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In a sector first, Jisc has released a framework to help universities make strategic moves towards digital transformation.

Professor Edward Peck is urging higher education providers to use their data to improve student services and support student wellbeing.

Jisc’s 2023 community champions explain what motivates them to go the extra mile.

From today, 6 March 2023, the Jisc service desk will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

After two years of online-only conferences, DCDC23 returns both in-person and online 11-13 July at Durham University. 

A collective of education and research sector organisations has today appealed to digital content, hardware and software vendors seeking “pricing constraint” in the face of the growing cost-of-living crisis. 

College group triumphs in the effective use of digital technology in further education (FE) category. 

The Association of Colleges (AOC) Beacon Awards has celebrated excellence for colleges, learning providers, staff and students since 1995. 

Three OA publishing initiatives to be fully funded through 2022 pilot scheme that aims to boost smaller publishers and improve decision-making. 

In collaboration with the Scottish Funding Council, Jisc is working with colleges across Scotland to boost digital transformation.

OpenAthens, a Jisc service providing access to knowledge in the education, research and public sectors, has revealed the programme for its annual library resource conference, Access Lab. 

As the use of technology becomes increasingly embedded across UK further and higher education, gaining a thorough understanding of the digital skills of both students and teachers can be extremely beneficial when considering pedagogy and curriculum planning.

Fifteen champions and seven finalists have been chosen across UK education and research communities. 

Experts and senior leaders will explore creating world-class research and development in the UK and how the community can increase collaboration and reduce bureaucracy.

Jisc is sponsoring this year's Black Leadership Group conference, where prominent thinkers and campaigners in the fight to eradicate racism in the UK will meet to showcase new initiatives and launch an organisation to promote leadership from ethnically diverse backgrounds.

Jisc’s annual event celebrating digital transformation in learning, teaching and research will take place on 7-8 March 2023.

As more and more UK colleges and universities realise the benefits of adding esports to the curriculum, the cyber security threat exposure that comes with it increases too.

Access to new dashboard will help Jisc members streamline open access publication

Jisc offers free places on assistive technology courses

Jisc’s managing director for further education and skills to join national awarding organisation’s board.

Jisc is a key delivery partner for the Digital 2030: strategic framework.

Jisc advocates a balanced and fully informed approach to AI-generated content  

All UK tertiary education providers and research centres will soon benefit from an extra layer of cyber security protection against ransomware attacks.

Jisc is working with an independent sustainability expert to hold a series of member workshops to support colleges and universities on their sustainability journey.

Registration is now open for OpenAthens’ Access Lab 2023, a free annual conference for librarians and publishers taking place online, 20-23 March 2023.  

A new Jisc digital experience insights survey shows higher education teaching staff satisfaction dropped by 6 percentage points, although majority support blended teaching.

Institutions save more every time one buys from the scheme, which is relaunched this week.

Institutions save more every time one buys from the scheme, which is relaunched this week.

For 17 days after The Lincoln College Group was hit by a serious cyber-attack, Graham Harrison and his key staff hardly slept.

Edinburgh College has won the 2022 College Development Network (CDN) award for digital learning for its innovative use of virtual reality (VR) to provide students studying health and social care with the skills and experience to care for patients suffering with dementia.

Cyber security is a strategic priority at an increasing number of UK colleges and universities, as evidenced by data from Jisc’s cyber security posture surveys over the past six years.

Edinburgh College has won the 2022 College Development Network (CDN) award for digital learning for its innovative use of virtual reality (VR) to provide students studying health and social care with the skills and experience to care for patients suffering with dementia.

Jisc chief executive officer Heidi Fraser-Krauss has been voted on to the board of GÉANT , the umbrella organisation for 39 national research and education networks (NRENs) in Europe.

Institutions save more every time one buys from the scheme, which is relaunched this week.

Three out of four of our survey participants were concerned about high workloads, and nearly two-thirds about investment in staff development.

Five monographs from UK authors on medicine, technology, sexuality studies and environmental studies will be available through the pilot project.

The Association of Colleges award celebrates leading lights in the further education (FE) sector effectively using digital technology to improve the learner experience.

Nominations are now open. 

Cyber security remains a high priority for senior leaders at UK colleges, universities and research centres, according to Jisc’s sixth annual survey of the sector.

Colleges and universities will also benefit from cost savings.

Jisc has welcomed Bangor University as the 100th UK institution to join the international  ORCID  (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) consortium.  

For the first time at its annual security conference, Jisc is creating a cyber threat intelligence bar where delegates can hear expert advice.

The British Library joins us as a new partner in the delivery and organisation of the Discovering Collections: Discovering Communities conference series. 

Recruiters increasingly depend on service that aims to drive down degree fraud.

Jisc welcomes the Office for Students' blended learning review and its recommendations, says Liam Earney, managing director of higher education and research at Jisc.

Jisc has launched a new film celebrating innovation in the further education (FE) and skills sector as part of #LoveOurColleges week run by the Association of Colleges.

How industry, academia and government are working together to benefit the defence community

New dashboards give universities an even more accurate picture of how their engagement with communities, businesses and other institutions compares to similar institutions.

Jisc has struck a deal allowing higher education and research institutions in the UK to publish in Optica Publishing Group’s portfolio of optics and photonics journals

The two tertiary education sector bodies officially join forces from 4 October 2022.

New resources to help the post-16 sector in Wales develop online learning capabilities have been created by Jisc following a commission from the Welsh Government.  

Students and staff can now track progress, create learning material ‘playlists’ and examine performance through updated dashboards.

Government procurement framework for 2022-23 now includes extra Jisc services to help drive digital transformation.

The new three-year plan covers topics such as cyber security and sustainability.

For 17 days after The Lincoln College Group was hit by a serious cyber-attack, Graham Harrison and his key staff hardly slept.  

As cyber security continues to make headlines for all the wrong reasons, speakers, panel sessions and training opportunities at Jisc’s 2022 security conference are designed to encourage everyone to help build strong defences.  

But Jisc report finds more support is needed for online studies and access to devices.

New multi-supplier framework agreement makes Jisc’s Janet txt service more easily available to the education sector 

Jisc has published a new guide to help members consider sustainability when making decisions around IT.  

The American Psychological Association has signed an agreement with Jisc offering participating UK authors capped open access publishing in its journals.

OpenAthens , which is part of Jisc, has announced that its contract to provide secure, single sign-on facilities to NHS staff in England has been renewed.  

Following feedback from the content expert group on its author facing communications and workflows, Springer Nature submitted a revised application for Jisc-approved transformative journal status for their Nature Research and Palgrave titles.  

There’s a disconnection between the increasing digital and technical needs of employers and the skills of today’s college and university leavers.  

Ground-breaking publishing platform Octopus is being launched next week on 29 June and researchers are invited to attend the online event  to find out more.

Recent events have highlighted the importance of working with students as partners in digital transformation and hearing what they have to say about the impact of changes to how they have been learning.

Jisc has launched a report that examines the impact of digital technology on the environment and offers practical steps that colleges and universities can take on their journey towards carbon net zero.

Jisc is helping a consortium, led by the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) , to assess the feasibility of, and scope for, a platform to help international research collaboration.  

Registration is now open for Jisc’s 2022 security conference , which aims to help education and public sector leaders, along with technical experts, build robust architectures to withstand the latest cyber threats.  

A survey has been opened that will help Jisc gauge how UK education and research organisations are dealing with the evolving threat of cyber attacks. 

A project developed by Edinburgh College that uses virtual reality (VR) to teach healthcare students how to care for and empathise with dementia patients has earned a Jisc-sponsored award for innovation.

Thinking about a mobile phone upgrade to enable 5G? Keep up! Researchers and the telecoms industry have already moved on to planning for 6G, and the possibilities are exciting.  

The Office for Students (OfS) has today launched a consultation with the higher education sector to determine the suitability of Jisc as the next designated data body (DDB).

Springer Nature has been asked to revise and resubmit an application for its Nature Research Journals and Palgrave Journals to become Jisc-approved transformative journals.

The 49th meeting of the Jisc student experience experts group brought together representatives from across the tertiary education sector to discuss digital transformation: what it is (and what it’s not), how to put essential building blocks in place, and how to optimise success.

Keele University has pledged to reach net zero by 2030. Alex Goffe and Mathew Bailey from the university’s information and digital services team explain the vital role technology is playing to make this ambitious goal possible and offer their top three tips for starting your carbon neutral journey.

Publishing on 19 May, a collection created by Wiley Digital Archives in partnership with Jisc and the British Science Association, has accumulated more than 930,000 pages of scientific archive material.

Weston College wins award for effective use of digital technology in further education for its innovative virtual classroom project.

The Publications division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Jisc consortium have reached a transitional agreement which will serve researchers in the UK across all fields of chemistry.

UK institutions are in negotiation with Springer Nature to secure a transitional open access (OA) agreement for the Nature, Nature research journals and Palgrave journals. A proposal that meets the requirements of the sector  has not yet been provided.

Jisc and the Royal Society of Chemistry have extended and revised their transformative agreement until the end of 2024. Now utilising all previous expenditure to support open access (OA) publications, the deal covers all expected publishing output in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s hybrid journals portfolio.      

Jisc’s national centre for AI launches pilot of Graide, a digital assessment platform developed by students at the University of Birmingham.

JMIR Publications, a leading publisher of digital health research, and Jisc, have entered a two-year pilot agreement offering member institutions unlimited open access (OA) publishing for a flat fee.

Jisc announces today that its newly designed managed firewall service for UK colleges, universities, research centres and the public sector will be built and operated by KHIPU Networks . 

UK universities have reached a three-year agreement with Elsevier providing both unlimited open access publishing and access to paywalled journal articles for a significant reduction on current institutional spend.   

The shift towards online and blended learning has increased the need for library and learning resources to be more widely available in electronic format, which creates both opportunity and challenge in equal measure.

Jisc has partnered with Wazoku to launch an innovative competition for students, who could win up to £5,000 or an internship.

Lord Knight outlines his views on how the effective use of technology can improve the human elements of learning. 

With the expansion of T-levels and the technology revolution driven by industry 4.0, preparing learners for placements and careers beyond is a high priority for the further education (FE) sector.

For the past two-and-a-half years, Siemens’ Connected Curriculum initiative has partnered with universities to help equip graduates with a broad range of cutting-edge, industry-relevant skills. 

Today, Jisc launched a new tool that will help UK further education (FE) and skills providers to benchmark – and so improve - their digital status. 

Jisc is warning colleges and universities to ensure all possible defensive cyber security measures are in place in view of the heightened attack threat from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

The latest cohort of Jisc community champions is an inspirational group of people who go above and beyond their usual roles in further and higher education to collaborate and share experiences for the good of all.  

Jisc and OCLC, a global library organisation, have signed an agreement meaning academic and specialist libraries across the UK will have better access to fit-for-purpose catalogue records and an enhanced ability to share and reuse bibliographic metadata.

Today, Thursday 17 February, HESA and Jisc confirm that the two organisations are exploring a merger.

GIDEON Informatics has partnered with Jisc for a one-year pilot agreement. Jisc members get an exclusive discount to access the GIDEON comprehensive infectious diseases database as part of the subscription offer.

Jisc and Coherent Digital , a digital content and information services group, have signed an agreement to offer Mindscape Commons virtual reality (VR) content to both FE and HE institutions in the UK.

Jisc has become a full member of the International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)  consortium as part of its commitment to promoting the open use of digital content for education and research.  

Jisc and Kortext, the student learning content and engagement platform, have partnered to provide 10,000 free e-books and academic publications to all FE and sixth form colleges across the UK.

OpenAthens , a Jisc enterprise, has won a platinum award in LibraryWorks’ eighth annual Modern Library Awards (MLAs) , bringing the total number of its accolades to four.

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, education organisations have made great strides forward in the effective use of digital technology to support remote work and study.

Jisc is inviting staff from all member organisations to attend its annual edtech conference, Digifest , for free.

A year ago, Bridgwater and Taunton College was severely impacted by a ransomware cyber attack.

Universities were forced to break the mould when it came to assessment in 2020. But UCL made the bold decision to deliver all its 2021 exams and assessments online too – on a new, purpose-built platform. 

A new report by Jisc examines how existing software systems can improve the student journey and lead to better outcomes for both students and universities, such as boosting National Student Survey (NSS) scores and tackling low attrition rates.

COVID-19 lockdowns forced further education (FE) providers to devise and implement new, online means of assessing learners’ progress and giving feedback, using a variety of technology.

Jisc and our partner organisations have written to publishers Pearson, asking them to take urgent and immediate action to reconsider and reverse their recently - announced price increases to e-textbook titles.

Jisc is urging colleges and universities to quickly fix an “easily-exploited” flaw in widely used computer code that presents a “severe” risk of cyber attack.

Jisc and Bolton College have teamed up to develop a chatbot that could help students throughout the UK.

Thousands of college and university staff say the pandemic has fundamentally changed their role as teachers following the move to online learning, according to two new surveys published today by Jisc.

Technology disruptor, digital poverty campaigner and former schools minister, Lord Jim Knight, will give the opening keynote at Jisc’s showcase edtech conference, Digifest, in March 2022.

Jisc has produced new guidance to help college and university staff work together to assess and improve their cyber security maturity.

A new report by Jisc has been compiled to help universities, colleges and research institutes think about the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), and to combat “unfairness” or “unexpected effects” for students and staff in education and research.

Jisc will today join MPs, internet providers and sector leaders in a collective effort to end data poverty affecting hundreds of thousands of students and teachers across the UK.

Networkshop50: celebrates its 50th event for education, research and IT professionals – and will be delivered as a physical hybrid event from 8 to 10 June 2022.

Thousands of students and teachers across Wales will benefit from cutting-edge data analytics technology to improve student engagement, retention and performance as a result of a funding boost to be announced today by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) and Jisc.

US and UK college leaders agree that disadvantaged college learners on both sides of the Atlantic experienced very similar challenges during the pandemic.

Against a background of a huge increase in ransomware attacks against the tertiary education sector, a new survey reports that record numbers of college and university leaders are taking cyber security seriously.

Jisc response to the sector’s joint statement on its decision to reject the latest Elsevier proposal:

In a post-COVID world, evidence has emerged in the UK and overseas to show that students like blended learning, combining remote and on-campus, online and face-to-face tuition. The question now is, how can colleges make that work?

Ahead of the UN climate change conference (COP26) next week, Jisc has welcomed the commitment of the research and education sector to reduce its impact on the environment and set out its own approach.

Graduate careers expert Prospects , part of Jisc, is this week launching the first tech careers fair in the UK to be hosted on communications service, Discord .

Jisc becomes proud affiliate of the Black Further Education Leadership Group (BFELG), aligning with their mission to eradicate systemic racism in further education.

A new online tool designed and developed by Jisc in partnership with London Higher, a consortium of London universities, will help thousands of students across London access nearby mental health and wellbeing support.

Having supported moves to ban services that offer ready-made essays to students for a fee, Jisc is delighted to hear that the government is now taking steps to outlaw this unethical practice. 

Together with other representatives and sector bodies, Jisc has pledged to help students and teachers in UK higher and further education to gain equitable and sustainable access to e-books, e-textbooks and related teaching content.

Claire Carpenter, IT security specialist at the University of Canterbury Christ Church , has a vivid analogy for the anxiety felt by some in the IT community around vulnerability scanning.

Having welcomed UKRI’s open access policy when it was published in August, Jisc today sets out detailed plans to help the research community effectively implement it.

A new report from Jisc, and its US counterpart, EDUCAUSE , outlines shared challenges and technology-rich plans for post-pandemic recovery and enhancement in the future delivery of education.

Cyber crime is on the increase and prevention is always better than cure. So, it follows that law enforcers must find a way to identify those at risk of offending and intervene early, often via schools and colleges. 

Today, Heidi Fraser-Krauss takes over as Jisc CEO. 

A browser plug-in that prompts an automatic pop-up when users search for information on self-harm or taking their own life is launched in the UK today (10 September) - World Suicide Prevention Day .

A Jisc survey of 38,917 university students in the last academic year finds that students need better support with digital skills, highlights the digital divide, and shares how universities can learn from the past year to give all students a superior education experience.

A significant proportion of further education or sixth form college learners faced barriers to online study during the pandemic.

As universities and colleges continue to suffer the effects of an unprecedented wave of ransomware attacks over the past year, the calls for wider security intelligence sharing are becoming louder. 

A student mental health project from the Open University (OU) will be one of 18 schemes to share £6m-worth of funding from the Office for Students (OfS).

Sector bodies have united to warn colleges and universities to remain vigilant for cyber attacks that could once again disrupt the ongoing enrolment processes.

Funding has been agreed to help develop a ground-breaking global service which could positively disrupt research culture for the better. 

UK universities are being urged to be vigilant against an emerging cyber security threat from essay mills.

Jisc’s OpenDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories) has launched a self-assessment feature for repository staff that allows them to check whether their repository meets the six Plan S requirements for repositories .

The new charter programme brings universities together to share practice and create cultural change.

A list of digital resources that support priority vocational subjects in Wales, particularly for catch-up learning has just been released.

Today, Policy Connect launches its Skills Commission report , which is a welcome boost to help support learners’ career progression in a digitally-enhanced workplace.

Employers want the government to back flexible placements for students.

As with any connected organisation, there’s a balance to be struck between operational freedom and security. Responsible for determining that equilibrium is chief information security officer and head of networks, Guy Morrell.

Jisc and the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (NAS) are pleased to announce a two-year transformational open access (OA) pilot agreement.

Today, Jisc has warned technical teams at colleges, universities and research institutes that they must take immediate action to disable a Microsoft printer service in order to prevent cyber attacks.

The lack of work experience due to the pandemic has left students feeling unprepared for employment, with many looking to boost their skills on leaving education or change careers, reports Prospects' early careers survey 2021 .

Heidi Fraser-Krauss, currently executive director of corporate services at the University of Sheffield, is to be the new CEO at Jisc. 

Leaders from some of the most technologically advanced colleges in the US and the UK are coming together for the first time on 30 June to share their knowledge and expertise. 

The education sector is in the grip of an unprecedented spike in ransomware attacks. Staff at Dundee and Angus College know only too well the impact of such an attack , having been devastated  in January 2020, after an unpatched endpoint was breached. 

The pandemic has transformed teaching, promising potential for universities to offer interactive, flexible, and personalised learning, in line with the seamless technology students use at home, finds  new report . 

A Jisc HE Leaders podcast debate explores the impact of the pandemic on university culture and leadership.

The winners of The Herald Higher Education (HE) Awards 2021 were announced at an interactive online ceremony last night. 

How can we regulate the internet in a way that lets us reap the game-changing benefits and avoid the equally huge risks?

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has launched a new  £18m Provider Growth Fund to support colleges and universities in their delivery of technology-enabled technical qualifications. The fund follows the government’s plans to 'make higher technical education a more popular and prestigious choice that provides the skills employers need'.

A new study is underway to investigate the role of research libraries in this moment of substantial strategic change and post- pandemic.

A new cyber security threat intelligence sharing system has been launched to help research and education organisations across the globe prevent and mitigate cyber attacks.

New and improved university exams have enhanced assessment for disabled students, those with mental health challenges, and students suffering from digital poverty, as well as building the digital skills needed by students for future jobs - finds new report.

Building on efforts to tackle digital poverty, Jisc has written to the Local Government Association, urging authorities to provide free internet access to students in public spaces via our eduroam connectivity service.

No one is an island, unless perhaps you work in accessibility. With so many people working in accessibility working solo, making progress can feel like lonely work. Which is where the accessibility community comes in.

In our second ‘HE Leaders’ podcast debate , Jisc’s managing director of higher education (HE), Jonathan Baldwin, chairs a conversation around the post-COVID student experience.

SCONUL , the professional association for academic and research libraries and Jisc, have negotiated a national agreement with not-for-profit  Our Research .

New guidelines can support universities and colleges as they design fully accessible mobile phone apps that benefit all students.

Security staff at Jisc are proving their worth on a global stage, recently earning two top ten placings in international competitions.

Cultivating an environment where cyber security is on the radar of every student and staff member, not just IT teams, is the theme of the 2021  Jisc security conference.  

For the fifth year running, Jisc is asking universities, colleges and research centres to help gauge the state of cyber security in the education and research sector. 

Jisc report on artificial intelligence in colleges and universities underpins ambitious venture to embed AI technologies in post-16 education.

A new package of free cyber security training for teachers and staff at schools and colleges will help to shore up the first line of defence against cyber attacks – users. 

Lincolnshire and North-East-based college group,  TEC Partnership , is an award-winning pioneer for the sector in its use of technology, which it sees as essential to prepare learners for the workplace.  

UK research output made more visible by Jisc Publications Router .

Taylor & Francis Group and Jisc have signed a three-year transitional agreement combining access and open access (OA) publishing to Taylor & Francis Group’s portfolio of journals.

A new series, the  HE Leaders podcasts , has now launched with what Jisc’s managing director of higher education (HE), Jonathan Baldwin, describes as a “lively and thought-provoking discussion around university learning, teaching and assessment in the post-COVID world”.  

With the pandemic highlighting the need for international cooperation, this year’s Research Data Alliance (RDA) Plenary virtual conference , 20-23 April 2021, will focus on ’global mechanisms for data reuse’. 

The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) will allow higher education institutions (HEIs) in England to view indications of institutional performance relative to their peers.

IT and cyber security staff at colleges and universities accept that as part of the job they will sometimes have to deal with crisis situations such as cyber attacks. These intense though temporary events, contrast with the year-long pressure they’ve been under at the COVID coal-face. And the grind is starting to take its toll.

Jisc has announced that it will be using Unsub , an analytics dashboard, to help evaluate journal agreements that UK universities hold with publishers.

What do we want and need from our colleges from 2030 onwards, and how do we get there? These were the simple, yet fundamental questions the  Commission on the College of the Future  set out to answer when it began work in spring 2019. 

New report shares how universities can upscale revenue diversification by 2030.

Jisc is today launching a toolkit that will help new university presses to find sustainable ways to publish open access. 

Powering UK higher education  is a three-year plan that supports universities towards a technology-empowered future.

A new searchable content list is now available to help further education (FE) providers meet the Department for Education’s  National Skills Fund (NSF)  adult education offer, from April 2021. 

The education sector is currently being targeted with ransomware attacks and, for some colleges and universities, the impact has been devastating. 

Colleges have done an ‘incredible’ job maintaining learning through the pandemic and should be proud of what they achieved, said apprenticeships and skills minister Gillian Keegan, addressing Jisc’s Digifest event last week. 

Jisc and CNI reveal keynote speakers for research and scholarly communications conference .

On Thursday 11 March 2021, accessibility experts will come together at Jisc’s interactive  Digifest  event to discuss disabled students’ experiences of tertiary education. 

A Jisc survey of 27,069 higher and further education students  reveals that most are pleased with their digital learning, but areas such as wellbeing, mental health and staff digital skills need more attention.

Education providers are encouraged to take up two free services from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to help protect their websites and email servers from cyber attacks and spoofing.  

The minister for apprenticeships and skills, Gillian Keegan, will make the opening keynote speech to more than 2,500 college and university representatives at Jisc’s flagship edtech event, Digifest , next week.

Tuition fees represent  more than half of UK university income, and unprecedented levels of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated the scale of the student recruitment challenge. University cost increases have outstripped revenue growth, and financial sustainability has become the biggest threat faced by the sector.   

Champions of technology in further education, Jisc among them, have broadly welcomed the enforced shift to online working and learning as a long-overdue catalyst for change in the sector.  

Jisc is delighted to announce the appointment of Victoria Moody as director of research and innovation strategy.

Professional support and guidance is vital as students and graduates re-evaluate their careers due to the pandemic, reports Prospects at Jisc.

As further education (FE) providers gear up to welcome learners back to campus on 8 March, they are encouraged to make use of an award-winning COVID-19 data modelling app.

What has the pandemic taught universities about leadership? Three members of the Digifest steering panel discuss the evolving role of digital technologies, the changing needs of students, and the future role of higher education

February is LGBT+ History Month - an annual month-long observance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history and celebrated by Lancaster University . 

Prospects Hedd, the degree fraud service run by Jisc, has closed 85 websites selling degrees from fake UK universities.

The mental wellbeing of students and staff has come into sharp focus of late. What can be done to better support them both now and in the future?

Jisc and Oxford University Press (OUP) have reached a comprehensive ‘Read and Publish’ agreement.

Charles Baird, data architect at the Data Standards Authority, and Phil Richards, chief innovation officer for data analytics at Jisc, discuss how data standards are developing across government, and their impact on higher education.

New transitional agreement will make UK research more accessible and sustainable.

TEC Partnership has won the Jisc-sponsored Association of Colleges’ (AoC) Beacon Award for effective use of technology in further education.

We look at some of the key takeaways from the first fully online Data Matters conference and learn more about how to harness the power of data.

“Saving the mental health of students means changing how we help them, and fast”.

The pandemic highlighted just how poorly equipped most further education (FE) colleges are to operate digitally.   

GÉANT has launched its new EU-compliant OCRE cloud framework to help accelerate cloud adoption in education and research.  

UK Springer Compact Agreement extends to 2022 and will now include the publisher’s Academic Journals (AJs) on nature.com enhancing open access offering to the research community.

By ignoring university students while helping other disadvantaged learners to study online, the government and telecommunications companies risk creating a ‘lost generation’ of young people who are missing out on their education.

The enforced shift last spring to online work and study took its toll on staff and students alike.

Networkshop49  – a CPD-accredited conference for education, research and IT professionals – will be delivered online from 27-29 April 2021.

The deal comes after year-long discussions with UK institutions and institutions with single subscription receive upgrade to access full collection.

Professor Paul Boyle , vice-chancellor (VC) of Swansea University, is to be the new chair of Jisc.  

Emerald Publishing and Jisc announce a new agreement that will help authors in humanities and social sciences auto-deposit green open access papers in institutional repositories.

Prospects and Jisc’s annual  What do graduates do? report launched on 7 December 2020, helping students to make more informed decisions about their careers.

Where in a university should its digital strategy originate? The library might not be the first place that springs to mind but when a library service leads or co-creates the digital strategy, there can be huge benefits for students, staff and the whole institution.

The unpredictability surrounding the spread of COVID-19 was one of the biggest challenges facing colleges at the start of the autumn term.

Powerful new technologies are changing how research is carried out.  What are the challenges and opportunities for research now? We asked an early career researcher, a senior researcher and a research journal editor how they see research 4.0 panning out and what they believe are the key issues needing addressing. 

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) , Wellcome and Jisc are among the first organisations supporting the establishment of a new body called Open Access Switchboard .

Many students have responded to the challenging labour market with creativity and resolve. We look at some of the employment trends of 2020 and the inspirational stories of those taking their first steps on the career ladder.

The pandemic shines a light on the increasing value and critical contribution of IT in universities, and the pivotal role chief information officers (CIOs) can play in strategic decision-making. 

University teaching and learning have seen radical transformation in 2020. Three members of the Digifest steering panel look to the future, discussing ways to harness positive change while supporting both staff and students.

Despite the many headlines this year highlighting cyber attacks suffered by universities and colleges, it’s important to keep a sense of perspective.  

Plumpton College, often praised for its trailblazing use of VR and AR in practical course content, has had to face a fundamental rethink and is coming up with fresh immersive answers.

From livestreamed human dissection to online theatre and illustration, creativity is at the heart of new blended ways of learning and teaching. 

The latest wave of  accessibility regulations  came in on 23 September , yet many universities and colleges are  still on  a  journey towards compliance. 

New report  sets out to address the impact that automated technology will have on the future workplace, and how the higher education sector can prepare by 2030.

Jisc and Emerge Education have relaunched step up , an innovation community that aims to transform higher and further education by matching edtech start ups with colleges and universities to solve their biggest challenges.

The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama has won the Jisc-supported Guardian University Award 2020 for teaching excellence , in recognition of a project that incorporates augmented and virtual realities into teaching practices.

Digital and data poverty is harming the chances of some of the most vulnerable learners in further education.  Walsall College’s Jatinder Sharma, principal and chief executive, and David Turner, assistant principal – quality and HE, share how the digital divide is impacting their learners and the steps they are taking to help.

Two librarians from the National Library of Scotland share their experiences.

A survey of 2,677 teaching staff published today by Jisc finds that almost 80% of teaching staff feel motivated to use technology in their teaching (79%).

70% of teachers in the FE sector are confident at trying out new technologies. 81% feel motivated to use technology, working to ensure learners get the best possible education during the pandemic and beyond.

Three colleges and college groups have been shortlisted for a Jisc-sponsored award, which recognises how effective use of digital technology in further education has improved the student experience.

Leading UK universities have signed on to digitise previously uncatalogued scientific archive materials on Wiley Digital Archive platform .

Jisc is today relaunching a digital archival collection purchasing scheme that will help institutions reduce the cost of buying digital collections and archives from publishers and opens up the scheme to academic-related affiliates.

Building on Jisc’s heritage of seeking to understand and involve members in issues that directly affect them, our  new digital research community  will explore how technology and innovation can help improve current research practices.   

Data Matters launches as a virtual event in partnership with HESA and QAA.

COVID-19 has fundamentally shifted the higher education landscape. A new report, co-created with more than 1,000 university representatives, calls for a student-centred approach that embeds digital for the long term.

How can leaders provide the right support for staff who are faced with new situations that require different forms of practice? 

Welsh HE national measures dashboards help users benchmark performance against national measures for higher education.

With more of us working from home, cyber security issues have become an even more pressing global threat.

When  Dundee and Angus College was brought to a halt earlier this year by a ransomware attack, the leadership team quickly realised they were tackling a situation that wasn’t in any handbook.

Out today, the  final report from the Independent Commission on the College of the Future  underlines some of Jisc’s key aims for the sector and provides a strong consensus for the future. 

Vice-chancellors and senior executives from more than 40 UK universities have contributed to a new framework , launched today, to help higher education leaders realise the benefits of a long-term strategic approach to digital technology.

A new report highlights the key challenges in digital infrastructure being faced by further education providers.

Jisc and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Press  today announce an agreement that provides faculty in participating Jisc institutions with unlimited, open access publication of accepted research manuscripts as well as full reading access to the complete collection of renowned CSHL Press journals.

The American Physiological Society (APS) and Jisc announce today a Read, Publish and Join pilot offering UK institutions unlimited, immediate open access publishing in the APS Digital Library .

The Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) , and Jisc’s OpenDOAR service which is a global directory of academic open access repositories, today released a joint roadmap for the further development for OpenDOAR as an international, community-driven repository directory.

A three-year plan has been launched that aims to “provide digital services that elevate the further education and skills sector’s ability to serve people as lifelong learners”.

Dr Marie Moe was in the skies above the Netherlands, on the way to speak at a cyber security conference, when she suddenly realised something was going very wrong with her pacemaker.

Security is an issue for everyone. That’s the overarching message pushed out by the team at Oxford Brookes University while implementing its first dedicated information and cyber security strategy.

Today, Jisc and BibliU have announced a joint offer to provide UK libraries with a flexible and sustainable e-textbook programme.

Jisc and the Public Library of Science (PLOS)  today announced two three-year open access (OA) agreements that allow researchers to publish in PLOS journals without incurring article processing charges (APCs).

The skills required to thrive in today’s workplace have shifted in response to technological advances over the past few years and education providers have a duty to flex and adapt to employers’ demands.

College partners with Jisc and Barco to build trailblazing ‘virtual classroom’ to support West of England Institute of Technology

In September 2020, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warned about a spike in ransomware attacks on universities, colleges and schools, and the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) announced a 50% increase in public reports of online child sexual abuse in the three months following lockdown.

From virtual reality excursions back in time, to personalised learning and assessment methods and chatbot support, the University of Buckingham has today unveiled a ground-breaking tech-enhanced ‘ big history’ course .

Disabled students still face significant disadvantage compared to their non-disabled peers – but a new report, launched today, proposes a collaborative approach that embraces digital technology, working towards a more inclusive university experience for all. 

Security experts at Jisc are backing government advice issued today that universities should warn their students about the dangers of cyber crime.

Well-known education platform brings together digital content from across UK institutions for researchers, teaching staff and students.

The government’s announcement yesterday (1 October) of extra support to upskill college staff in remote learning practice is welcome – but doesn’t go far enough.

Jisc and EMS Press sign a three-year agreement giving institutions access to journal packages at special rates whilst supporting open access through the Subscribe to Open model.

Following the addition in May 2020 of a Cyber Essentials certification service, today Jisc has added  Cyber Essentials Plus  to its suite of professional  cyber security services.   

Jisc’s cloud managed services have been added to the Crown Commercial Service G-Cloud procurement framework for 2020-21. 

Technological innovation has improved the quality of life for many people with disabilities, delivering more independence and greater equality of opportunity. Jisc subject specialist Julia Taylor and National Star College student, Murray Field, assess the impact.

Kortext , the UK’s leading digital textbook and learning platform and Jisc have signed a sector-wide agreement enabling universities to deliver affordable digital textbooks for their students. 

During August and September there has been a series of ransomware attacks at a number of individual colleges, college groups and universities.  

While the global pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on FE institutions, Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) has found itself well-equipped for such a situation, as a result of a strong ethos of putting digital technology at the heart of teaching and learning.

Jisc response to Demos report, Research 4.0: Research in the Age of Automation

“Inequality and disadvantage don’t really show themselves when it comes to teaching or student grades. It’s the circumstantial stuff where we see the difference,” says Dr Robert Craven, looking back on his first year of teaching computational science and artificial intelligence (AI) to students from underrepresented backgrounds.

In a survey of nearly 40,000 higher and further education students, more than a quarter couldn’t give positive feedback on the quality of digital teaching, and only half say they receive guidance on vital digital skills.

New research into the impact on the further education (FE) sector of the recently enforced shift to remote learning has highlighted key problem areas for staff and learners that need urgent attention and investment.

In 2015, Harlow College launched the ’iPads for All’ strategy. We made a strategic decision, agreed by our governing body and students, to make a significant investment in our digital infrastructure. 

In 2012, Portsmouth College embarked on a co-constructed journey of digital transformational change in partnership with students and the community.   

Preservation , a new Jisc service, will make it easier for institutions to keep their digital collections accessible and reusable, comply with multiple mandates and fulfil their statutory obligations.

Delivering exceptional teaching and learning online to thousands of learners with 48 hours’ notice is no mean feat. Yet this is precisely what Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education (GIFHE) was able to do.  

At Weston College - of one of the fastest growing colleges in the UK - we are not at the start of our digital journey, but we are not at the end of it either. To be honest, I don’t feel that there is ever ‘a technological end’ - only evolution. What I do know is the importance of vision, ethos and leadership buy in.

The rapidly changing landscape of education technology presents challenges to institutions to keep up with new and emerging technologies, let alone how to apply them consistently to ensure online content retains the blended, personalised approach that is so important to assure relevance and standards.

Every year libraries purchase digital archive collections (or DACs), as one-off perpetual purchases. Fees for accessing these collections can vary from one publisher to another making it difficult for librarians to budget for these costs.

How can libraries ensure their textbooks are virus-free and safe for students? Staff at the University of Sussex describe how they have risen to the surprisingly gargantuan challenge by creating a digital system with a human element at its heart. In their own words, here’s how they did it.

A price freeze on journal subscriptions will not be enough to avoid UK researchers losing access to key academic content, warn three major sector bodies representing academic library directors and higher education managers. 

A new report, launched today, sets out the initial findings from a sector-wide initiative for higher education. The learning and teaching reimagined initiative has pulled together hundreds of university leaders and partner experts to create a vision for the future of HE in the UK and the steps to get there.

Further education institutions have been investing more in cyber security training, products and services in the last few years. More colleges are using third-party services to help with detecting and managing threats and there’s been an increase in those achieving the Cyber Essentials certifications.

Prospects , which runs the Hedd degree fraud reporting service on behalf of the Office for Students, is warning that degree fraud could rise this year as students denied the usual graduation ceremony picture opportunities instead post selfies with their certificates on social media.

Jisc is launching an education-specific  security information and event management (SIEM)  service to help colleges and universities respond quickly to cyber security issues. 

As coronavirus continues to take over the UK, universities and colleges are playing a key role in supporting community efforts to fight the virus. From donating space for field hospitals to enabling digital infrastructure through these sites, the education sector is stepping up and sharing expertise. 

To help institutions support students through the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, Jisc has worked with members and collaborated with the independent Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)  to create an innovative new code of practice for wellbeing and mental health analytics .

In recent years, infrastructure within further education (FE) has suffered from a lack of both investment and strategic alignment between IT and the organisation. Despite this, IT teams continue to deliver services in a challenging environment.

Jisc is helping institutions’ COVID-19 recovery by launching four new analytical dashboards for Heidi Plus subscribers. 

Introducing new learners to college or university can be a make or break moment. Make a good first impression and the new cohort is more likely to feel supported, engaged and motivated. A poor experience, on the other hand, may increase the chances of a student leaving. 

Jisc Collections has reached an agreement with open access publisher MDPI through which UK institutions can benefit from access to article processing charge (APC) discounts and streamlined payment workflows.

How can universities better prepare students for the fast-changing employment landscape, helping them feel brighter about the future? A new report from Jisc, Emerge Education and Universities UK shows how technology can help.

Jisc's graduate careers advice and information service, Prospects , is uniting the higher education community and employers in the fight against degree fraud with the launch of a week-long campaign.

Documentary-maker Alex Freeman never imagined she would create a tool that could overhaul the monumental structure of academic publishing.

A new report demonstrates how enforced changes to working practice and the swift introduction of technology made during the pandemic could be a catalyst for updating and improving government services. 

The Universities UK Jisc content negotiation strategy group is calling on major academic publishers to seek reductions of 25% on all agreements in light of the severe financial impact institutions are facing because of the pandemic.

Jisc members are being offered early access to a new major digitised collection on the history of science.

For IT, cyber security and information security staff, lockdown triggered a whirlwind few weeks trying to quickly organise remote access for thousands of users, while also ensuring the safety of systems and data. 

Jisc is delighted to announce the appointment of Liz Bal as director of open research services.

The early reaction to the sudden closure of libraries was shock and panic. Now librarians are not only learning to manage online but finding some benefits, though worrying about an end to free texts. 

During the current crisis education communities are proving themselves to be inspiring, supportive and motivating more than ever. We explore the power of the community through the voices of those who are finding them vital in these challenging times.

I am passionate about the positive benefits of online education. I’m also aware of the realities, practicalities and hurdles of enacting change, at pace, to diverse and, in some cases, deprived learners.   

In February 2020 a  Jisc report  concluded that the archaic pen and paper assessment process needed a technological overhaul by 2025. Little did we all know that the pandemic would necessitate that switch much sooner.

From analysing how many people are catching trains during lockdown to understanding who is at highest risk from the virus, data is proving invaluable during the pandemic.  Mark Birkin, professor of spatial analysis and policy, University of Leeds , and co-director of the Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA) , explains how data sharing and modelling will drive the global recovery from COVID-19. 

Currently when it comes to assessment in education, the sector is, like most others, still in the dark ages, with the standard pen and paper format unchanged for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Sticking to this norm has meant we have failed to fully meet the needs and expectations of our learners this year.  

Universities had to make radical and rapid changes to assessment this spring. We take a look at what they did, the challenges they faced and what it all means for the long-awaited move to more authentic and adaptable assessment. 

As universities and colleges respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff wellbeing should be a priority.

Launching today, a new pilot project aims to support Chinese students [1] who have studied in the UK and returned home, are planning to start a UK course or are studying online transnationally, gain better access to UK learning materials and resources, and synchronous teaching for their studies. Jisc, is leading the pilot with the support of education sector bodies ucisa , Universities UK International and the British Council .

Life under lockdown has meant that students have had to get to grips with new ways of working, which can prove very stressful. Jisc’s subject specialist in digital practice, Chris Thomson , shares his top tips for maintaining learners’ mental health 

The enforced shift to remote and online working and studying caused by the pandemic is the springboard for a new project aimed at realising the potential of technology to benefit the further education (FE) sector now and into the future.

While lockdown continues, the University of Lincoln has come up with a brilliantly creative means of showing prospective students what it’s like on its city centre campus.

Want to keep your connectivity projects on track? Need to match your cloud strategy and connectivity? Two Jisc experts share their top tips.

A group of higher education (HE) organisations led by Jisc is calling on the sector to draw on its collective experience of rapidly shifting to online work and study during lockdown and use it to plan for a post-coronavirus future. 

The Manchester College has come out on top at the Association of Colleges (AoC) Beacon awards , for their use of technology to support students with special educational needs (SEND).

For the fourth year in a row, Jisc is asking universities, colleges and research centres to help gauge the state of cyber security in the education and research sector.

The Janet access programme – upgrading and rearchitecting Janet access across the UK – is approaching the mid-point of its original four-year schedule. With the build of the first regions almost complete, Neil Shewry, head of network delivery, provides an update on how things are progressing.

In pushing teaching and learning online at an unprecedented scale, COVID-19 is challenging higher (HE) and further education (FE) providers, but also presents opportunities - particularly when it comes to digital accessibility.

With an increased reliance on digital technology, students are having to address new mental health challenges and avoid online overload.

The certification will now form part of Jisc’s suite of professional cyber security services.

As research focuses more and more on data analysis, how is the impact of cloud computing affecting the landscape? 

The class of 2020 will be less prepared for work and face fewer career opportunities because of the pandemic, according to new research by Prospects.

The Association of Colleges (AoC) is predicting that half of the new labour market entrants - approximately 100,000 16- to 25-year-olds - will struggle to find meaningful employment as the economic shocks of COVID-19 continue to bite.  

US to bring together institutional repository usage statistics on a national scale for the first time.

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit and its commercial subsidiary Graduate Prospects ( HECSU Prospects ) have joined forces with Jisc. 

The report that convinced prime minister Boris Johnson to lock down our country was the most downloaded academic COVID-19 study in March 2020 among universities and research centres contributing to Institutional Repository Usage Statistics (IRUS) .

Coronavirus has forced education providers to implement home working and studying on a grand scale. For IT, cyber security and security information staff it’s triggered a whirlwind few weeks trying to quickly organise remote access for thousands of users, while also ensuring the safety of systems and data.

Chief executives of leading education and technology bodies unite to request greater support for learners in need during the COVID-19 lockdown 

During lockdown, expert review will ensure staff and students have safe and secure access to essential digital resources.

How can tech help us navigate the new normal? Networkshop48 goes ahead as an online event.

In a show of support to the further education (FE) sector, service and content providers are extending free access to resources during the COVID-19 crisis. Teachers and learners can now benefit from e-books, vocational learning resources, virtual reality resources, and ‘home use’ licences for personal devices.

University of Manchester and Liverpool first to provide their students with all key content online required for their coursework and Jisc tracks what measures publishers are putting in place or plan to implement in light of COVID-19.

A new networking FAQ from the Janet Network experts at Jisc, covering key information on how Janet is handling the changing traffic patterns caused by homeworking, is now available.

Together with our partners, we’ve issued a collective call to all providers of digital content and software to take action to help institutions maintain their teaching and research activity during this time of crisis.  

Today’s students are tomorrow’s workforce – how are colleges and universities preparing them for emerging jobs?

With the unprecedented impact on higher education (HE) from the coronavirus outbreak, Kortext , the UK’s leading digital textbook platform, in conjunction with Jisc, is launching a nationwide programme to ensure all 2.4 million university students and 217,000 academic staff have access to their key learning resources during this crucial revision and exam period.

As the coronavirus pandemic impacts the education sector, we are providing free resources, advice and online communities to organisations as they shift teaching and learning to online platforms.

The face-to-face event will no longer take place due to increasing concerns over mass gatherings. 

Around half a century ago, an enthusiastic teen arrived at the University of Sheffield, ready to embark on a politics degree and right the world’s wrongs. 

Jisc announces its support for the global initiative ‘ Subscribe to Open ’ developed by non-profit publisher Annual Reviews .

The networking conference is calling for hackathon teams including students, apprentices and professionals.

London is set to become the smartest city in the world - or so claims London mayor Sadiq Khan’s digital masterplan for the city, Smarter London Together.

Technology companies, start-ups and universities are invited to join the INITIATE project workshop. 

Jisc is delighted to announce the appointment of Caren Milloy as director of licensing.

The most extensive UK transitional agreement to date accelerates open access publishing and expands access to one of the most substantial collections of scholarly content.

Technology is transforming industry. How are colleges and universities adapting their approach to ensure they’re imparting the skills employers need?  

Digifest 2020 delegates can get hands-on with available, accessible and affordable technologies that hold huge potential for the education sector.

How a supportive culture can allow innovation to thrive, without stifling creativity.

The Jisc agreement provides participating UK institutions with unlimited Immediate Open Access publishing in Rockefeller University Press journals. The agreement covers 100% of article publication charges for authors at participating UK institutions.

After hundreds of years of putting pen to paper, Jisc’s new report explains why it’s time for assessment to evolve, for the sake of students, staff, and organisations. But how can colleges and universities embrace innovation and support staff to start an assessment revolution?

Switching from paper research notebooks to digital ones proves to be difficult for universities.

Jisc and CNI reveal keynote speakers for research and scholarly communications conference.

Jisc's new report calls for an overhaul of exams at colleges and universities, suggesting five ways to improve assessment for all.

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, new MP for Wantage, David Johnston (Con), visited Jisc's Harwell office on 7 February to meet young people working towards degree apprenticeships.

The new generation of technologies, combined with the power of the human brain, is going to transform how we push the boundaries of our research worlds. Paul Feldman, Jisc CEO, sets out his vision for the future of research.

The increasing use of digital tools in sectors from finance to healthcare is transforming the way work is done. So, what does this look like in education?   

New digital accessibility regulation s are having an impact on universities and colleges. Our subject specialist on assistive technology, Rohan Slaughter, sets out what you need to know.

When Swansea University wanted a better way of getting feedback from students, it looked to a tiny startup for the answer. Together they developed a platform that works in practice as well as on paper.

Microsoft’s announcement that it will no longer support the Windows 7 operating system has serious implications for legacy users. So, we have put together everything you need to know about the situation, and tips on how to proceed for institutions using the system.

Digital transformation is of huge importance across sectors, and across the world. 

Joining the organisation on 13 January, Nicola Arnold steps into the shoes of Mark Wright, who retired from the post in the summer of 2019.

Jisc is delighted to announce that Ashley Wheaton, principal of University College of Estate Management , has joined as a trustee. 

For the first time, and with input from Jisc, a code of ethics has been created for all professionals working in product/computer security incident response teams (PSIRTs and CSIRTs) in all sectors, including education and research.

We are looking for 50 edtech startups with solutions to some of the biggest challenges in education.

As part of efforts to strengthen its offer for further education (FE) members, Jisc has appointed Debra Gray, the principal of Grimsby Institute , as a trustee.