Higher education institutions find themselves contending with an array of challenging circumstances. Rising operational costs, safety and security concerns, decreases in federal funding and research sponsorships, employment practices liability, and other exposures common to colleges and universities can seriously affect an institution's reputation, profitability, and competitiveness if they are not managed wisely.

Marsh's Education Practice concentrates on helping institutions develop integrated and sustainable risk awareness into their operations. Through our consultative approach to risk management, Marsh works with colleges, universities, and private schools to assess their strategic, operational, and hazard exposures, which may include:

• Internet related risks, on-line business transactions, and on-line teaching;
• Out-sourced services;
• Hazing and substance abuse;
• Study abroad programs threatened by political unrest;
• Occupational injuries;
• Campus violence threats;
• Allegations of harassment, discrimination, and tenure related issues;
• Intellectual property and technology transfer;
• Human subjects regulatory compliance; and
• Pollution exposures.

Marsh offers its higher education clients an array of risk mitigation and transfer solutions to help them better manage these risks. Our solutions include:

• Traditional property/casualty placements;
• Alternative risk mechanisms (pools, captive, etc.);
• Workers compensation cost containment;
• Employee benefits solutions and placements;
• Risk management information systems;
• Business continuity planning;
• Disaster planning and crisis management;
• Strategic risk assessment;
• Enterprise risk management;
• Construction wrap-ups;
• Pollution and EPA compliance;
• Workforce strategies;
• Special events risk management;
• Laboratory safety assessments;
• Auto fleet and transportation safety analysis;
• Student housing loss control surveys;
• Substance abuse risk management;
• Internet and e-risks risk transfer techniques;
• Technology transfer risk management;
• Intellectual property evaluations;
• Human subjects regulatory compliance audits;
• Educators' legal liability assessments;
• Study abroad risk transfer techniques; and
• Claims advocacy.

Marsh places the largest volume of insurance in the industry for colleges and universities, and our professionals are responsible for many of the coverage innovations available in today's market. In addition, Marsh is the leader in creating alternative risk-handling mechanisms for our consortia programs that are often defined as joint purchasing arrangements, risk retention groups, reciprocals and special excess liability insurance facilities.