The JISC Collections Summer Roadshows are taking place at Cardiff University and other venues over the summer. The events are aimed at librarians in the JISC Collections member institutions and are open to both HE and FE.
The Cardiff roadshow is on 7 June.
Further details including an outline programme and a form to register your interest, are available on the JISC Collections website http://www.jisc-collections.ac.uk/News/JISC-Collections-2012-HE-Summer-Roadshows/
Martyn Harrow, Director of Information Services at Cardiff University, has been appointed as Head of JISC for a fixed term of 9-18 months from 1 February 2012.
Martyn will succeed Dr Malcolm Read who retires as Head of JISC in January 2012 after 18 years in post.
Martyn will see the organisation through its transition into a ‘new look’ JISC, following the recommendations of the Wilson Review (February 2011).
Heather Fry, Director Education and Participation at HEFCE, which funds together with other UK education funding bodies JISC, said: ‘At this critical time in JISC’s transition I am delighted that we have appointed Martyn Harrow who brings a wealth of technology and leadership experience from higher education and the commercial sector. Martyn will be leading JISC as it re-shapes to remain world class in a changing environment.’
Tim O’Shea, Principal of the University of Edinburgh and Chair of JISC, said: ‘JISC is embarking on an exciting period as it rises to the challenges of the Wilson report and renews its focus on supporting education and research across the UK. Martyn is ideally placed to lead JISC through this stage of its development, being able to draw on invaluable experience from across the education, public and private sectors.’
Martyn Harrow said: ‘It is an honour to follow Malcolm Read and be invited to lead JISC through this very important and complex transition. We have the opportunity and the challenge now of building on from his amazing legacy to create a “new JISC for new times”. Our driver will be to ensure that “new JISC” fosters, facilitates and enables modern approaches and sustainable strategic advantage for higher and further education in the coming years.’
Martyn Harrow joined Cardiff University in 2003 with extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. His early career centred in local government where he became Senior Principal Management Services Officer at Avon County Council. Subsequently his career majored on global roles as Chief Information Officer for several international operating companies within Unilever. At various times he was responsible for IT across the USA, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Before joining Cardiff University, Martyn was Vice-President, IT, for a global food and fragrance company within ICI. Martyn is a member of the JISC Board and a Director of JISC Collections and JISC Advance.
Find out more about JISC’s transition at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus/hefcereview.aspx
Meet JISC’s shadow board who will be working to deliver JISC’s transition at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/aboutus/hefcereview/shadowboardmembershiptors.aspx
If you are interested in what Open Source software solutions are available to libraries, how they work, and the issues and strategies around their use, then this free event in Edinburgh on the 25th and 26th January may be of interest.
‘Open Edge’ is a two day event on open source software for libraries being run in collaboration with JISC and SCONUL. The first day is ’Haggis and Mash’, is a ‘Mashed Library event’ and will take a very hands-on approach, while the second day covers broader issues, in particular how capacity might be built to enable open source solutions to flourish in HE and FE Libraries.
You can attend one or both days – full details of the programme are available at http://www.mashedlibrary.com/wiki/index.php?title=Haggis_and_Mash and registration is now open at http://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/events/1114/
Facebook photo albums, online clips and video briefings for international students are among examples of best practice highlighted in a new report aimed at helping universities and colleges better inform their first-years about life at university.
As part of the JISC-funded Student Expectations of University project, aimed at enhancing applicants’ understanding of university experiences, the 1994 Group have produced this report to illustrate innovative and excellent practice in the areas of: communicating with prospective students; providing information, advice and guidance (IAG) to applicants; and managing student expectations of university.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2010/11/expectations.aspx
News release: 22 April 2010
Due to the current financial climate and pressures on funding, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) has been reviewing priorities for uncommitted funding for the remainder of 2010-11.
Consequently HEFCW will be withdrawing from JISC any unallocated capital funding for 2010-11. Whilst HEFCW will honour any existing commitments this decision means that Welsh universities will now not be eligible to lead new capital funded innovation projects.
There are currently two calls affected by this decision:
Grant 05/10: Flexible service delivery programme: Call for projects
Grant 14/09: Managing Research Data Programme
If you have questions about whether a call that you are working on at the moment is affected by this announcement, please email funding@jisc.ac.uk
Date: Thursday 29 April 2010 10.00am – 4.00pm
Venue: Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Benefits of attending this conference
This conference brings the latest strategic thinking and practical advice to managers in post-16 education to help them accelerate their implementation of sustainable business practices. “Smarter Greener Learning” will inform management decision-making and support the Welsh Assembly Government’s sustainable development and ESDGC agendas by:
- developing an understanding of resource and energy use across the institution
- discussing findings from the JISC Greening ICT Programme in a context relevant to strategic managers in post-16 education
- encouraging the sharing of good practice in IT and ICT management
- enabling networking with staff in a variety of roles and sectors across Wales
Who should attend?
This event is aimed at managers and other personnel in post-16 education who are responsible for: IT procurement; network management; estates; energy management; e-learning/technology enhanced learning; learning spaces; ESDGC.
Further details of programme
The programme will focus on practical, down-to-earth advice, including case studies from Wales and beyond.
- Opening keynote from Rob Bristow talking about JISC’s “Greening ICT” programme
- Optional sessions include examples of interesting practice and new thinking in the following areas, with speakers from colleges and universities:
* green computing
* green power management
* sustainable, technology-rich learning spaces
Speakers include: Richard Everett (CIBSE IBG Group), David Round (Bangor University) and Ruth Thornton and Amanda Heal (Cardiff University). A full programme will be circulated later in March.
Booking information
Further details and online booking are available at
http://admin.rsc-wales.ac.uk/booking/booking_form.asp?eid=541
The closing date is 19 April 2010 but early booking is advised.
For booking enquiries please contact events@rsc-wales.ac.uk
This event is available free thanks to funding from JISC.
JISC capital funding call 13/09 Strand II has now been re-issued. It has been clarified that both Welsh HE and FE are eligible to submit bids under this strand, and documentation has been revised to reflect this.
The JISC Executive have revised the dates and the new deadline for receipt of proposals is 12 Noon UK time on Monday 15 March 2010. Projects must now start by 1 May 2010 and should run for a maximum of 11 months and finish in March 2011.
As a result of the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE) recent board meeting, JISC is able to confirm that the funding calls which had previously been postponed on 5 January 2010, as a consequence of HEFCE’s review of JISC’s capital funding, will now take place.
The managing research data grant funding call and strand two of the developing community content grant funding call will now go ahead with some amendments.
The revised calls, along with deadlines for proposals which were postponed will be published shortly at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities.aspx
The deadline for proposals for phase one of the developing community content grant funding call 12/09 remains the same at 8 February 2010.
If you have questions relating to a bid or invitation to tender please email funding@jisc.ac.uk
Another useful post from Lis Parcell. If you are in HE and interested in the use of technology for inclusion, then you’ve probably heard of the HEAT (“HE Assistive Technology”) scheme which funded a massive range of projects in universities across the UK. JISC Techdis, which managed the projects, have upgraded the information available about the projects on their website.
More from: http://blogs.rsc-wales.ac.uk/he/2009/12/14/he-assistive-technology-update/
A reminder that JISC Techdis have a dedicated page for HE information here. And if you would like to order or download JISC Techdis publications for staff development events or meetings there are a number of guides specifically for HE here.
An interesting blog post from Lis Parcell, who attended the event to launch the new free online toolkit from JISC InfoNet – Embedding Business and Community Engagement
It’s designed to help Higher and Further Education institutions work more effectively on all aspects of partnership management. It aims to do this by enabling staff to focus on the internal communications needed to embed ‘BCE’, in order that such activity is supported by core institutional systems rather than being a peripheral activity. The University of Glamorgan ran one of the pilot projects.
http://blogs.rsc-wales.ac.uk/he/2009/12/14/engaging-business-and-the-community-new-resource/
