JISC

February 2011

In September 2010, HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council of England, commissioned an independent review of JISC.

Sir Alan Wilson, Professor of Urban and Regional Studies at University College London chaired the review group, which comprised of members from HEFCE, the JISC Board, representatives from the higher and further education sectors as well as funders from across the UK. Sir Alan was previously the Director General for Higher Education for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and, before that, he was Vice Chancellor at the University of Leeds.

The review considered

• JISC’s activities and evidence about their appropriateness, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and added-value
• The effectiveness of how JISC delivers its core functions, including:
• The relationship to and governance of JISC related bodies/companies
• Internal structure and processes of JISC and relationship with HEFCE
• Capabilities and resourcing within JISC, reviewed against comparator organisations, including views on how demands may change in the future
• JISC’s use and effectiveness of its committees, especially in terms of identifying needs of the community, horizon-scanning and use of programme funds
• How effectively and efficiently JISC meets the needs and works in partnership with the higher and further education communities, UK government agencies and other key stakeholders

Recommendations of the review

JISC is now considering the areas and recommendations of the Review, all of which will need thorough investigation and consultation before deciding which will be implemented. These include:

• focussing activities to achieve a large impact through activities clearly linked to the sectors’ priorities
• services and projects should be rationalised with a view to significantly reducing their number
• JISC should become a separate legal entity funded through a combination of grants and subscriptions or user charges
• structure and processes should change, with the Board becoming smaller, being differently composed and becoming more strategic
• there should be discussions between JISC, the funders, sector representatives and other bodies to determine the overall funding strategy for ICT in higher and further education
• focus on delivering ‘routes to best practice’, wherever such practice resides
• focus its research and development work on horizon-scanning and thought leadership
• focus on understanding current and possible future trends in ICT and how they impact on the sectors
• review JISC’s relationship with the four companies JANET UK JISC Collections JISC Advance and BUFVC that it funds

Read questions and answers on the review
Submit your thoughts and views via JISCPress or comment below
 Blog post - Dr Malcolm Read JISC's executive secretary
 Download the review