Brian Sims
Editor
Brian Sims
Editor
THE ASSOCIATION of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) has announced plans to increase its global reach, at the same time expanding its range of services and the benefits available for members. With membership already including security staff at 228 higher education institutions worldwide, AUCSO is now targeting significant expansion in the Americas, the Middle East and South East Asia.
The development plans were confirmed as Les Allan (pictured) took on the role of AUCSO chair, with Ollie Curran becoming vice-chair. The newly-appointed leadership duo want to facilitate more sharing of Best Practice internationally to help drive up standards of safety, security and protection for students, academics and staff, including those on placement or travelling overseas.
“The higher education sector is a vitally important global community and one which benefits from co-operation across borders and across continents,” explained Les Allan. “This collaboration must extend to security and safety services as well. AUCSO is already playing a vital role in making this happen and we will now be building on that work.”
As well expanding global representation, AUCSO’s new leadership team will be launching a more ambitious programme of events and online activities, including a new series of webinars which will be streamed live and archived for members-only access.
The first session will focus on the pandemic and evaluate how AUCSO’s different international groups have coped with the crisis, with speakers from Dublin, Belgium and Australia sharing their perspectives. The following webinar will address the subject of counter-terrorism and the threats posed by organised crime, with a series of further topics for 2021 to be confirmed.
Innovative technology
Les Allan brings to his chairmanship of AUCSO the same energy that he has applied to transforming security at Heriot-Watt University’s five international campuses. Allan serves as director of safeguarding services for this prestigious seat of learning.
In this role he has championed the use of innovative technology (such as CriticalArc’s SafeZone) to enhance the reach of university safeguarding provision. Indeed, Allan’s work has led to multiple security industry awards and global recognition.
Oliver Curran is the deputy security manager at University College London and has represented AUCSO in The Security Commonwealth since 201, becoming a Board member in April 2020.
Allan is excited to be leading AUCSO as the sector emerges from the global pandemic. “There’s little doubt that security teams in our sector have faced significant and unforeseen challenges and have delivered exemplary front line services to our respective institutions over this past year,” he told Security Matters. “We all need to build on that experience, sharing Best Practice to ensure that security continues to become more professional and that it evolves at pace to support our institutions.”
He continued: “I’m particularly delighted that Oliver Curran is our new vice-chair. He brings a very varied skill set to the table and vast experience to our team. Together with our Executive Committee and our wider membership, we aim to enhance AUCSO for the benefit of all.”
Forum for members
AUCSO is the primary association for security professionals working in universities, colleges and institutions of higher and further education globally. It provides a forum for members to exchange knowledge, information and Best Practice relating to security management within the sector, liaising with Government agencies on current areas of concern and providing training for members that’s focused on a range of issues.
*Further information on AUCSO is available online at https://www.aucso.org/
