UK colleges and universities on the world stage

Increasing competition and developments such as open access and MOOCs mean that universities and colleges now need to market themselves and their courses internationally. Whether overseas students come to the UK to study or opt to follow their course at home, they bring revenue and fresh ideas to the institutions they choose, as well as potentially helping to extend their college’s or university’s reputation overseas.

If a university or college marketing department did a SWOT analysis to support their international plans, they’d probably put the high cost of living and restrictive visa regulations in the weaknesses box. Conversely, they’d be likely to list the country’s rich heritage resources and the availability of a superior digitally driven student experience among their strengths.

Work continues within individual academic establishments and at national and European levels to support and develop that superior digital experience through innovative approaches to infrastructure, services and skills. Colleges and universities should also consider ways to optimise the benefits of the nation’s cultural assets, both to support learning and to enrich student experience.

Shared experiences

Any new idea should be tested and refined before time and budget are committed to its development. For that, we need expert partners and Jisc has been working with the best organisations in the world to scope technological issues and solve problems on behalf of the UK’s colleges and universities.

We’ve found willing collaborators in North America and Europe for a range of initiatives, including many that can’t be worked on in isolation because they’ll have a global impact. Through the generosity of several such collaborators, it has been possible for Jisc and many UK universities and colleges to learn from mistakes that have already been made and from successes that have already been achieved.

Several years ago, the National Science Foundation, Internet2 and the Coalition for Networked Information  – all in North America – helped to shape our thinking on the electronic library and federated access management and we worked together on joint funding opportunities. Where funding and risk can be shared, there is the potential both to cut development times and to secure a better return on investment for everyone.

Educause is another key player: it is the US’s lead body for the use of IT in education and research and its yearly Horizon Report is a hugely influential document that regularly gives the world’s higher education establishments advance warning of future technological issues. Working with Educause on key issues, such as learning analytics, is bringing rich rewards and supporting the UK’s reputation as an expert in the application of technology for education and research.

A vital part of this work is to ensure that the information travels in both directions. Sharing our own experiences with our partners boosts the international reputation of our universities and colleges and gives us an opportunity to influence major technological developments that will have an impact around the world.

One example is the work that we have been doing since 2005 with the Knowledge Exchange and leading-edge services and systems developers in Northern Europe – SURF (the Netherlands), DFG (Germany), DEFF (Denmark) and CSC (Finland) – on open access and the data deluge. That work has come to the attention of the European Commission (EC) and, as a result, we are now working with the EC to help in shaping the priorities and scope of Horizon 2020, which will be the next large-scale EU funding programme for universities to access. Jisc senior relations and support manager Louisa Dale said: “We have been working with the EU on Horizon 2020 for several years and will continue to do so, so that the UK’s colleges and universities have the best possible chance of making successful funding bids in the next large round.”

But while partners in Europe and North America have been the most influential to date, interesting opportunities are also now coming from rapidly emerging economies including China, India and particularly Brazil, from where approaches  for advice have been made to Jisc and UK universities. Such partnerships will develop gradually as we negotiate our way around language and cultural barriers, and as we work to ensure that these relationships offer benefits to all parties.

Head of services and outreach at Jisc, Norman Wiseman, said: “We have had approaches for help from institutions in emerging economies and they have a very clear idea of what they want to learn from us. Equally, we recognise that they have new ideas and approaches that will be useful for us to explore and we are keen to identify ways that we can usefully help each other.

“That can only work to the advantage of universities and colleges in the UK which are keen to develop their own reputation and standing within these parts of the world.”