<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms', sans-serif; ">[Forwarding from <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; ">Sophie Pettit and JISC.</span> --Peter Suber.]</span></div>
<font size="2"><div style="text-align: left;"><br></div></font><div class="gmail_quote"><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;line-height: 150%; "><b>THE UK NEEDS SUSTAINED INVESTMENT IN TECHNOLOGICAL
INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT FUTURE RESEARCH, TEACHING AND LEARNING</b></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;line-height: 150%; "><b>JISC launches 2010-2012 strategy </b></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;line-height: 150%; "><b>See </b><a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/" target="_blank"><b>www.jisc.ac.uk</b></a><b>
for further full Strategy documentation<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "> </span></b></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">The UK is at
risk of losing its world-leading reputation for education unless it continues
to invest in digital technologies to meet the ever-changing needs of modern
learners, researchers and the academic community says JISC in its three-year
strategy which launches today.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">The strategy
outlines a vision of the future whereby a robust technological infrastructure
is required to meet the shifting needs of the 21<sup>st</sup> century education
community. JISC believes it is crucial that the UK’s education system
continues to compete on the international stage by investing in innovation,
research and increasing the availability of online resources.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><b>JISC Chair
Professor Sir Tim O’Shea commented:</b> "The UK's learner base is
changing at great speed. Students are increasingly demanding that universities
and colleges provide flexible and personalised learning which makes full use of
the internet and IT applications. Such demands and expectations are set to
increase as we move through this decade and into the next.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">"If we
fail to sustain the required research and investment to assist universities and
colleges in their drive to improve their efficiency, effectiveness and to
manage their costs, the UK risks losing its reputation for world-class
education."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">Recent JISC
projects, such as the <a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/resourcediscovery/googlegen.aspx" target="_blank">Google
Generation</a> and <a href="http://www.susteit.org.uk/uploads/DOCS/55-SustainableICTreport_final.pdf" target="_blank">Sustainable
ICT</a> studies, have defined a new world for teaching and learning and have
outlined the infrastructure needed to support it. With new technologies
constantly evolving, sustained investment is needed to pioneer their use. Over
the last decade JISC has invested its research and development funds in around
200 universities and colleges to help uncover new products, approaches and
systems as well as increase skills and capacity.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><a href="http://www.ja.net/index.html" target="_blank">JANET</a> has developed a world-leading
computer network and technical backbone which has transformed the way that
technology is used and understood. Now, a network once used by a select few
purely for cutting-edge research allows millions in education and research to
share, manipulate, analyse and reuse digital content from around the world. It
is also the first national research and education network in the world to
complete a 100Gbit/s network trial that is nearly two hundred thousand times
faster than the average broadband connection.</p>
<p style="line-height:150%;background:white"><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%; ">As
the web continues to </span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 150%; color: rgb(42, 0, 65); ">transform life in the
education sector,</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="line-height: 150%; "> JISC, through its services will </span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 150%; color: rgb(42, 0, 65); ">guide individuals and organisations to make effective use of
digital technology through training and staff development</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">JISC’s
strategy outlines four key areas<span style="color:blue"> </span>of
investment*: <br>
effective, creative approaches to teaching and an enhanced learning experience;
increased research quality and innovative approaches to support the research
process; efficient and effective institutions; <br>
shared infrastructure and resources. <br>
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">Within these
four area focus will be given to online learning, management information
systems, cloud computing, innovation and impact.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">A rich online
learning culture in particular has a huge part to play to ensure UK colleges
and universities remain attractive in the domestic and global markets. In
addition, with the release of cloud computing now offers a real and widespread
new way of working enabling institutions, learners and researchers to access
information, resources and software online without the need for local storage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><b>JISC
executive secretary Dr Malcolm Read OBE added:</b> “Realising cost
savings and improving value for money and efficiency through exploiting
technology needs, leadership and culture change. There are many opportunities
to consider; the technical risks are modest but the risks to an organisation
through adopting new business and teaching and learning processes can be
considerable. But funding and economic pressures require such change and
JISC’s role is to show how this transition can be managed and the
benefits gained.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">The launch of
the JISC strategy 2010-2012 follows a period of consultation in which UK higher
and further education institutions, membership bodies, mission groups, and key
partners were invited to respond and help inform the strategy’s final
direction. The strategy has been written to ensure JISC’s planned future
investment priorities focus on the areas of greatest importance to those in
education and research.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%"><br></span></b></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none">
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">Notes to editors</span></b></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">*</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">Further detailed information on how the investment
will be distributed will be available within the full Strategy document which
will be available from 09.00am on Tuesday 1 December on the JISC website <a href="http://www.jisc.ac.uk/" target="_blank">www.jisc.ac.uk</a> or in a PDF version available
immediately on request from Bray Leino.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">About JISC</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><a name="125456ba0c7c96af_OLE_LINK1"></a><a name="125456ba0c7c96af_OLE_LINK2"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">JISC inspires UK colleges and universities in the innovative
use of digital technologies, helping to maintain the UK’s position as a
global leader in education.</span></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">JISC manages and funds more than 300
projects within 24 programmes and supports 49 services that provide
expertise, advice, guidance and resources to address the needs of all users in
higher and further education.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; "><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">For more information, please contact:</span></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">Leander Clarke / Sophie Pettit</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">Bray Leino Public Relations</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%">Tel: 0117 973 1173 Email: <a href="mailto:lclarke@brayleino.co.uk" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">lclarke@brayleino.co.uk</span></a>
/ <a href="mailto:spettit@brayleino.co.uk" target="_blank">spettit@brayleino.co.uk</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; font-size: small; "> </span></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div><br>