Digital Audit for Higher Education Institutions

Introduction:

The global pandemic has shown how important it is for institutions to have a safe and efficient digital infrastructure. This shows how important it is for institutions to have a safe and efficient digital infrastructure. A big part of how strong this infrastructure is how well it is run. For example, teaching, learning, examination, evaluation, co-curricular activities, research and innovations- all work together when an institution has a strong digital presence. As a result, digital activities should be thought of as a single area of expertise, not an add-on to other things. The term "digital security" refers to the resources that are used to protect your online identity, data, and other things. Web services, antivirus software, smartphone SIM cards, biometrics, and encrypted personal gadgets are some of the tools that can help you stay safe.

What is Digital and Cyber Security Audit Mechanism for Higher Education Institutions?

There is a "overlay" that connects all of the institution's traditional departments and activities, such as teaching, learning, examination, evaluation, co-curricular activities, research and innovations- and so on. This "overlay" is called the "digital presence." Digital activities should be thought of as a single area of expertise rather than an add-on to your current job. Larger institutions may be able to set up a specific Chief Digital Officer (CDO) role to coordinate all of their digital efforts. Smaller institutions may have to use their existing management structures to coordinate their digital efforts.

 

Digital Governance Framework :

A digital governance framework will set up clear decision-making and accountability for managing digital content, no matter what kind of institutions is in charge of digital operations. A person or group who is in charge of digital governance makes sure that an institution's important data is organised and kept safe, as well as how that data is shared with outside websites, social media, and intranets. Digital policies, data standards, and data classification rules are often used to apply the governance structure to the digital world. A strong digital culture, which is the knowledge, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, assumptions, conventions, and values of the people who work for and with the institutions, will usually make a strong governance structure more effective.

 

Need for Digital Audit:

•          It used to be that institutional planning  was important in the pre-digital era, and the technology infrastructure was built to help with it. In general, IT was a good thing for the institutions. If you want to run a business in a digital world, you need to think about how to use data and technology right away. Institutions that do not have strong digital foundations will find it hard to keep up with the rapid changes that we are seeing in our digital age.

•          It is a need of the hour today . During such audits, Threats and flaws are  found, along with high-risk behaviour and flaws. A digital audit is a look at all of the active media platforms to see how well they work in the current campaign. Audits are good to do before you start planning your strategy because they can help you build a foundation based on how well your strategy has worked in the past and help you figure out which channels you should include in your plan.

•          There are two main goals of digital governance in this setting.

First, it makes sure that institutions act ethically and follow all the rules and regulations that apply to them when they use the internet (such as data privacy).

Second, it allows an institutions to use digital channels to help the institutions grow and be more resilient.

Institutions who don't have good digital governance could miss out on educational opportunities, and have a bad reputation in the future because of it (defamation, intellectual property, inappropriate language, etc.). These risks can be made worse by internal fragmentation of the digital footprint, as well as a lack of internal communication between different parts of the institutions.

 

Structure of the digital Audit:

 

 

Criteria:

1. Infrastructure of the Digital Age

2. Governance of the Digital World

3. Inclusive Digital Practices

4. Digital Foot Prints 

5. Digital Teaching Learning and Assessment

 

Steps to a digital audit:

1. How many websites do we have, and what kind of websites do we have?
2. The site's pages
3. We have a lot of social media profiles, but which ones do we have?
4. In terms of accounts, how many do you have, and where are they?
5. When did they first start?
6. A site audit is a way to look at your current website or how well it's doing.
7. This requires a simple look at the site's statistics
8. what social media and other channels people are already using, and how they work and how well they work
9. Log in and see your information: Make sure that you have all of your credentials and passwords for your channels and analytics before you do anything else.
10. Admins: Make sure you know who the admins are for each of your channels, as well as how you get email notifications for new posts.
11. Keep track of who is working on your own channels and how many hours are spent on day-to-day operations.
12. Take a look at who is working on digital activities, what each person does, and who is in charge and who makes the decisions
13. Check to see what has been done in the past with activity management, campaigns, and other things.