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Access is now available to the full report for further details.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The Value of Survey Data

How many times have you wondered, why should I complete a survey? What do they do with the data they collect? Here is what has been happening with the data collected from the 2022 Disaster Resilient Universities (DRU) Enterprise Risk Management Survey. The survey focused on enterprise risk management (ERM), emergency management, planning, and training, and COVID-19 leadership.

The Disaster Resilient Universities Network and the University of Oregon Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments (IROCE) hosted a roundtable discussion this past December, to review the survey findings and discuss next steps and actions that can help institutions of higher education (IHEs) cultivate ERM programs on their campus. They gathered safety, risk management, emergency management, and compliance professionals from eight IHEs. URMIA was represented at the roundtable discussion by Lou Drapeau, URMIA’s resource manager, and Sue Liden, URMIA’s education manager.

Discussion of Survey Results Lead to Recommendations for Institutions’ ERM Programs

The roundtable discussion and related survey were facilitated by the University of Oregon Safety and Risk Services Team, in conjunction with the IROCE and DRU Network. Andre Le Duc from the University of Oregon facilitated the group discussions on ERM maturity and methods to link, leverage, and align ERM programs with another IHE’s ERM program. The assembled group reviewed the findings, discussed challenges, and identified potential recommendations that professional organizations, groups, and networks might implement to assist IHEs in addressing the challenges they experience with growing, linking, and leveraging their ERM programs.

Identified Challenges

Many IHEs face challenges when attempting to define and improve ERM and organizational resilience on their campuses. Some of the challenges the group identified include:

• Low awareness and understanding of what ERM is and how it fits within IHE
• Difficulty obtaining buy-in, participation, and accountability from IHE leaders
• Challenges integrating ERM programs into IHE culture
• Trouble measuring the maturity of ERM programs
• Difficulty tying ERM programs to IHE strategy and budget allocation
• Lack of time and resources to start, grow, and manage ERM programs

Recommendations to Those Identified Challenges

The group discussed the following potential recommendations that professional organizations, networks, and groups might implement to help the IHEs address these challenges:

• Conduct a follow-up ERM specific survey
• Form a partnership among IHE ERM professionals
• Develop an ERM benchmarking tool for IHEs
• Create and host ERM webinars for IHEs
• Develop ERM best practices/resources/ERM framework guidance

Resources for More Survey Information & ERM Program Help

The complete summary of the DRU Roundtable on Enterprise Risk Management, “Defining and Improving Enterprise Risk Management Frameworks and Maturity Models in Institutions of Higher Education” is available on the University of Oregon - Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities, and Environments website.

The URMIA webinar of André Le Duc’s December 19, 2022 presentation of the survey findings is available here and details of the 2022 DRU National Higher Education Program Survey Results can be found here.

Looking for more information on ERM? URMIA has several options:

URMIA’s Library

URMIA’s Resource Guide

Join URMIA’s Higher Ed ERM Community. Contact the URMIA Office.

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