Strategy 2007-2009
JISC's mission is to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of Information and Communications Technology to support education and research
Contents
Foreword
JISC's new Strategy [2007-2009] has continuity at its core. Building on the earlier strategy, it represents a natural progression of the vision and approach identified in 2004.
But the new strategy also equips us with the means of identifying new opportunities and meeting fresh challenges, something of vital importance in our rapidly changing education and research environment.
This Strategy defines the priorities and strategic direction for JISC's activities over the next few years. It will undoubtedly be a time of significant change, but the new strategy, emerging from a process of extensive consultation, feedback from institutions and partner organisations and from the vital input of JISC's committees, provides us with both a vision and with a means for achieving that vision that will enable us to continue to meet the challenges of the future and serve the needs of the education and research community.
We look forward to working with institutions and with our partners, both national and international, to ensure that our work continues to bring real benefits to education and research across the UK.
Introduction
It is central to JISC's mission to deliver value for money through economies of scale, to provide research and development into how ICT can better support education and research, and to provide a range of services and resources that meet the needs of colleges and universities.
But JISC's work needs to evolve to support the changing needs of institutions, to meet wider national priorities and the challenges of technological advance. This strategy reflects JISC's recognition that there are mission-critical activities of institutions that it has not been supporting sufficiently, in particular those activities that reflect the growing importance of ICT in the administration and management of institutions, as well as institutional efforts to engage in commercial and other activities with local, regional and business communities.
In addition, JISC has identified two key themes that must inform its activities over the coming years - integration and sustainability. Integration requires us to explore the ways in which IT systems and services can not only provide value for money, but also enable institutions to achieve their goals, while sustainability answers the need for value for money in national ICT investments and for ensuring the long-term requirements of the education and research community are met.
The international e-Framework initiative, our work to support the establishment and development of repositories and our far-reaching plans to transition to federated access management are specific and important examples of these themes in practice. This strategy outlines how these and other central themes will pervade JISC's work in the coming years and, we believe, help us to ensure the UK education and research communities receive the support they need to remain among the best in the world.
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