Professor Charles Oppenheim, Chair of the
EDINA Management Board

Welcome

As independent Chair of EDINA’s Management Board, and on behalf of its Members and Associates, I am delighted to write this introduction to EDINA’s Annual Review, 2011 –2012.

Changing times

Higher and Further education in the UK are going through unprecedented changes in culture, technology and funding sources. Institutions throughout the UK are working within much tighter funding constraints, with value for money a key driver. Changes in England, in particular, will see higher fees and the loss of much direct public funding to HE institutions, shifting much of the burden of paying for education to the individual rather than the state. The Government is proposing a similar model for older FE students. Such changes will result in yet more pressure for high quality, cost-effective teaching and learning opportunities.

Similarly times are changing for researchers. Things are moving quickly in terms of funders’ policies for sharing and management of datasets and scholarly communications, including the various flavours of Open Access currently being debated. Researchers need support in locating, accessing, sharing and archiving essential documents and data for the long-term benefit of themselves, their institutions, our country and indeed the whole world.

At the same time, JISC itself is undergoing significant changes to its governance and priorities and this, too, will have an impact on all individuals and organisations that have dealings with it, including of course EDINA.

Partnership

The partnership between JISC and EDINA to run online services for Higher and Further Education in the UK is expressed in a formal Funding Agreement between HEFCE, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (on behalf of all of the UK Higher and Further Education Funding Councils), and the University of Edinburgh. The Management Board is established under that Funding Agreement.

It is a pleasure to work with such a supportive and knowledgeable Management Board. The discussions we have are always informed, intelligent and incisive and they help EDINA to steer its way forward in these challenging times.

I am glad that EDINA will continue to be around to provide online shared services, tools, supportive infrastructure and expertise to support institutions, students, lecturers and researchers in these transitional times. EDINA offers a suite of tried and tested resources and a strong commitment to serve all of its communities, with quality improvement built in to its processes. I commend its services to you. Read on for a flavour of what the expert staff at EDINA have been doing, especially (but not exclusively) in the past academic year.