JISC

JISC has made revolutionary changes involving large chunks of public expenditure without any serious problems…[Its investments] have paid off handsomely and are of much greater value than if they were directly contracted through the private sector system.

The aims of JISC and the strategic routes through which it furthers these goals are highlighted in a new interview with JISC Chair, Professor Sir Ron Cooke. Published in the Public Service Review, Sir Ron describes the value for money of JISC’s work and its overarching efforts ‘to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT to support education and research.’

Sir Ron clarifies the eight strategic ways in which JISC serves the education community. These fall within the umbrella themes of:

• Network issues
• Access Management issues
• The Information Environment
• Business and community engagement
• e-Resources
• e-Learning
• e-Research
• e-Administration

He goes on to elucidate the four key areas in which JISC serves further and higher education. These are:

• The provision of JANET (the UK’s high-speed optical network)
• Access to online content (such as electronic or e-journals)
• Services to support the use of IT infrastructure (like JISC’s Plagiarism Service)
• Research and development (keeping JISC services at the international forefront)

The article concludes with an overview of future challenges to the sector. ‘Green computing’ is likely to increase in prominence as is dealing with the data deluge, e-infrastructure and implementing digital preservation strategies to ensure that the UK’s ICT provision remains at the international frontier.

 
Visit the Public Service Review website
Go directly to the article in the Central Government Review (Issue 17, October 2008)