Jisc announce partnership with DEST, Australian Government Department
Jisc and Australia’s Department for Education, Science and Training (DEST), part of the Australian Government, have just signed a Collaboration Framework. This formalises the activities which have been carried out together over the last 18 months and takes the work to a new, strategic footing. The partnership agreement was signed by Dr Malcolm Read (Jisc) and Dr Evan Arthur (DEST) at a week-long series of joint events in Melbourne in February.
Neil McLean, National Technical Standards Adviser to DEST, says "I'm very pleased that we have been able to establish such good working relationships with the Jisc community. The signing of the Collaboration Framework strengthens our resolve to work together on a range of challenging technical infrastructure issues which are common to both our countries. We look forward also to working with other international partners in finding solutions to these technical issues."
Kerry Blinco, Technical Standards Adviser to DEST describes her excitement at the opportunities offered by this partnership: “This is a living relationship, it’s already productive, because we have a successful history of working together.
Tish Roberts, Programme Manager, E-Learning Frameworks agrees: “We are already finding our collaboration in the E-Learning Technical Framework very rewarding. In some senses the Collaboration Framework is simply a way of formalising our activities.”
Whilst the initial focus for the collaboration is the E-Learning Framework, the partnership priorities for 2005 are to develop joint projects in the following areas:
- E-Learning Framework. Development of a common e-learning framework, for adoption in their respective operational environments.
- Repository Services. Collaborate on interoperability issues relating to the management of repositories development of repository services, including the testing of solutions where appropriate within and across each country.
- Middleware infrastructure. Work towards a shared understanding of middleware infrastructure requirements to support teaching and research and to undertake joint development projects.
Jisc warmly welcomes this new partnership and anticipates that it will provide the focus for our activities in Australia.
Further information is available from:
Sarah Porter, Head of Development (and Partnership Owner for DEST).
Louisa Dale, Partnership Manager.