Introduction

'Information allows you to express, transfer and convey knowledge'

Marchand,D (1997) 'Competing with Information: Know what you want' FT Mastering Management Reader, July/August 1997

In the last decade of the twentieth century post - compulsory educational institutions underwent fundamental change - reduction in funding; significant increase in student numbers; major technological developments such as the web and mobile phones; an explosion of information availability; increased competition and globalisation. In the face of all this change the question was how fit for purpose were universities and colleges and how best could they respond to the changes and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new technologies to meet the challenges they faced?

The creation and use of information has always been at the very heart of any HE or FE Institution's core functions of learning and teaching and research. The successful handling of information is therefore crucial to the success and effectiveness of any institution. Over the last couple of decades the HE and FE sectors have invested heavily in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to support learning, research, management and administrative functions and technology is now pervasive in all educational processes, but the key question is whether this investment has been made strategically or not? Has the focus of this investment been to address strategic business challenges or the technology?

In the mid to late 1990s, the JISC Information Strategies Initiative (JISI) was funded to encourage HE institutions to develop information strategies to better exploit information as a strategic resource and to make more effective use of information technologies.

As part of the Strategy Planning & Implementation initiative JISC infoNet commissioned this review and synthesis study to take a retrospective look at this pioneering and influential work, to consider the collective lessons learnt from the approaches taken and to assess the relevance of these outputs to today's institutions.

The study involved a literature review including the original and revised Guidelines, the case studies from the pilot and exemplar Sites, the JISI evaluation report by EYS Consulting produced in 2001.These were supported by interviews with a few people involved in the JISI at the time.

Information Strategy

Information Strategy is a term that means different things to different people, information is often seen to be the domain of Computing or Libraries and 'strategy' often suggests yet another document. The approach outlined in the JISC 'Guidelines for developing an Information Strategy' was project based, with the concept of the information strategy as:

• not simply derived from the vision for the institution but it forming part of that vision and substantially influencing it
• a central part of the institution's strategy process in a hierarchy of other strategies (such as research, teaching and learning, information services and information technology)
• a process to change attitudes, working practices and processes, related to information, rather than just producing a document. A process for demonstrably achieving organisational change driven by a combination of strategic vision and organisational need
• a management tool, to manage Information as strategic resource which underpins all the business of the institution, and contributes to the success of the strategic objectives of the business
• including all types of information that supported learning, teaching, research and management
• focused on Information resources and processes, rather than, the technology or systems

JISC funded a programme of work to support the development of information strategies in the sector which involved the creation of Guidelines for Developing an Information Strategy, development of Information Strategies by 6 Pilot and 9 Exemplar Sites and an extensive series of networking activities to support gathering, distillation and dissemination of good practice, including conferences, workshops and case studies, supported by co-ordination staff who also provided specific advice to individual institutions, and facilitated progress in those institutions, for example by running internal workshops.