Empower your educational institution—from K-12 schools to higher education and research labs—to enhance quality, ensure student and research data privacy, and drive operational excellence with Glocert International's specialized compliance, quality management, and accessibility solutions.
Educational institutions handle sensitive student data, operate under strict privacy and accessibility obligations, and serve diverse stakeholders including students, parents, faculty, and accrediting bodies. The combination of regulatory requirements (FERPA, WCAG/ADA), accreditation standards, student data protection needs, and the unique challenges of higher education and research labs creates distinct compliance challenges that require specialized expertise and education-specific solutions.
Educational institutions must navigate multiple regulatory frameworks including FERPA (US student data privacy), WCAG/ADA (accessibility), GDPR (EU operations), and local education data laws. Higher education institutions and research labs face additional requirements including research data protection, grant compliance, and international student data regulations. Understanding which regulations apply and how they intersect is critical for maintaining compliance, avoiding penalties, and protecting student and research data across different jurisdictions.
Many educational institutions make critical mistakes including treating compliance as a checkbox exercise instead of a governance system, implementing security controls without aligning with educational workflows, ignoring third-party and cloud risk, and failing to maintain evidence between audits. Higher education and research labs often struggle with research data protection, grant compliance, and managing compliance across diverse academic departments. Understanding these common pitfalls helps institutions avoid costly compliance failures.
Understanding which regulations apply to your educational institution and how they intersect is critical for maintaining compliance and protecting student and research data.
FERPA (US): Required for all educational institutions receiving federal funding. Protects student educational records and privacy rights. Non-compliance can result in loss of federal funding.
WCAG/ADA (US): Required for educational institutions to ensure accessible digital learning environments. Legal requirement for equal access to education for students with disabilities.
GDPR (EU operations): Applies to educational institutions processing personal data of EU residents, including international students and research participants.
ISO 21001: Educational Organizations Management Systems standard for improving educational outcomes and organizational excellence.
ISO 27001: Information Security Management Systems for protecting student data and ensuring cybersecurity in educational technology.
SOC 2: Required for educational technology providers and online learning platforms to demonstrate security and privacy controls.
ISO 27701: Privacy Information Management Systems for managing student data privacy and demonstrating GDPR compliance.
Research data protection: Enhanced requirements for protecting research data, especially in higher education and research labs handling sensitive research information.
AI governance: Increasing focus on AI system governance in educational applications, including ISO 42001 compliance for AI-powered learning platforms.
Cloud security: Enhanced requirements for protecting student and research data in cloud environments, including ISO 27017 and ISO 27018 certifications.
Grant compliance: Growing emphasis on compliance with grant requirements and research funding regulations in higher education.
These certifications help educational institutions demonstrate compliance, protect student data, ensure accessibility, and build stakeholder trust.
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act compliance to protect student educational records and ensure privacy rights for students and parents in the United States.
Learn MoreQuality Management Systems certification to improve educational quality, enhance student satisfaction, and drive continuous improvement in teaching and learning processes.
Learn MoreService Organization Control 2 assessments for educational technology providers to demonstrate security, availability, and privacy controls for student data.
Learn MoreWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines and Americans with Disabilities Act compliance to ensure accessible digital learning environments for all students.
Learn MoreInformation Security Management Systems certification to protect student data, ensure cybersecurity, and demonstrate commitment to information security in educational technology.
Learn MoreEducational Organizations Management Systems certification to improve educational outcomes, enhance learner satisfaction, and drive organizational excellence.
Learn MoreOccupational Health and Safety Management Systems certification to ensure workplace safety and employee wellbeing in educational facilities.
Learn MorePrivacy Information Management Systems certification to protect student privacy, manage privacy risks, and demonstrate GDPR and data protection compliance.
Learn MoreUnderstanding these common pitfalls helps educational institutions avoid costly compliance failures and build more effective security, privacy, and quality management programs.
Many educational institutions implement compliance frameworks as a checklist rather than a governance system. Effective compliance requires executive leadership, organizational culture change, and integration with educational workflows, not just technical controls.
Implementing security controls without aligning with educational workflows and teaching processes leads to friction, workarounds, and compliance failures. Security must integrate seamlessly with learning management systems, student information systems, and academic operations.
Educational institutions often focus on internal controls while overlooking third-party vendors, educational technology providers, cloud service providers, and software supply chain risks. These represent significant risk vectors that must be assessed and managed.
Many institutions prepare evidence only during audit periods, leading to gaps, inconsistencies, and compliance failures. Continuous evidence maintenance and monitoring are essential for effective compliance in educational institutions.
Higher education institutions and research labs often fail to properly protect research data, manage grant compliance, and address international research data regulations. Research data protection requires specialized controls and compliance programs.
Many educational institutions have accessibility policies but fail to properly implement WCAG/ADA requirements across all digital learning platforms, websites, and online resources, creating barriers for students with disabilities and legal liability.
Glocert supports educational institutions through independent certification, assurance, and audit services aligned to international standards and education-specific regulations.
Our education compliance services include FERPA compliance for student data protection, ISO 21001 certification for educational organizations management, ISO 27001 certification for information security governance, SOC 2 audits for educational technology providers, WCAG/ADA compliance for accessibility, ISO 27701 certification for privacy management, ISO 9001 certification for quality management, and ISO 45001 certification for occupational health and safety in educational facilities.
We understand the unique challenges of educational institutions including regulatory complexity, student data sensitivity, accessibility requirements, research data protection in higher education and research labs, grant compliance, and third-party risk management. Our auditors bring deep education industry expertise and work with you to build compliance programs that integrate with educational operations, protect student and research data, ensure accessibility, and meet regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
Are you ready to enhance educational quality and achieve compliance excellence? Glocert International is ready to assist with compliance, quality management, and certification solutions tailored to your educational institution.