Edinburgh students unable to use online services as uni hit with ‘significant IT incident’

Edinburgh University was hit with a significant IT outage affecting many of its online services today, Friday 27th September. 

Starting earlier in the day, these malfunctions are ongoing and have hindered thousands of students.

Sites such as Learn, MyEd and DiscoverEd have been inaccessible or slow for students. 

Edinburgh University has clarified in a university-wide email that this is not a cyber security risk but rather an issue with the online services infrastructure.

The outage therefore does not seem to be related to the cyber-attacks on Waverley and many other major train stations in the UK on Wednesday, which caused outages and displayed “Islamophobic messaging” about “European terrorist attacks”.

Edinburgh University assured students that this outage is a “top priority” and in the meantime students were asked to be patient. The university suggested that students should try to refresh their browsers, disconnect from any VPN’s they are using and to restart their computers.

Students concerned that the outages will affect any incomplete “course enrolment, international check in or assessment submission” are being urged not to worry and assured that the outages will not affect them.

The university said that students can contact their student advisor for advice on these issues.

If students are in need of out of hours emergency support they can also contact the security team (0131 6502257).

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