Introduction - Annual review 2008-09
Dr Malcolm Read OBE, JISC Executive Secretary
This academic year 2008/2009 has seen JISC work with over 200 universities and colleges, across 300 projects and within 24 programmes to share best practice in the innovative use of digital technologies, reaching more people than ever before.
We are proud to fund Janet which became the first national education and research network in the world to complete a 100Gbit network trial. JISC has not only invested in technical infrastructure to support colleges and universities but this year has seen the culmination of our digitisation programme, with over 6.5 million items previously in archives being transformed into online content.
Supported by all the UK funding councils our innovation and research work has provided advice and guidance on such topics as:
- green ICT
- the economic implications of alternative scholarly publishing models
- how librarians and information services can prepare for the impact of the credit crunch and best practice for teaching and learning in a digital age – seeing over 1million downloads of publications from our website
In the coming months JISC will be launching projects to investigate how business models could help with planning online content for the future, the use of cloud computing for research and develop innovative techniques for teaching and learning. We will also be launching JISC Advance a new services company to provide a one stop shop for advice and guidance on everyday digital technology questions.
We are looking forward to 2009/2010 when we will be launching our new three-year strategy and focussing on what JISC needs to deliver for colleges and universities in an increasingly challenging economic climate.