JISC was established on 1 April 1993 under the terms of letters of guidance from the Secretaries of State to the newly-established Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland and Wales, inviting them to establish a Joint Committee to deal with networking and specialist information services.
The criteria agreed for the JISC’s activities were to explore a national dimension to providing these services, exercising vision and leadership in bringing about developments for the benefit of the sector (HE) as a whole. They should represent value for money, collaboration and partnership with other relevant bodies to share best practice and effort, and establish needs within the community for new services and development and review of existing services.
These general guidelines continue to define the broad parameters of the JISC’s work, with the JISC’s Five Year Strategy forming the basis of its current activities. The JISC reviews the strategy periodically in consultation with the academic community to ensure that it continues to meet their needs.
1993 Creation of JISC
A major challenge facing the JISC when it was first established was to support a much larger community of institutions, comprising of the ex-polytechnics and higher education colleges, along with the universities served by the JISC’s predecessor bodies, the Information Systems Committee (ISC) and the Computer Board and acted as Vice-Chair to the ISC was appointed as Chair to the newly created JISC.
Initially there were four sub-committees supporting the JISC committee. These were remitted to direct Networking; Awareness, Liaison and Training; Electronic Information and Technology Applications activities.
1995 Northern Ireland becomes funding partner
In 1995, the Department of Education, Northern Ireland (DENI) and the existing partners agreed that DENI should become a full partner in JISC.
1996 Five year strategy published
JISC published its first formal five year strategy 1996-2001.
1999 UK FE becomes funding partner
JISC’s user community was expanded again in 1999 when the further education funding bodies became funding partners. This heralded a restructuring and a new set of committees:
- JISC Committee for Authentication and Security (JCAS) Nov 1999 - Jan 2002. The work of this committee has now been taken over by JCN and JIIE
- JISC Committee for Electronic Information (JCEI) Nov 1999 - Jan 2002. The work of this committee has now been taken over by JIIE and JCS
- JISC Committee for Integrated Environments for Learners (JCIEL) Nov 1999 - Jan 2002. The work of this committee has now been taken over by JLT
- JISC Committee for Awareness, Liaison and Training (JCALT) The work of this committee has now been taken over by JOS
- JISC Committee on Networking (JCN)
2000 - 2001 Follett review of JISC
In November 2000, Professor Sir Brian Follett reported on issues concerning governance of the JISC. His report concluded that ‘The JISC is perceived as a UK success story, providing a network of world-class standard and a range of excellent services. Importantly, it evolves continuously and is an excellent example of collaboration between the community and the funding bodies'.
The funding bodies accepted most of the Follett report’s recommendations, and the new JISC structure was put in place from December 2001 together with a JISC five year strategy, 2001-2006.
2002 New JISC structure implemented
The new structure consisted of a JISC Board which is advised by a Steering committee made up of senior officers from each funding body. The new JISC board is also supported by three supporting committees advising on Audit, Nominations and Remuneration issues.
There are six sub-committees in line with the JISC strategy. These committees can be considered as two types:
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strategy and policy committees that ensure the needs of specific communities (supporting research, learning & teaching, and management) are met
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functional committees concentrating on specific areas of work (networking, information environment, and content acquisition)
The JISC Executive is remitted to facilitate policy determination; manage JISC funded services and development projects; and provide outreach activities.
2003-04 Mid term strategy review
JISC began a mid term review of the 2001 – 2006 Strategy in spring 2003. As the needs of both JISC’s stakeholders and its communities had changed to meet the challenges of using ICT since 2001, the JISC Board agreed to carry out a fundamental review of JISC’s activities producing a new strategy which covers a shorter three year period, 2004 - 06.
2004 Professor Sir Ron Cooke
Professor Sir Ron Cooke, recently retired as Vice Chancellor of the University of York is appointed Chair of JISC.
2004 Three year strategy published
JISC’s first three year strategy is published. The vision for the JISC Strategy 2004-06 is one of 'ubiquitous and reliable access to an information and communication environment, so that users are able to enjoy world class technologies in support of their work and study'.There are five strategic aims which reflect the JISC’s need to support both government objectives and the needs of the education and research communities. To achieve these aims, thirteen priority activities are identified, which include elements of JISC’s current work programme as well as new initiatives.
2005 Freedom of Information (FOI) Act
The Freedom of Information Act comes into force in January 2005, giving the public a general right to access all types of recorded information held by public bodies. JISC takes an important lead in raising the Act’s profile in the academic community and publishes its own FOI Publication Scheme.
2005 Learning & Skills Council (LSC) funding review
In the spring of 2005, the LSC announced that it needed to reduce its funding contribution to JISC. The LSC and JISC Executive negotiated a package of services that the LSC would continue to contribute towards in the future.
2005 National e-Strategies published
A number of strategies and policies for HE & FE across the UK are published, reaffirming the central role that ICT plays in maintaining and enhancing the quality and international competitiveness of UK education and research. JISC has an important role in supporting these strategies and working with partners to implement them.
2005 International partnerships agreed
JISC signs agreements with several international partners which demonstrates that JISC continues to be a leading player in the development of ICT for education and research. Agreements have been made with:
- SURF Foundation in the Netherlands cementing the considerable areas of cooperation between the two organisations
- Australian Department for Education, Science and Training (DEST) supporting the e-Framework initiative which aims to develop a service orientated approach to the development and integration of IT systems
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), Denmark’s Electronic Research Library (DEFF) and SURF to create the Knowledge exchange which aims to increase the return on investment by the individual organisations in ICT infrastructure, services and projects.
2006 JISC Capital programme launched
Under the Government Spending Review 2004, JISC was awarded additional funding of £81 million for the period April 2006 to March 2009 and launched a range of new programmes to support the work of the higher education and research community.
Funding for SuperJANET5 has been provided by all JISC's funding partners. The other activities areas have been funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils for England and Wales.
2006 Second three year strategy commissioned
Following the negotiations with the LSC on its relationship with JISC, the Board and Steering committee commissioned a review of the JISC strategy 2004-06.
2007 Three year strategy published
The JISC strategy 2007-09 has refocused the strategic aims on outcomes and impact. JISC will deliver on its six strategic aims through sixteen priority activities and key deliverables which have been identified and/or updated. These include elements of JISC’s current work programme as well as new initiatives to reflect the changing priorities of JISC funders and the educational and research communities.