How can universities carry out data management during COVID-19?
How can universities carry out data management during COVID-19?
IT Data Solutions
Mark Lee, Key Accounts – Public Sector, Commvault, discusses the importance of carrying out a first-class data management strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
The continuing pandemic is putting many businesses, including those in the public sector, in a very difficult position. Universities, in particular, are facing immense pressures from students, parents, and even their own staff, as they attempt to navigate this situation as best they can. For university IT departments, there have been multiple plates to spin since the enforced lockdown measures. They have had to successfully enable a mass work-from-home and remote study strategy, all while keeping operations running safely, securely, and smoothly.
The technology underpinning universities could sometimes be considered very traditional. Once they have a reliable infrastructure in place, it can get overlooked when thinking of ways to modernise. After all, if it ain’t broke, why fix it – right? Unfortunately, COVID-19 has been the event that has made everyone sit up and pay attention to their systems. It’s impossible to predict right now if universities will ever function the same way again. With Cambridge University announcing no in-person lectures until September 2021 at the earliest, universities across the country will similarly be working out how to keep students and staff safe while still providing the expected university experience.
Recent changes mean failing to adapt is risky
The biggest problem for universities now is the loss of revenue. Many students may now choose to defer for a year, either because they are concerned about the virus or because they don’t want to miss out on the traditional student experience – or both! There will also likely be far less overseas students travelling to the UK in September to start their courses due to health concerns as well as international travel restrictions. Fewer students attending university in 2020/21 means a huge drop in revenue across the sector. With the loss of tuition fees alone predicted to cost British universities around £2.5 billion, senior leadership teams need to establish what will make students choose them over their competitors.
Vice-Chancellors, lecturers and other university staff have talked about making a change to their IT infrastructure for years – COVID-19 has made this become a necessity. Most, if not all, universities have had online teaching systems in place for years, where students can upload work, collaborate with their peers, and receive resources from their lecturers. Now that ‘learning from home’ is widespread, and will likely continue to some extent next year, IT departments need to consider how they can boost the measures they already have in place to make studying more effective for students.
Provisioning the best online education service will make one university stand out from the rest, and utilising data successfully is one of the most important factors for this. As students rely more on online classes and resources, universities need to consider what they can offer. For example, currently, if a student loses the data file of their dissertation a week before it’s due, the university wouldn’t take any responsibility because it would likely be on the student’s own device. One possibility of moving forwards is for universities to hold more responsibility for students’ work, which would be feasible with a shared working space. It may seem like more hassle, but with the right data management in place, the university would have the backups it needed to get students back on track immediately.
So, with thoughts like this in mind, what should universities be focusing on to mitigate the risks that the pandemic has created?
