Continuity Planning in Higher Education: A Modern Methodology

Institutions of higher education face a growing array of risks- from cyber-attacks and pandemics to severe weather and supply-chain disruptions. A robust business continuity program ensures that teaching, research, and administrative functions survive and recover swiftly when adverse events occur. Today’s best practices draw on international standards, federal guidance, and sector-specific resources to create a streamlined, cyclical approach that embeds resilience into campus culture.

1. Identify & Prioritize Critical Functions

Begin by cataloguing every academic, administrative, and research activity your institution performs. Conduct a Business Impact Analysis (BIA) to quantify potential losses (financial, reputational, regulatory) and determine Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) for each function and its supporting applications. This data-driven approach reveals which operations must be restored first - and within what timeframe - to keep your campus running smoothly.

Resources:

• FEMA’s Continuity Guidance Circular: tools and templates for all sectors FEMA
  
• ISO 22301 standard for Business Continuity Management Systems ISO
  

2. Analyze Risks & Mitigation Strategies

Once critical functions are clear, map the threats to those functions - natural hazards (e.g., hurricanes), human-caused incidents (e.g., ransomware), and internal vulnerabilities (e.g., single-person dependencies). For each risk, determine:

• Mitigation: Pre-event actions to reduce likelihood or impact (e.g., multi-site data backups in the cloud).
  
• Recovery: Post-event tactics to resume operations (e.g., cross-training to cover key roles).
  

Embedding risk analysis into your continuity program aligns it with the ISO 22301 framework’s requirement to “plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain, and continually improve” your resilience posture ISO.

3. Develop & Document Your Plan

Translate analysis into a living Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that addresses the five stages:

• Respond: Immediate life-safety and emergency management actions.
  
• Relocate: Temporary housing for displaced students and alternate work locations for faculty/staff.
  
• Recover: Restoration of IT systems, data integrity checks, and provisional workarounds.
  
• Resume: Return to routine operations wherever feasible.
  
• Return: Full restoration of original or redesigned facilities and workflows.
  

Leverage FEMA’s Continuity Resource Toolkit for templates to structure your multi-year test, training, and exercise calendar: FEMA

4. Test, Exercise & Improve

A strong plan is one that’s lived and learned. Conduct Tabletop Exercises (TTXs) and full-scale drills at least annually, with clear objectives (e.g., communications, dependencies, decision-making). Capture lessons learned, update your plan, and assign action-item owners with measurable deadlines. The cyclical nature of this phase ensures your program adapts to emerging threats and institutional changes.

Sector Resource:

• EDUCAUSE Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery Toolkit for Higher Ed: EDUCAUSE

5. Measure Maturity & Benchmark

Use a Continuity Program Maturity Assessment - based on ISO 22301 and FEMA guidance - to score your program across governance, risk assessment, strategy development, plan documentation, and exercise outcomes. Regular benchmarking against peer institutions enhances continuous improvement and helps justify needed investments in technology and staffing.

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KUALI READY

Every academic cycle brings new risks - program expansions, technology upgrades, regulatory shifts - that must feed back into the next round of discovery. Institutions striving to embed resilience often turn to platforms designed around this methodology; by embedding BIA templates, risk-assessment workflows, exercise scheduling, and real-time dashboards into a single, cloud-native environment, tools like Kuali Ready help translate a once-static plan into an active program of record. Whether you’re drafting your first BIA or running your fifteenth annual TTX, a purpose-built solution can keep your campus moving forward with confidence.

If you’d like to see how these phases come to life in a higher-ed context, explore Kuali Ready. You can also view a concise infographic on the continuity lifecycle at Kuali.co 

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