Grant 13/09: BCE, e-Content and Digitisation programmes: Developing Community Content
As you have probably seen, JISC has frozen its current and future funding calls for ‘capital-funded’ projects but not ‘core-funded’ projects: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/news/stories/2010/01/funding.aspx
JISC Business and Community Engagement is a core-funded programme.
However, the current BCE and e-Content Call Developing Community Content draws its funds from both capital and core funding: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2009/12/1309bce.aspx
For those planning Strand I bids (Rapid user innovation), the call is still open and JISC will still be expecting proposals by 8th February.
For those planning Strand II bids (Co-development of content), the call is currently frozen. JISC is expecting the funding situation, for this and other calls, to become clearer by the end of January or the start of February. Applicants within affected strands are advised to put their proposals on ice for the moment, and await further information. There will be greater clarity at the start of February.
If you have further queries, please address them to funding@jisc.ac.uk.
JISC has also prepared some questions and answers.
Breadth of Business and Community Engagement
Simplifying a diverse landscape…
Through the BCE programme, JISC aims to enhance institutions’ efficiency, effectiveness and opportunities in BCE activities and improve access to institutions’ knowledge and expertise for business and community organisations.
Programmes of work can be quite complex in their nature, made up of many work packages and projects. We hope that the following map offers an alternative view of projects funded by the JISC BCE Programme based upon location. Use the controls provided to zoom in/out of and move around the map. Further information on each project can be found by clicking on a marker, including a link to its associated website (where possible).
View JISC BCE Programme in a larger map
You can view a larger map that includes project titles, however for more detailed information visit the JISC website.
Driving Transformational Change for Employer Engagement
The University of Salford recently held a conference to showcase their work in Employer Engagement. The University has produced a model by identifying barriers to employer engagement which they have developed into enablers. These include Communications and Marketing, Costing, Quality Assurance and Staff Development.
In addition to these, as part of an enabler ‘IT Systems and CRM’, the University has recently implemented a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Prior to implementation their CRM processes often resulted in fragmented engagement, and there were no standard processes which led to a large number of standalone spreadsheets and databases. To overcome these issues, the University chose Agresso as their software solution. The university looked initially to use their own in-house IT department to implement the CRM system, but decided that they did not have the resources to do so and took the decision to use technical expertise from Agresso in the form of a full-time secondment of an Agresso consultant to the University.
This approach has resulted in a two way process of sharing knowledge. The university has learned a great deal about the system from Agresso while the Agresso Consultant seconded, as an employee of the University, has learned a lot about how the institution operates.
The scope for the system was to manage business relationships, record and progress leads and opportunities, administer non credit-bearing CPD courses and to integrate the CRM system with their Agresso Business World finance system. The commitment of the Vice Chancellor has been an important driver for the success of the system and has resulted in buy in across faculties. The system also includes scope for capturing impact statements for use in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and will be used for funding bids, KTPs and essentially everything other than credit bearing students.
There are currently 80 cross faculty users, with the intention to increase this to 120 by Spring 2010. In recognition of the work carried out so far, the JISC Business and Community Engagement programme has recently funded a project to allow the University to carry out further development of their CRM system and processes and to undertake dissemination of their activities.
Find out more about Employer Engagement at the University of Salford
Enhancing Knowledge Management
Supporting institutions in developing sustainable systems and ICT strategies for management and exploitation of their knowledge assets.
March 2009 saw the CRM-SLRM call go public, from which the JISC BCE programme funded 20 projects across UK Further and Higher Education. You can keep up-to-date with current activity via the JISC CETIS RMSAS (Relationship Management Support, Analysis and Synthesis) project page, with regular news updates and background information.
A brief overview and further links on each project can be found on the JISC CETIS website. The following video provides a brief introduction to one of those funded projects, taken at the start-up event earlier this year. View the full playlist via the BCE YouTube channel.
BCE at the University of Glasgow
Business and Community Engagement (BCE) is a diverse landscape covering many activities that involve engagement between higher/further education institutions and external partners. The wide range of roles and activities within BCE can sometimes make it hard to appreciate the full extent of this increasingly important aspect of institutions’ missions.
The JISC Advance BCE Team have developed a set of videos and podcasts due for release over the coming months that highlight specific activities, issues and opportunities across a range of learning providers that relate specifically to BCE.
The first in this range provides an overview from the University of Glasgow focusing on the roles of Laura Tyler and Dr. Kevin Cullen. Together they highlight: a change of focus in recent times from ‘knowledge transfer’ to ‘knowledge exchange’; the importance of knowledge transfer impact plans; institutions being accessible; effective communication techniques; the potential for web 2.0 and social media; and the civic responsibility of learning providers.
Based upon those areas outlined in the video, you may be interested to know of the following resources available from JISC Advance:
- Change Management: an online resource which provides guidance on change management.
- Communication and Collaboration: a range of training material available from JISC Netskills.
- Writing for the Web: useful for those frequently involved in online communication.
To see more videos from the JISC BCE Programme please visit our YouTube channel. A full transcript of this video is available here: Transcript - BCE at the University of Glasgow