Higher Education and Travel Risks

Transcription

1 Higher Education and Travel Risks INTRODUCTION In a rapidly changing global environment Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), in common with many successful commercial organisations, regard the safety and well-being of those under their care as an absolute priority. For HEIs this duty of care extends not only to employees deployed globally but also to students and academics carrying out numerous activities including work placements, study abroad and research. HEIs are particularly exposed to what is accepted as the need to operate globally with increasing cultural, financial and operational pressures. Recent examples such as the British student from Birmingham University killed in Jerusalem on Good Friday 2017 and two medical students from Newcastle University murdered in Borneo in 2014, serve as reminders that those under an HEI s duty of care can be exposed to dangerous situations wherever they are. Through our work with HEIs, Arthur J. Gallagher has gained an insight into the need for appropriate risk management systems to be put in place - which can address safe travel and international operations. This requirement increases in complexity when systems need to be a combination of robust, flexible, relevant and cost-efficient. With this in mind, Arthur J. Gallagher s specialist Education practice brought together a group of insurance and risk managers from the UK HEI sector with representatives from commercial organisations including experts from the safe travel industry, risk and insurance consultants and advisors, to participate in a Round Table exercise aimed at identifying and discussing the key issues, how they are being tackled and to share best practice. In addition, Arthur J. Gallagher issued a Travel Risks Survey to insurance and risk managers across the University sector in the UK. The output from both the Round Table event and the Travel Risks survey is contained within this white paper. We hope you find this information to be a useful resource that supports your efforts to establish a safe travel environment within your own organisation. 1 in 5 UK undergraduate students went abroad as part of their degree during Philip Webster Executive Director - Education M: +44 (0) E: phil_webster@ajg.com Tim Devine Managing Director Public Sector & Education M: +44 (0) E: tim_devine@ajg.com

2 ROUND TABLE PARTICIPANTS Sue Banbury, Insurance & Risk Manager, University of Leicester Ben Cooper, Director PEAR Insights Tim Devine, Manging Director, Public Sector & Education, Arthur J. Gallagher Anne Hudson, Insurance Manager Northumbria University Nour Hussein, Travel Risk Advisor, International SOS Justin Priestley, Executive Director, Crisis Management, Arthur J. Gallagher Anita Randall, Insurance Officer, University of Portsmouth Grant Thomas, Director Special Risks / Accident & Health, Arthur J. Gallagher Phil Webster, Executive Director Education, Arthur J. Gallagher

3 THE ENVIRONMENT Internationally mobile organisations HEIs are now recognised as global organisations, in terms of staff and students as well as operations. Recent studies show that during , 1 in 5 UK undergraduate students went abroad as part of their degree, representing substantial increases from 1 in 21 for the previous year 1. The study shows that the majority of overseas activities undertaken by students were part of organised schemes such as Erasmus. However, anecdotal evidence from our discussions tells us that there is a significant amount of mobility where organisation and approval is left to individuals. The number of students coming from overseas to study in the UK is also increasing rapidly with the year seeing record levels UK HE now attracts more international students each year than any other country, with 106 nations increasing the number of students coming to the UK and new enrolments growing by 5% compared to This exacerbates issues when overseas students return to study in their country of origin, which may be seen as dangerous or unsafe by the institution or the travel industry, but is considered to be safe - they are going home - by the staff member or student. HEIs are increasingly looking to establish themselves internationally. Our recent Travel Risks Survey identified that 53% of those asked had a Pro Vice Chancellor responsible for International Development, with key areas of focus including international campus development, overseas student recruitment and overseas investment 3. Around 50 overseas campuses of UK HEIs already exist, and this is a trend that is very likely to increase. How are risks currently managed? Arthur J. Gallagher s Travel Risks Survey identified that insurance and risk managers within HEIs generally sit under the Finance, Procurement or Estates functions within their organisations, with the management of travel risks taking a high percentage of time and importance for the majority of respondents. To what area do you report within your institution? 11% 21% Legal 5% Finance 63% Other Estates Source: Arthur J. Gallagher Travel Risks Survey Universities UK Gone international: mobility works Report on the graduating cohort Arthur J. Gallagher Travel Risks Survey 2017

4 How is the management of travel risk to your insurance department? Roughly what percentage of your insurance personnel s time is spent on the management of travel risk (including the handling of claims)? Source: Arthur J. Gallagher Travel Risks Survey % 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% Less than 10 % Whilst the management of insurance and risk surrounding overseas travel tends to rest with the Insurance Manager, overall responsibility for travel risk does not always necessarily sit with them. Some institutions report that individual schools within the University are responsible for managing their own travel risks, whereas others have a combined approach with the insurance office, finance and travel departments all being involved: Which department within your institution has overall responsibility for managing travel risk? Not Somewhat Important Very Extremely Source: Arthur J. Gallagher Travel Risks Survey 2017 Most 58% of survey respondents advised that they currently use a tool to manage and monitor travel risks, with the majority (71%) of those believing that the tool was effective in monitoring the location of staff and students. However, when asked if they feel confident that international staff and student travel is managed effectively, 62% of respondents stated that they were not very confident or not confident at all that this was the case. Some commented that whilst use of central travel systems is mandatory within their organisation, individual travel is still being booked. Having an accurate picture of where students and staff are when travelling abroad appears to be a goal which many of those completing the survey are yet to achieve. In addition, 46% responded that their organisation has experienced incidents or near misses involving staff or students whilst overseas with examples including staff being caught up in a military coup, students in Nepal during the earthquake and low level crime / illness. CASE STUDIES: The following case studies demonstrate the type of incident which could affect staff or students when overseas. Political risk An International PhD student at a leading UK university was kidnapped in Cairo while researching the Egyptian political system and the role of Trade Unions. His body was later found outside the city limits and while initially presumed to be a road traffic accident, the autopsy determined he had been tortured. This caused a political and diplomatic incident between the university and the student s home country, with involvement at a senior level between the University, the UK and Italian government and the Egyptian authorities. This highly distressing case highlights the importance of making an informed risk-based, rather than academic led, decision and being able to accurately track and mitigate the risk of students travelling and studying in politically unsound areas. Natural Disaster An earthquake occurred in Nepal. A UK university quickly identified that 10 students were at the incident location, and ed each of them to confirm their safety. All students ed to confirm they were safe. It later emerged that an enrolled student had been killed at the scene albeit they were not on University business. The case highlighted effectiveness of safe travel procedures and also raised questions as to what extent the University s duty of care extended when students are abroad, even when on non-university business. Medical Emergency A tutor experienced a heart attack overseas and was placed in a hospital with poor medical facilities. His travelling companion contacted the emergency helpline but found the process uncoordinated, with too many stages and taking longer than necessary. This highlights the need for a streamlined approvals process. Crime Two British medical students were stabbed to death in Borneo after an argument with a local man and one of the victims before the killing. The students were in the final week of a six-week work placement at a hospital in Kuching, a city in one of the two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Crime A British student was the victim of an attack on a light rail train in Jerusalem on Good Friday. The student was from Birmingham University who had been on an exchange programme with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem since January Other Health & Safety Insurance & Risk team No specific department Source: Arthur J. Gallagher Travel Risks Survey 2017

5 WHAT ARE THE KEY ISSUES? The group discussed key areas that they feel require understanding and consideration when establishing a travel policy to encourage safe practices for HEIs. Some common themes throughout the HEI sector were identified Globalisation We recognised that HEIs are now operating as global organisations. With the impact of Brexit this is only likely to increase as HEIs seek funding, research grants, staff and students outside of the traditional European arena. This exposure is not just limited to increasing numbers of international students (with more from emerging economies i.e. South-East Asia / South America) but will also include more overseas placements for both domestic UKbased students and international students returning home there. Consideration also needs to be given to increased collaboration evidenced in joint-courses, where international study is an intrinsic element. HEIs will have senior management dedicated to administering, managing and overseeing international work and involvement. Physical operations including international campuses and joint-ventures are also on the increase. Research and academic freedom HEIs are an environment for academic excellence. Staff are often at the forefront of their academic discipline and the subsequent need to be pioneers in their respective fields means that academic freedom is a pre-requisite for developing and achieving results. This can sometimes be at odds with the organisations subsequent duty of care to its staff and students. Financial HEIs face increasing budgetary pressures and administrative and compliance requirements are often the focus for costefficiencies. Individual faculty budgets may compromise decisions as to whether to take necessary steps to ensure safe travel. Culture Administrative and compliance functions can be viewed as bureaucratic hurdles to be overcome. Perceptions of risk can be different depending on experience, location and background. Operations HEIs can be complex organisations administratively. This can make tracking and monitoring of staff and students difficult. There may be multiple functions responsible for establishing a safe travel policy (HR / Insurance / Compliance & Risk / Academic faculties). Sharing of relevant risk information can be difficult. The Changing Face of Risk With increased competition and a focus upon the student experience, HEI s, like their commercial counterparts, recognise the rise of their reputational risk and how negative publicity, exacerbated by use of social media, can have an adverse impact on their brand. Insurance vs Duty of Care conflict The insurance cover that an HEI has procured and negotiated should not be the basis of decision-making around safe travel. Travel insurance is often negotiated to encompass all eventualities with policy exclusions only applying to the most dangerous countries. This should be not be the basis of a robust risk assessment process as insurance should be the final, and not the first, line of defence in safe travel. Incident response A key aspect of a robust safe travel policy is its ability to respond at a time of crisis and provide the necessary information to inform and educate, and enable informed decisions to be taken. Defining safe environments The impact of terrorist incidents in mainland Europe has highlighted that countries previously defined as safe have the potential for being a target. This increases the complexity of a robust risk assessment process and highlights the need to inform and educate travellers in advance of trips. HOW CAN HEIs BETTER MANAGE THEIR TRAVEL RISKS? The panel agreed that the development of a safe travel policy which has buy-in and sponsorship from senior levels within the organisation is key to better managing travel risks. Senior level sponsorship and vertical alignment As with any successful internal strategy it is imperative that senior level sponsorship and objective-setting are secured and agreed upon.

6 Emergence of the role of Pro Vice- Chancellors with specific responsibility for development of International and Global participation and operations is an opportunity to secure this. Highlight to them the key benefits in establishing a formal safe travel policy. Understand which individuals within each division of the HEI need to be included. Identify key stakeholders in the strategy and encourage a close working relationship. Highlight to each the reputational and financial benefits of this work. Keep stakeholders regularly briefed and include all in the final sign-off. Review and analysis of existing policies and procedures Develop and produce a proposed strategy document for deployment of staff and students including where training should be mandatory and the physical and procedural security measures the policies should address. Implement a formal safe travel programme including behavioural requirements for individuals deployed. Provide guidance on what the HEI envisages to be Best Practice, ensuring clarity across the organisation. Intelligence-led risk assessment process Develop and implement an intelligenceled multi-layered safe travel risk assessment process. Dove-tailing with the overall strategy (point 1 above) and reviewing and analysis of existing policies and procedures (point 2 above), the panel agreed that establishing a robust and comprehensive risk assessment process would be of benefit. This should be informed by up to date and accurate travel information. Identified individuals within the HEI should take the responsibility for undertaking risk assessment. Appropriate training should be provided. A defined approval process involving independent verification of the risk assessment should be designed and implemented. Inform and educate An HEI can go a long-way towards maintaining its duty of care by providing accurate and timely information to staff and students. This could include pre-travel alerts, particularly to those countries risk-assessed as having severe, high or increasing threat levels, as well as pre-deployment safety and security information. Consider pre-travel or pre-deployment awareness courses including the provision of a briefing pack to severe or high threat environments. Provision of on-line safe travel training packages available to all staff and students. Formal safe travel training for staff or students undertaking regular travel. Clear and understood Crisis Management Plan Establish an emergency response programme including immediate action advice and evacuation planning. Provision of funds to enable travellers to make appropriate arrangements in event of an emergency. Identify generic principals that will be employed in order to manage a crisis. Investigate potential for push notifications to help identify and support travellers in crisis or requiring emergency support. Insurance included as part of the overall risk management strategy Often insurance is divorced from either the operational or strategic risk management policy within an HEI. Recognising that insurance plays a key part of the risk control cycle, it is imperative that insurance managers/ officers play a substantial role in identifying and assessing the risks that a safe travel policy seeks to address. Include insurance providers in identifying travel management tools and include requests for support in future insurance procurement exercises. Promote the insurance function as facilitators of safe travel rather than barriers to future academic research. Industry standards It is believed that there is no current industry standard around best practice for HEIs and their safe travel policies and procedures. As with other accreditations there would be value in determining what is intrinsic in such a standard. Liaison with industry bodies such as the University Health and Safety Association (USHA) to establish such an accreditation.

7 THE SEVEN STEPS TOWARDS SAFE TRAVEL 1 Universities are large and sometimes complex organisations. As with any successful strategy secure and agree upon senior level sponsorship around establishing a coherent and clear Travel Risk Management policy and the benefits of this and why this should be progressed. 2 Determine 3 Access 4 Identify 5 Ensure 6 Liaise 7 Ensure a robust and accessible procedure for completion of Travel Risk Assessments. Ensure that such a process has some aspect of over-sight outside of the travellers and trip facilitators. Where possible access facilities which provide for easy access of travel information and provision of associated documentation. all relevant internal staff that will have an input into and be responsible for administering and communicating your Travel Risk Management policy. This will usually include HR, Insurance, International Division, Legal, where in situ a Pro-Vice Chancellor responsible for International development and the various academic faculties. and liaise with external parties who can help develop the support you need to make intelligence-led decisions when completing and submitting Travel Risk Assessments. This includes security alerts, updates on trouble spots and latest crisis information as well as more detailed country information. the Travel Risk Management policy includes aspects relating to Emergency and Crisis response. Liaise with your Insurance function around this and include support provided by Insurers under associated policies. with your Procurement team to ensure compliance with relevant legislation and regulations and that external provision is secured on best value terms and on a unified and co-ordinated basis. there is institution-wide communication of any new strategies. Focus on the key benefits which will hopefully deliver including safer and better informed travel, cost reductions from providers, co-ordinated and clear policies and greater understanding of the University s duty of care and how this is being met and demonstrated.

8 CONCLUSION In 2017, the world for HEIs can seem both a smaller and more dangerous place as improvements in technology make communication better than ever, but political uncertainty generates increased risk. Whilst it is recognised that the management of safe overseas travel within the HEI sector is not an easily solvable situation, it is also recognised that there is much good work being undertaken by individual institutions. Our intention for this white paper is that by sharing experiences and ideas, some common consensus can be achieved. There have undoubtedly been great improvements in how HEIs respond to and handle crises involving staff and students overseas. It is recognised that huge strides have been made in ensuring staff and students are both safer and have access to the advice they need when confronted with an emergency or crisis. HEIs operate globally where the risks are diversifying and changing. HEIs are increasing in size and complexity and technology is opening up both new risks and ways in which to manage these. Like all involved in the world of risk - insurers, brokers, consultants - HEI insurance and risk managers need to be open to taking charge and managing these trends. Those who don t may find themselves facing legal, financial and reputational damage. The staff and students of any HEI are their most asset. The challenge before us all is how we seize the opportunity to learn and educate in a safe, intelligent and positive manner. ARTHUR J. GALLAGHER EDUCATION TEAM The Arthur J. Gallagher Education Team is committed to the greater mission of risk management. We re not just specialists in coverage and prevention we also dedicate ourselves to understanding and furthering the interests of higher education. Colleges and Universities face a unique set of challenges when it comes to risk management. Few other businesses have exposures as broad as those you grapple with everything from campus security, employment practices, student life and vehicle use issues to study abroad, environmental hazards and intellectual property rights. We are committed to providing each client with the resources needed to manage their risks effectively. For more information, visit us at Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered Office: Spectrum Building, 7th Floor, 55, Blythswood Street, Glasgow G2 7AT. Registered in Scotland. Company Number: SC FP Exp: This white paper is not intended to give legal or financial advice, and, accordingly, it should not be relied upon. It should not be regarded as a comprehensive statement of the law and/or market practice in this area. In preparing this white paper we have relied on information sourced from third parties and we make no claims as to the completeness or accuracy of the information contained. You should not act upon (or should refrain from acting upon) information in this white paper without first seeking specific legal and/or specialist advice. Arthur J. Gallagher Insurance Brokers Limited accepts no liability for any inaccuracy, omission or mistake in this white paper, nor will we be responsible for any loss which may be suffered as a result of any person relying on the information contained herein.