Why a ISO 27001 certified private university has a great reputation?

The higher education sector is very competitive for smaller universities which are privately operated. The local authorities tend to treat state universities with preference as they see private educational bodies as unnecessary luxury. Hence, privately run universities need to show that they are able to deliver a high quality education for the fees parents pay. Reality shows that private universities have to be ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified to remain competitive in a global market.

ISO 27001 Certification for private Universities and Colleges

So that a private college manages to achieve a successful audit of their Information security management system (ISMS), they need to adapt their documentation to match the particular business model they are following. There are a number of private universities with ISO 27001 certificates. They have proven that it is not an impossible task to achieve compliance with ISO standards. It takes time and effort but with a growing diversity in students and teaching staff, university operators are moving towards an international standardization of their processes and procedures. This also partly why academic organizations are writing their ISMS in English. So many academic educators have English as their common language, by which they communicate with the management of these educational institutions. This is an advantage also for the certification audit as there are more auditors able to inspect documents in english than in many local languages (e.g. Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, Polish).

Why is this important to your students?

Students attending private universities want to learn and be treated with respect. They are paying a substantial amount every semester, when they could get academic education for free at a state operated university. Universities traditionally try to gain the ISO 21001 Certificate for Education Management Systems, too. Nevertheless, in a digital world students want to use e-learning, Campus WiFi services and online research systems. They do not want to find out that their personal data or their research work has been compromized. They expect information security to be according to current industry standards. Unhappy students tend to let future students know that the university can not be trusted with sensitive data. Neglecting cyber security and not making an effort to be compliant with information security requirements will lead to falling student numbers. Up til today there are universities which do not make an effort to even comply with recent ISO 21001 updates. That should not be an excuse for a university body to operate efficient management systems.

9 Reasons to become an ISO 27001 certified University

Information security usually has its price as it requires universities and academic bodies to invest more effort into protecting the data of students, lecturers and academic research. A variety of market comparisons are ranking universities by the academic achievements, the quality of education and level of trustworthyness. Here are 9 key reasons for choosing an ISO 27001-certified university for studing or sponsering research:

  1. Mindfulness
  2. Independent audits
  3. Conforming to guidelines
  4. Competitive advantage
  5. Increase trust
  6. Exhibit obligation
  7. Better incident recovery
  8. Less vacation, less hustle
  9. Think globally

Mindfulness of certified Universities

An ISO 27001 Certification shows that the private university make a considerable effort to ensure information security. The the academic education body is committed to be compliant with ISO 27001 standard. Its operational and academic leadership is responsible for providing the necessary resources. Every staff member is responsible for protecting sensitive data. University Management is accountable and leads by their daily example. This also leads to academic staff being accountable for not complying with the policies and procedures of the ISMS. Other universitis without an ISO 27001 certificate do not demonstrate such a level of mindfulness in regards to protecting information from being manipulated, stolen or misused. Hence, a student or academic sponsor could be at risk of having their confidencial data (e.g. academic grades, donations, research papers, etc.) leaked. The university needs to have policies and procedures in place, that match the scope of  this particular private university. 

Independent audits

By engaging with an ISO 27001 certified university, you can expect their information security management system (ISMS) to be effective and efficient. The ISO 27001:2022 certificate must be issued by an accredited certification body (a.k.a. CAB). Such an accredited certification body will have assigned an audit team to inspect the ISMS of this private university. The auditors must evaluate how well that Information Security Management System is set up to address the needs of students, lecturers and academic accreditation regulations. A lac of proper governance could result in a downgrading of a university and in a consequent decline in new enrolments. This ISMS audit is conducted by a qualified lead auditor. Every memeber in the audit team must be independent from the university they are auditing.

Conforming to guidelines

Signing a sponsorship agreement with a university that holds a ISO 27001 Certification is most likely a smart choice. You can hope that this university follows guidelines in accordance with the international standard ISO 27001. The academic and operational leadership of the university understands its obligations towards you as a donor. Large donors are increasingly requiring proof of effective governance, before commiting to a substancial donation.

As a student who enrolls in an academic program of such certified university, you can expect the orgnaziation to be professional in its operations and security posture. Every lecturer should treat student data confidentially and not neglect information security.

Competitive advantage due to ISO 27001

If your university desires to become certified in accordance with ISO 27001, then you will gain a competitive advantage in the academic education market.

While writing on your ISMS documentation with all its policies and procedures, you will need to review your supplyiers and strategic partnerships. That review of suppliers will have to include online software suppliers, web hosters, cloud service providers and even academic joint ventures. By selecting suppliers which have an ISO 27001 Certification, your own academic organization will be seen as a more reliable academic institution by your peers and sponsors. Wealthy donors select recipients foremost based on trust and resilience.

Some large corporations have set guidelines prohibiting cooperation with universities, research institutes and schools which are not certified by ISO standards. As research institutes wants to access grants and attractive research projects they need a supply chain with an ISO 27001:2022 certificates. The proces towards ISO 27001 Certification is usually requiring 3 to 24 months. Writing an ISMS for a very diverse academic institution can be a challange. The ISMS must be implemented  in the organization to comply with the standard. The objective is at first, to successfully be audited by an accredited certification body. Maintaining an ISMS will be the long term goal as annual audits ensure this ISMS is not a fake piece of art.

Increase trust with ISO 27001 certified private University

New potential students want to be assured that their sensitive data is well protected. Some corporations wanting to partner with such an university, will have to do some form of due diligence before partnering. They too will have an ISMs in place, which demands of them to implement a supplier audit process. Questionnaires can be quite time consuming to answer, but an ISO 27001 certificate can help avoid such annual inquisitions by sponsors and other entities.  If the audit shows that the private university is unreliable due to its operational inconsistencies, it might become a problem for the stakeholder. The stakeholder could fear that its’ intellectual property might be at risk. This is an important reason why you should sign up with trustworthy suppliers. A university’s supply network needs a valid ISO 27001 Certification! Otherwise it might become a costly nonconformity. Large donor organizations have the experience in spotting inconsistencies in the universities they are considering to sponsor.

Exhibit obligation

The ISO 27001 Certification standard expects the university to be prepared for a potential data breach. The policies and procedures must be in place accross all campuses of the university. The security staff must know how to handle a scenario, where digital or analogue data could be at risk. An increasing number of audits show that an ISO 27001 Certificate can only remain valid, if the academic body is making an effort to improve its management system and strengthen its technical and organizational security measures. This gradually leads to the implementation of a SIEM or even a Security Operations Center. This security improvement will solidify security awareness and full commitment to information security at all levels of the organization. Not every threat can be anticipated and counteracted. The better the organisation is prepared the lower the risk exposure is to its students, staff and partners.

Better incident recovery abilities

If an incident does occur, a  university with a ISO 27001 Certification will often recover faster. An infrastructure failure or hacking will be overcome at a better rate, than unprepared university. Certified organizations are driven to regularly evaluate the occurrence and avoid potential risks. Consistent improvement ensures that the security efforts are matching the current risk environment. Be careful when universities claim to be certified but can not show proof of it. Only an ISO 27001 cerificate from an accredited certification body will be rated as a valid.

Less vacation, less hustle vs. reliability and trust

A ISO 27001 certified university will design its infrastructure and organizational processes to ensure their safety measures are effective. You will notice that a well organized private university is more productive, when handling any issue or complaint. Desorganized academic bodies usually have a lack of properly set up security measures. 

Think globally with an international recognized certificate

Should you decide to enroll with a foreign private university, you usually can be on the safe side by picking a university with ISO 27001 Certification. The international standards organization (ISO) ensures that all accreditation bodies make an effort to hold their licensed certification providers accountable to the audit standards of ISO. Hence, an ISO 27001 Certification will be valid from which ever country it may have been issued.

An ISO 27001-certified University brings more benefits

When you use an ISO 27001-certified university you are less at risk of experiencing a frightening data leak. Nevertheless, you need to do your own homework, too. With NiS 2.0 organisations are driven to only cooperate with certified organisations as senstive data is at stake.

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