JISC

This report provides illustrations of JISC’s impact across two decades. The sustained, managed and strategic nature of our activities means the resulting impacts far outweigh the initial investment.

JISC is at the heart of UK further and higher education, driving the innovative use of technology to support the sector’s activity and its competitiveness globally. Our unique position enables us to act for the whole sector, in partnership with commercial, public and non-profit organisations both nationally and internationally.

Our unique position enables us to act for the whole sector, in partnership with commercial, public and non-profit organisations both nationally and internationally. We are the force behind JANET, the powerful computing network which links 18 million users across all colleges and universities making our education community the envy of academics the world over.

When new technologies such as web 2.0 appear, we pioneer their use in education, working constantly to move the sector forward, backing projects that might never otherwise happen.  We empower strategic decision-makers to realise the best use of existing systems and successfully implement new technologies. 

Over the last decade JISC has invested its research and development funds in around 200 UK universities and colleges. The importance of this is not just the resulting new products, approaches and systems but crucially increased skills and capacity.
The sustained, managed and strategic nature of our activities means the resulting impacts far outweigh the initial investment. All our successes and achievements are realised as a direct result of our ability to drive innovation within the sector through research and development.

It is crucial that our education system continues to compete on the international stage by investing in innovation, research and increasing the availability of online resources. JISC is at the centre of building the capacity of our information technology communications infrastructure - ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading education and research, now and in the future.
Put simply, UK academia would not enjoy its worldwide recognition for excellence without JISC.

Sustained innovation

JISC Advance delivered savings of £41.5m on an investment of £3.4m in 2008/09. £12 saved for every £1 spent. In 2007/08 JISC Collections delivered £34 worth of content for every £1 spentIn under twenty years JISC has developed a world-leading network and technical backbone for UK education. It has transformed the way that technology is used and understood. Once the network was something used by very few, purely for cutting edge research - now it is used by millions of people across the whole sector to communicate and work every hour of every day.

JISC has moved JANET from a network serving 60 universities and research councils to SuperJANET5 a 40Gbit/s high speed connecting all universities and colleges across the UK. In 2009 it became the first national research and education network in the world to complete a 100Gbit/s network trial.

Initially only able to access information within their own organisations, now thanks to a truly innovative and pioneering technology; students, lecturers, researchers and managers can use a single password and ID to share, manipulate, analyse and re-use an extraordinary breadth of digital content from around the world.

Based within universities and colleges, an unparalleled network of specialist services provide the support, advice and guidance needed to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from these new technologies.

JISC Advance delivered savings of £41.5m on an investment of £3.4m in 2008/09. £12 saved for every £1 spent. In 2007/08 JISC Collections delivered £34 worth of content for every £1 spent.

JISC only achieves so much because of its unique position; being part of, and working for, the sector. JISC works as a driver for the use of technology in universities and colleges and provides leadership for change across research, online learning and collaboration. JISC saves money by innovating and taking risks on behalf of all institutions, to build skills and capacity and promote excellence across the full range of institutional work.

Such transformational activity can only be carried out through genuine collaboration, by the widespread building of skills and knowledge of individuals and organisations and by allowing all to leverage the unique success of JISC.

Adding value

Since 2000 JISC has invested in 1,000 innovation projects involving over 200 universities and colleges and 3,200 staffUniversities and colleges are made more effective through JISC as it builds technological capability across education, and saves the sector many millions of pounds every year. JISC achieves this through:

• Negotiating and purchasing power
• Taking risks and sharing the results
• Making processes and systems more efficient
• Building skills and knowledge

Maintaining the UK’s research excellence

JISC upholds the UK’s reputation as a world leader in academic research by building the technology backbone for colleges and universities.'The Freeze Frame archive is invaluable in charting changes in the polar regions. Making the material available to all will help with further research into scientific studies around global warming and climate change.'

Polar explorer Pen Hadow

• Backbone infrastructure
• Building and providing online resources
• Supporting collaborative research

Connecting 18 million users, the JANET network is vital to the UK education community. It enables researchers to use large volumes of data, and to communicate in new and innovative ways which otherwise would not be possible.

JISC is transforming the academic library by encouraging librarians to embrace digital technology. The work began during the 1990s with the JISC e-Lib programme, which created a pool of experts with the skills needed to embrace these new technologies and lead the next generation. Many of the things that are taken for granted in academic libraries today such as clear metadata, easy access to resource discovery and putting resources online, are the direct result of JISC’s early work in this area.

Investing more than £22m in preservation and digitisation, means researchers now have online access to more than 6.5 million items which previously risked being lost forever. "The Freeze Frame archive is invaluable in charting changes in the polar regions. Making the material available to all will help with further research into scientific studies around global warming and climate change." Polar explorer Pen Hadow

How digital technologies are creating a new paradigm in research

Excellence in online learning

The ground-breaking work JISC does to build an online learning infrastructure means the UK has a global reputation for technology supported learning.

• Influencing national and regional policies
• Infrastructure that enables online teaching and learning
• Curriculum design and development
• Improving the student experience
• Providing advice and guidance

JISC has a key role in contributing to national policies on technology and learning for the benefit of teachers, learners and researchers across the UK.

At a regional level, JISC helps universities and colleges to learn from one another by sharing best practice. It has brought the use of technology for teaching and learning from the peripheries to one that is now firmly embedded within institutional strategies.

Using new technology, paramedic students at Coventry University are able to respond to specially-designed emergency scenarios in the virtual world Second Life, allowing them to test their skills in a safe environment. This idea is now being taken up by Derby University.

JISC Advance is uniquely placed to provide advice, guidance and resources to over 600 UK colleges and universities. Services range from training courses to support on accessibility and legal guidance. These services along with JISC’s innovation projects enhance the skills and knowledge of UK educators by:

• developing technical and project management skills
• enabling collaboration across the sector,
• sharing knowledge and spreading awareness of technology benefits within institutions

JISC RSCs support over 500 colleges across the UK, over 150 adult and community learning organisations in England and Wales and over 2000 organisations in the work-based learning sector.

Impact on society

JISC’s influence reaches beyond education. It funds activities which support and benefit the arts, health, libraries, and the public sector in the UK and abroad. 

• National and international influence
• Positioning the UK at the forefront of international research and education 
• Widening access to resources, information and advice
• Promoting green ICT

JISC’s eight strategic partners enable it to directly influence national and international policies and practices. JISC is central to the UK’s position as world leader in applying technology to teaching and research. This includes a reputation for excellence in web 2.0 technology, data networks, digitisation, repositories, and open standards.

Its expert voice is gained through listening to practitioners’ experiences, consulting with university and college membership organisations as well as senior managers. This is assisted by JISC’s working partnerships with government, education bodies like UCAS, and international organisations such as the SURF Foundation.

JISC’s work keeps the UK at the forefront of:

• e-science
• online learning
• access to digital content
• digital libraries

Fostering links between education and the wider community, JISC supports universities and colleges in managing relationships with commercial and public organisations. This results in a more highly skilled workforce; efficient, dynamic and sustainable economy, and knowledge-enabled society.

MIMAS, one of JISC’s National Data Centres, helped Morecambe Bay Search and Rescue Team deal with potential accidents among cockle picklers working on the mudflats. Landmap experts used European Space Agency satellite data to create maps to forecast how the area’s mudflats change monthly to help prevent future fatalities.

The JISC-commissioned Suste-IT report collates examples of positive actions for sustainable ICT.  It surveys over 49 different institutions to make recommendations for greener practice in videoconferencing, building design, carbon-efficient data centres and sustainable procurement.

Download the JISC impact report below