Information Security is everyone’s responsibility. Our technical teams continually review our system security and have identified that Access poses a significant risk to the university. We have therefore decided to remove Access from our list of approved software.
A safer digital environment
By removing Access from our standard Office installations, we’re reducing the university’s exposure to macro-based threats. This move supports our wider strategy to disable macros across Office products, helping to protect sensitive information and prevent data breaches.
Designed for collaboration
Modern academic and administrative work is collaborative by nature. Access only allows one person to open a database at a time. This limitation makes it unsuitable for the dynamic, team-based workflows we rely on today.
Protecting what matters
By moving away from Access, we’re ensuring that sensitive data is stored in systems that are designed to protect it. When your data is housed in secure and approved university systems and accessed via approved methods on a university device, the likelihood of a data breach is reduced due to our security procedures and tools monitoring and protecting you.
Future-ready skills
Our students are entering a workforce that increasingly relies on cloud-based platforms and enterprise-grade tools. Access is no longer widely used in industry, and continuing to support it does not align with our mission to prepare students for the future. By focusing on modern, scalable technologies, we’re helping both staff and students build skills that are relevant, transferable and in demand.
If you currently use Access for any part of your work, we encourage you to contact the IT Service Desk so we can help identify secure, supported alternatives.
