crises have prompted
educational institutions to question
whether they are truly crisis-ready and
cyber-resilient. It’s time to think differently
about ‘duty of care’. The technology
choices to future-proof schools, colleges
and universities today will help define
their institutions tomorrow – and most
importantly, keep the next generation of
staff and students safe and secure. ■
David Nicol is managing director,
BlackBerry – Australia and New Zealand.
25