What is JISC?
JISC supports UK post-16 and higher education & research by providing leadership in the use of Information and Communications Technology in support of learning, teaching, research and administration. JISC is funded by all the UK post-16 and higher education funding councils.
JISC Structure
JISC is an advisory committee to the funding councils, made up of a number of sub-committees, each with a different focus.
Members of the JISC Board and sub-committees are individuals from the education sector who bring a practical knowledge of how Information and Communications Technology is used within institutions, what benefits its innovative use brings and the issues to be addressed in order to support the future use of ICT. These experts ensure that JISC's work is focused on the needs of the education and research communities.
The JISC Executive supports the JISC Board and sub-committees. With their range of expertise reflecting the diversity of JISC activities, Executive staff ensure that JISC provides the specialist ICT leadership required by the education and research communities.
JISC Strategy
JISC's five strategic aims reflect and support government objectives and the needs of the education and research communities.
- develop solutions that help enable the UK education and research communities to keep their activities world class through the innovative use of Information and Communications Technology
- provide advice to institutions to enable them to make economic, efficient and legally compliant use of Information and Communications Technology, respecting the individual's and corporate rights and responsibilities
- help the sector provide positive, personalised user learning experiences and to aid student progression
- develop mutually advantageous partnerships with organisations in the UK and abroad
- advise, inform and help implement the strategies of government, funding councils and research councils
JISC strategy
JISC Services
JISC facilitates and promotes the effective use of ICT across non-compulsory education and research. This requires services and guidance to be provided to education institutions, across the range of their activities.
JISC funds three kinds of service:
- Advisory services to help institutions select the best approach or product where choice and independent advice tailored to the community is important
- Production services, where a standard infrastructure is required or clear economies of scale and value for money can be maximised
- Development services to test the validity of novel approaches and applications, especially where this avoids costly repetition
JISC services
Innovation
JISC supports the development of innovative uses of ICT helping the education and research communities to exploit the full potential of information technologies.
Its activities are focused upon those areas that individual educational institutions would not be able, through lack of resources, to tackle alone. By funding development projects within institutions, JISC enables those taking part to engage in 'action research', sharing their experiences across the communities.
Online resources
JISC strives to deliver a high quality collection of electronic resources that will enrich learning, teaching and research. JISC seeks to acquire content that incorporates leading edge technology as well as sourcing electronic resources that fulfil the needs of education and research.
JISC negotiates consortium packages, enabling the education and research communities to benefit from the latest online resources at the most cost-effective rates. Many of these innovative resources are subsidised by JISC and are available to all UK learning and teaching institutions at affordable rates.
Value for money
JISC strives for value for money for the education and research communities and its funding bodies.
JISC's unique remit enables the UK post-16 education and research communities to benefit from the provision of the ICT infrastructure, online resources and in the development of innovative technologies.
JISC is committed to evaluating the inputs, outputs and impact of its work to ensure that it is achieving maximum benefit, sustainability and value for money, from the resources available.
Partnership
JISC works in partnership with a range of organisations, both in the UK and internationally. JISC has formal partnerships with organisations for a number of reasons including policy collaboration, development programmes and the delivery of production and advisory services.
In the UK, the expertise of committee members, JISC Executive and JISC Services is shared throughout the education and research communities in order to exploit the full potential of information technologies. JISC works with partner organisations to explore opportunities for collaboration beyond these communities, involving schools, public libraries and adult and community learning.
In order to be a world leader in the field of ICT in education, JISC seeks opportunities to collaborate with and to share knowledge with organisations supporting education throughout the world.