AUCSO’s new leadership team targets global expansion

The Association of University Chief Security Officers (AUCSO) plans to increase its global reach and expand its range of services and benefits for members. The association, which already includes security staff at 228 higher education institutions worldwide, is targeting significant expansion in the Americas, the Middle East and South East Asia.

The development plans were confirmed today as Les Allan takes over as the new Chairman, and Ollie Curran becomes Vice-Chairman. The newly appointed leadership team 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, one which benefits from co-operation across borders and across continents,” said Allan. “This collaboration must extend to security and safety services too. 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 newly appointed leadership team plan to launch 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 look at 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 counterterrorism and the threats posed by organised crime, with a series of further topics for 2021 to be confirmed.

Speaking after confirmation in his new role at AUCSO, Les Allan said he was excited to be leading the association as the sector emerges from the global pandemic. “There is little doubt that security teams in our sector have faced significant, unforeseen challenges and have delivered exemplary front-line services to our respective institutions over this past year. We all need to build on that experience, sharing best practice, to ensure that security continues to become more professional and to evolve at pace, to support our institutions. I am particularly delighted to have Oliver Curran as our new Vice-Chairman. Oliver brings a very varied skill set and vast experience to our team.  Together with our Executive Committee and our wider membership we aim to enhance our association for the benefit of all.”

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