JISC

Contents

• JISC's operating and reporting structure
• How JISC is funded
• Nominations process 

JISC’s operational and reporting structure

JISC Steering committee

The JISC Board is advised by the JISC Steering committee, which is made up of senior officers from each funding body (called the JISC Assessors). The Steering committee provides advice and guidance to the Board, the JISC Chair and Executive Secretary on government and funding bodies’ priorities and expectations, funding and general policy issues.

JISC’s funding bodies have agreed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to detail the:

• purpose and status of JISC and the relationship between themselves and JISC JISC is a collegiate organisation that operates through a committee system with its agenda driven by its Board and Steering committee
• responsibilities of the funding bodies in relation to JISC’s funding, corporate governance and staffing activities.

The Research Councils (RCs) and JISC have signed a MOU with effect from 1 August 2006 to provide the RCs with network connections to SuperJANET and some support from the JISC Executive. This is reviewed annually. The RCs are described as a funding partner of JISC rather than a funding body and are entitled to have an assessor on the JISC Steering Committee and to appoint one member to the current JISC Board.
   

The JISC Board

The role of the JISC Board is one of overarching strategic guidance for, and oversight of the activities of, the JISC, its sub-committees and Executive. It ensures that the JISC is supporting both the aims of its funding bodies, as well as the needs of the communities it serves.  

The JISC Board membership consists of senior managers from institutions who are nominated by the relevant funding bodies. There are also members from funding partners (LSC & RCs) and representatives from relevant industry and related bodies. See the terms of reference.

In all its dealings, the Board must observe the highest standards of impartiality, integrity and objectivity. It has a Code of Best Practice which sets out:

• the corporate responsibilities of Board, supporting and sub-committee members
• their responsibilities as individuals including their obligation to declare any personal or business interests which might conflict with their responsibilities as JISC members
• the requirement to comply with the principles of openness and accountability highlighted by the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

JISC supporting committees

There are three supporting committees to the JISC Board 

• JISC Audit committee provides assurance to the JISC Board and funding bodies on JISC’s governance and management activities and to oversee an audit and evaluation programme of JISC activities
• JISC Nominations committee makes recommendations to the JISC Board on the appointment of sub-committee members and the policies, procedures and selection criteria relating to the appointment of such members
• JISC Remuneration committee reviews the remuneration of the senior JISC staff and set the level of honoraria paid to JISC Board members

JISC previously operated through a number of sub-committees, which were function-oriented and steered the work programmes and services to meet the needs of the sectors that JISC serves. The sub-committees were stood down on 31 July 2011 in accordance with the recommended immediate priority in paragraph 87 of the Wilson Review:

• It will take a considerable period of time to implement all the above recommendations. However, major changes taking place in the sectors imply some urgency. The Review Group therefore identify the following as immediate priorities:
  
  and with Recommendation 4 of the Wilson Review: 
  Recommendation 4
  
  Governance arrangements should be clarified as follows:
  
  a. The Board should take clear overall strategic control, and therefore be smaller and part of a governance structure in which all the key functions report to it
  b. The Board should articulate the overall priorities, which will be determined through effective consultation and engagement with the sectors
  c. The sub-committees should be replaced with advisory groups comprising sector representatives, which should have no role in allocating resources. They should help the Board to identify the needs and priorities, as indicated at (b) above.

Since 1 August 2011, JISC has implemented a system of portfolio management, with nine portfolios for 2011/12 which will deliver JISC’s strategic objectives. This change has enabled JISC’s SMT and Executive to take greater responsibility for JISC activities and will ensure that JISC remains sufficiently transparent and clear about the activities being funded in order to support its strategic objectives.

Portfolio name	Portfolio director	Portfolio funding manager
JANET Network	David Utting	Joanna Potter
Digital Infrastructure	Rachel Bruce	Joseph Hutcheon
Content and Delivery	David Utting	Joanna Potter
Content Innovation	Catherine Grout	Joanna Potter
Advice and Support Services and Support for FE	David Utting	Joanna Potter
Communications and Market Research	Robert Haymon-Collins	Robert Haymon-Collins/Lisa Wollacott
Innovation Support	Rachel Bruce/Tish Roberts	Joanna Potter
Learning and Teaching	Tish Roberts	Ann Lloyd
Organisational Support	Craig Wentworth	Ann Lloyd

Portfolio management is about supporting JISC to make the right investments and get the returns it needs for delivery of its Mission. It is about deciding which services to deliver and programmes and projects to run in order to support JISC’s strategic objectives.

The JISC Executive

The JISC Executive focuses on the delivery of the JISC remit. It ensures that the decisions of the JISC Board and sub-committees are carried out and that these decisions are consistent with JISC’s financial regulations and other procedures. The Executive also ensures the delivery of existing services, procures new services and oversees the JISC innovation programmes. 

The Executive promotes the work of JISC and develops feedback mechanisms to help inform JISC policy. It facilitates the preparation of strategy and establishes budgets for consideration by the funding bodies and provides accountability and audit to both the funders and the sector. It is also the focus for liaison with other national and international bodies. 

The JISC Executive is lead by the Executive Secretary who reports to the JISC Steering committee, the JISC Board and the JISC Chair. The Executive is structured into four Groups: 

• Policy is responsible for the facilitation of policy and strategy for the JISC and its sub-committees; supporting the JISC Board, the supporting committees, the sub-committees and, where necessary, working groups; ensuring actions of meetings are carried out, whether directly or through delegation; liaison with, and reporting to, funding bodies; liaison with external organisations especially on policy and funding matters;
• Finance and Corporate Services is responsible for financial management of the JISC budget and associated procedures and processes, including preparation of annual funding recommendations; human resource management for Executive staff; overseeing administrative support and key processes and procedures for JISC's offices, groups and teams.
• Innovation is responsible for directing development programmes as defined by the JISC; helping to ensure coherence and integration between innovation programmes and funded services; promoting collaboration with other organisations in furthering innovation programmes; defining timescales, targets and outputs for innovation programmes and ensuring the adoption of appropriate standards.
• Services and Outreach is responsible for procurement of services and other resources; placing and managing contracts; negotiating service level agreements or performance indicators; monitoring the performance of services against SLAs or other agreed performance indicators; the promotion of JISC and its services; developing feedback mechanisms to inform policy and programmes; ensuring the provision of JISC support activities; ensuring the provision of advisory services to institutions; and liaison and collaboration with other organisations and agencies in the UK and abroad, promoting joint projects and initiatives where appropriate.

 

The Heads of each Group, along with the Executive Secretary, form the JISC Senior Management Team (SMT), which meets around eight times a year to discuss strategic, political and financial issues which impact on the JISC’s work as well as governance and operational issues associated with the management of the JISC Executive. The JISC Executive Groups are distributed across four offices and may have teams based in more than one office:

• HEFCE in Bristol
• University of Bristol
• Kings College London
   

Find staff contact details

How JISC is funded?

The JISC core budget is funded by the UK higher and further education funding bodies through an annual budget recommendation process. The percentage contributions paid by the funding bodies are based on an agreed formula, which is reviewed every three years. This funding is ‘top-sliced’ by the funding bodies from their government grants. HEFCE maintains control over the funds on behalf of all the funding bodies.

Each of the Research Councils is providing a percentage of the agreed funding of £1.9M in 2011-12 AY. All RC funding will be made through the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) as a single point of contact.

As a standing committee of the funding bodies, JISC is able to bid for capital funding from government spending reviews for special initiatives such as upgrading JANET (the academic network). These programmes are usually time limited and the funding is focused on institutions under the remit of the relevant funding council. JISC is currently in receipt of £21.7M in capital funding in 2011-12 AY, £20M of which is from HEFCE.

Further financial information can be found here. 

JISC nominations process

JISC adopts an open, transparent and merit-based approach to the appointment of sub-committee members. Membership of JISC committees represents an opportunity to make a significant impact at national level on the development and implementation of the innovative use of ICT in education and research.

JISC policy is determined by committees of volunteers, mostly drawn from the community, with relevant management and technical expertise. Membership is open to those who work in publicly funded and other organisations involved in education and research in the UK and internationally. Membership is selected according to the balance of skills, knowledge and experience and diversity identified that is needed, including regional, ethnic and sectoral balance. Members must attend in person and, therefore, may not be represented.

JISC advertises for volunteers for membership of sub-committees on an annual basis, through the national press, jisc-announce, the JISC website, and by seeking nominations from people currently involved in JISC committees and activities.

The Nominations committee shall, in consultation with relevant committee secretaries, maintain and review regularly a specific matrix of skills to ensure that sub-committees have the requisite skills and expertise applicable to their own current agenda. Upon submission, each application is reviewed by the relevant Committee Secretary and Committee Chair who will decide, based on the committee’s specific skills matrix, which application(s) should be placed on the short list for sub-committee membership. The Nominations committee is notified of such decisions on a quarterly basis. The Nominations committee is also responsible for the appointment of, or agreement to, the attendance of representatives from other organisations to the JISC sub-committees, based on the recommendations from the Committee Secretary and Committee Chair. The Nominations committee may consider these recommendations however, the final decision on which applicants should be appointed onto JISC sub-committees lies with the Nominations committee.   

See more details about JISC’s nominations process 

[1] Figures exclude additional contributions towards full economic costs

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