JISC

Commissioned in January 1999, this project identifies staffing issues relevant to the introduction and adoption of C&IT in HE and has developed guidance on staff evaluation, recruitment and a C&IT development strategy. The final report is in the shape of a road map to guide institutions through the development of a C&IT strategy.

Aims and Objectives

The project’s main deliverable is a strategic planning tool for use within HEIs. This is designed to help identify relevant staffing issues and provides good practice guidelines.

This tool has been developed through the outcome of a series of sub-projects running within the University of East Anglia:

• A substantial C&IT Skills and Use survey of all UEA staff
• An investigation of the place and profile of C&IT skills in UEA recruitment and promotion practice
• An examination of the role of informal ‘people networks’ at UEA in embedding C&IT skills
• An investigation into the efficacy of central C&IT staff development and training at UEA
• A comparative study of approaches to C&IT skills development in different Schools/Units at UEA.

Project Design

The key methodology used by the project team was a skills survey within UEA, which involved a questionnaire, group discussions and one-to-one interviews. The other sub-projects within UEA were used to further inform the project and where possible to triangulate information gathered. The UEA-based work was regularly checked against the experiences of those elsewhere in HE, through workshops and discussions. A key methodological objective for the project was to synthesise, not replicate, and thus the private sector was also involved.

Implications/ Deliverables/ Stakeholders

The project has generated a major report "C&IT skills: developing staff C&IT capability in Higher Education". Five copies of this have been sent to each HEI in the UK: one copy to the head of institution, with additional copies to pass to heads of staff development, human resources, learning technology, and the computing/information service - or their equivalents. Further paper copies are available on request. The contents are also available via the resources page of the web site.

As part of the project, the team held one-day SCAITS regional workshops, together with other SCAITS presentations, which have generated much interest and discussion. The project team is able to offer the possibility of holding a SCAITS seminar or workshop for any HEI interested.