Significantly, the University has introduced, through its subsidiary MU Services Limited, a new Defined Contribution Pension Scheme which all non-academic staff joining the University will be members of; this will mitigate the long-term risk associated with the existing defined benefit schemes.
— Infrastructure – Cybersecurity
Technology has become a bigger part of our daily and business lives and has a significant impact on the way we communicate, work, learn and live. Middlesex will continue to invest in new technologies and its network infrastructure to enhance the learning experience for students and to improve the way we work. Our use of technology had a significant role in our response to COVID-19 and our ability to continue our core activities whilst working and learning remotely. This couldn’t have happened without robust infrastructure in place.
With the ever growing reliance on technology comes greater risk. IT systems, applications and software become ever more vital. Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent move to a more blended form of working and learning, students and staff are increasingly reliant on the ability to log-in to the University’s systems remotely. A major disruption to our systems and network could have a significant impact on student experience and staff working from home. We are also dependent on the national infrastructure and individual students and staff members accessing the internet. The University provides support to those in need of help with access to its systems, for example supplying laptops on loan and Wi-Fi dongles.
With the increased online traffic, we are more exposed to attempted hacking into our systems and fraudulent attempts. The University has robust cyber security systems and plans to mitigate those risks, but the risk cannot be entirely eliminated; indeed the past year has seen an increasing number of HEIs being targeted by a cyber-attack. We promote cyber-security awareness among staff and students to support the University’s effort in combatting this risk; in addition we have set up a cyber-security group, introduced multi-factor authentication (2FA) and are in the initial phases of implementing an Enterprise Service Bus as a means of modernising the manner in which the University’s systems interface with each other.
GOING CONCERN
The University’s business activities and future activities are set out in the University annual report and overview on pages 4 to 72.
The forecast for 2021/22 indicates a scenario where the University may breach current loan covenants. The University has entered constructive dialogue with its lenders to restate any covenants in order to avoid any such breach. In the current forecasts, cash balances exceed the value of the outstanding loans.
See also accounting policies notes on page 105.
After reviewing the latest available information at its meeting on 17 January 2022 and having considered the various scenarios, based on the information known to the date of approval of this report and noting the available cash balances, the Board of Governors recognise that whilst there is uncertainty, these matters do not constitute a material uncertainty and consider that the University has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason the University continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the Financial Statements.
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Financial Statements 2020/21
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