In spite of their concerns about being dependent on big tech, the UG will not stop using Google as a workspace. However, the university does want more control over its own data.
This decision was made by the UG board on the basis of a report from the Centre for Information Technology (CIT): ‘Future of the Working Environment’. The report discusses the various options to scale back the university’s dependence on big tech companies.
Last year, the Dutch Data Protection Agency (AP) sounded the alarm because the Google email and cloud services don’t comply with European privacy law GDPR. This means educational institutes don’t know how and where their students’ personal data is being processed.
Not cost-effective
Many UG employees would like to make the switch to Microsoft 365, but that would take years and cost immense amounts of money. In the end, the CIT concludes, it wouldn’t even make the university less dependent on big tech.
They’ve come up with a compromise, which involves the university getting back control of its own data bit by bit.
Patience
It’s a project that will require patience, says CIT director Ronald Stolk: ‘It will probably take five to ten years.’ To start with, some Google applications, such as Google Photo, can be replaced. ‘That would enable us to retain more data at the university in the short term.’
But, Stolk warns, ‘short term’ doesn’t mean it won’t take a long time. ‘It will still take years to substitute entire applications. You can’t just change that from one day to the next; users are accustomed to working with them.’
Last November, the AP’s warning led to educational institutes forging new agreements with Google to better protect data and improve privacy.
Data centre
Stolk says it would make sense to forge more of these agreements in the long term. ‘We would store the data in our own data centres, or at the very least in Dutch data centres. That solution would be the best of both worlds.’
The UG also wants to collaborate with other universities and SURF, the Dutch universities’ IT partnership, to use more open-source software and create a ‘higher education cloud’ together.
Stolk: ‘It will be a slow and difficult transition, but we are on the right path.’