JISC win digitisation and repository funding

An extra £80 million is to be invested in digital information for education and research by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) it was announced today. JISC has been awarded the funds by the government's Spending Review and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

HEFCE's Strategic Development Fund has awarded JISC £30 million over two years, whilst the Spending Review, part of the Treasury Department has awarded £50 million over two years to enable JISC to enhance the digital infrastructure of the UK.

"The UK leads the world in the use of ICT to support education and research, but continued investment is crucial to the future competitiveness of both," said Sir Howard Newby HEFCE chief executive of the award.

JISC has outlined five strands that will receive funding. Universities will receive policy advice and technical guidance in setting up digital repositories, with JISC using the funding to develop a critical mass of repository content and a national structure that will allow users to search across federated repositories. Funding will also be applied to investment in the digitisation of scholarly resources in partnerships.

E-learning and e-research will receive major funding with JISC working with higher education academies to implement the HEFCE e-learning strategy and the Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004 – 2014 from the Department of Trade and Industry.

The upgrade of the SuperJANET5 high speed data network for universities will also receive funding.