From bulky textbooks to paper-thin iPads, it’s safe to say classrooms have changed a lot over the years—not to mention the pivot to remote learning during COVID-19 lockdowns.
As technology paves new paths of communication between students and institutions, and regulation becomes ever-more prescriptive and stringent, risks are changing fast across the education sector. Make sure you stay ahead of these top exposures.
Directors and officers who work for an education provider are responsible for setting and upholding academic standards—and bear the weight of personal liability as a result. They also have welfare responsibilities to uphold for staff and students, plus financial, administrative and performance obligations to meet.
At the same time, it’s common for providers to run big budgets. Say if funds are used improperly, individual executives and management teams can find themselves facing claims from third parties. Here, accurately dividing and paying staff benefits is a chief concern.
If the worst occurs and previous provision is found to be inappropriate, insurance is vital. It can help cover the costs that providers are legally obliged to pay, and give support for those incurred during the discovery process.
Since education providers hold detailed personal data on their students, data privacy and security are major concerns. Providers also tend to manage sensitive personal and financial data about employees, which all needs to be managed and protected in the right way.
As they house a wealth of potentially sensitive data, they’re unfortunately an attractive target for cyber criminals. In fact, UK government figures found that in 2022, 92% of higher education colleges suffered data breaches or cyber attacks in the past 12 months, compared to 39% of all UK businesses.
Cyber criminals are always evolving their nefarious methods. In some cases, parent email addresses have been stolen. Scammers can then send them fake invoices and directly receive payment for teaching and accommodation fees. This is just one example. Here’s another big one.
By taking out a cyber insurance policy, education providers get access to technical resources following any cyber event or privacy breach. And they can rest assured that they’ll have brand rehabilitation support and help towards the associated costs incurred by a cyber attack.
All educators, from tutors to larger schools, have professional exposure for negligent acts, errors, misstatements and more. This can include something as elementary as failure to educate, counsel or supervise the students in their care, and extends to errors in examinations and grading, or failure to follow appropriate admissions or expulsion procedures.
There’s also been an increase in the use of eLearning, also known as EdTech. Growing exponentially as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, eLearning is education or training conducted via electronic means, namely via video conferencing and other software solutions. eLearning intertwines traditional educators professional liability exposures with technology and cyber exposures. Having a robust package policy which responds to all of these areas is crucial for eLearning firms.
Modern educational facilities encompass everything from laboratories to 4G astroturf pitches. Think about the numbers of students using these facilities, and it’s easy to imagine the risks property can cause. Bodily injury can arise out of events like a fire or flood, or if the property fails—for example, a roof caves in or a staircase collapses. Insurance will help cover the cost of repairs and the costs associated with any injuries.
Further to supporting any reconstruction work, insurance can also provide cover for losses caused by business interruption. Re-housing students in different premises can be as costly as it is complex following a major loss.
It doesn’t bear thinking about, but since education providers gather lots of people in one space, they can be targeted by terrorists and active assailants. Different types of attack tend to have a different focus—some target buildings while others single out people.
Terrorism and sabotage insurance focuses mainly on property damage and business interruption losses and would respond, for example, if a school was intentionally set on fire or hit by a vehicle, in an act of sabotage or terrorism.
Active assailant cover is designed for events where an attacker targets people—students, teachers, administrators and so on.
Insurance helps to cover the compensation costs that arise from these attacks. It also provides for essential medical and psychiatric treatment required by victims, and gives immediate access to crisis management experts—vital in responding quickly and effectively if an attack occurs.
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All in all, education providers bear extensive property and liability exposures, and are a target for a wide range of criminal and violent attacks. It’s vital to have cover in place.
CFC is here to help. Get in touch to learn how we help providers protect their people and their assets, to mitigate risk.
