All the educational institutions, be it schools, colleges, universities etc. form the backbone of any economy or country. Without an effective and robust education system, an economy will face severe problems in the future. Managing this sector seems like a very simple task. But being engaged or employed in or running an educational Institution is not bereft of the due and mandatory Compliance requirements and rules that it has to cater and adhere to. Nowadays running an educational institution is almost as complicated as running a small town or a city. With the expanding range of various complex federal, state and local regulations, it is high time now that educational institutions also start taking care regarding the various compliance requirements that they have to maintain else they stand a risk of being counted among the institutions that are non-compliant and might be forced to shut-down.
There are some basic items that an institution has to keep in mind when aiming at a successful GRC program implementation. Firstly, it should have a proper document listing out the policies and procedures that the institution has to comply with. It has to maintain proper standards of compliance which will reflect the institution’s commitment to compliance. This should be done with the size and structure of the institution in mind. After this, it should develop a program oversight of the compliances and appoint a compliance officer to ensure that the standards of compliance are met. After this, the institution should take steps to ensure that the people of the institution are trained and educated regarding the compliance requirements of the particular college, university or school.
There should also be proper channels of communication in case one wants to report an instance of non-compliance. There should be no fear or threat for any person for such good faith reporting. Along with this, the institution should maintain a continuous system of audit and control to assess risk. In case an incident of non-compliance gets reported, due procedures of investigation and mitigation should be implemented to prevent further such instances of non-compliance.
The role of rules and regulations has always been to ensure institutional accountability. But the continuous compliance regarding legal requirements and the other compliances has led to the incurrence of huge costs, burdens and pressures to be handled by the educational institutions. A lot of productive man hours goes every year in maintaining physical records for compliance requirements. In doing so, there is also a risk of human error being committed. Along with this, a lot of time and effort is also invested as the institutions strive to implement, monitor and improve institutional compliance programs. While trying to manage so many compliances, the institutions tend to lose focus from its core mission, vision and goal.
Every institution should keep in check the GRC requirements and its updation. In this regard, SaaS GRC platforms like VComply will help as ensuring compliance is a dynamic process with a foundation of training and awareness. VComply will help you remain compliant, assess and mitigate risks and focus on what you aim to do – providing quality education!
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