Update Friday 7 February 2020

A week on from the cyber attack, Dundee and Angus College has made excellent progress in re-establishing business as normal.

Students have returned to all campuses this week, with additional support in place for resetting passwords and getting laptops and storage devices checked.

All classes will be running as usual next week, including those for school pupils and evening classes. We look forward to welcoming everyone back.

Many key student systems, including MyLearning, webmail and OneFile are available on campus and remotely, although further work is needed for some systems, including student applications, and we would ask for patience if any students are not able to access systems at this time.

All interviews that were scheduled for this week will be rearranged and applicants notified as soon as possible.

Principal Grant Ritchie praised the continuing efforts by all staff and partners over the past week and the understanding and support from our students.

Key information

  • All campuses (Arbroath, Kingsway, Gardyne and Forfar) reopened on Thursday 6 February 2020.
  • Gardyne Gym and Swim is open.
  • Arbroath Helping Hands Nursery is open.
  • College course application system is currently unavailable; this is being worked on at present and we will advise once it is back online.
  • No student interviews have taken place this week; these will be rescheduled in due course.
  • Students will receive a Frequently Asked Questions guide to help with any questions – staff will also be available to answer questions.
  • Dine@ facilities will be open taking cash payments only.
  • Students are expected to attend placement as usual.
  • Bursary entitlement or any other payments to students will not be affected.

Message from the Principal, Wednesday 5 February 2020

Dundee and Angus College experienced a cyber attack on Friday 31 January which impacted on our key systems and services. To help us minimise the disruption we made the decision to cancel all classes whilst staff worked round the clock to get the college up and running again.

The progress made over the last few days has been amazing and I am delighted to advise that all campuses (Arbroath, Kingsway, Gardyne and Forfar) will reopen and all classes (including evening classes) will resume from Thursday 6 February 2020. Our staff are preparing for students returning and are looking forward to welcoming them back.

An attack like this can happen to any organisation and the feedback we have had from experts is that we have been unfortunate. The College has Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation which is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme that supports good cyber security and has helped us to get up and running again, and we are grateful to be in the position to welcome our students back.

It has taken a significant effort for us to get to the position where we can reopen to students, however we are aware that there may be initial challenges when students return and we will require ongoing support and patience as we get back to normal.

I have been overwhelmed by the feedback and support from staff, students and colleagues from partner institutions. This has been very encouraging and I would like to thank everyone for their offers of support.

The staff of Dundee and Angus College have the interests of the students at the centre of what they do and will do everything they can to support our students to become #moresuccessfulstudents.

This is the D&A way.

Grant Ritchie
Principal