JISC

The winner of the Outstanding ICT initiative award sponsored by JISC has been announced at the Times Higher Leadership and Management Awards.

The awards are designed to celebrate the sector's leadership, management, financial and business skills and JISC's award generated 17 entries from universities across the UK.

In the end, the Open University (OU) entry was chosen for its virtual learning environment called OpenLearn which has widened access to education and transformed learning in developing countries.

JISC judge Chris Cobb, pro-vice chancellor at Roehampton University and JISC committee member, explained why the Open University's initiative stood out: "The OpenLearn innovation breaks open previous university models and chimes in an age when everyone expects content for free."

"The boldness of the project is based on having absolute confidence in the quality of the OU experience - over and above that of the teaching resources alone."

The online learning website now boasts more than 600 study units and 6,000 hours of tuition for students logging on from around the world.

Professor Andy Lane, senior fellow in the support centre for open resources in education and former director of OpenLearn, said: "This award is further recognition of The Open University's global leadership in open education and open educational resources. But the OpenLearn initiative draws upon and involves all parts of the Open University from student services to the library and is a good example of how one project can become more and more embedded in the mainstream owing to years of work."

Technology played a part in the success of numerous other THE award winners, including Canterbury Christ Church university which received JISC funding for its innovative laptop loan scheme, and Newcastle University, which has increased its research revenue partly due to JISC's support for its open access repository.