The University, together with Portsmouth City Council, is one of five organisations to have won a share of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council (Hefce) to investigate ways of sharing resources and providing good practice examples for other towns and cities to follow.
The Portsmouth project is not-for-profit and aims to raise the standard and quality of IT across the city’s schools and colleges, while also reducing costs and avoiding duplicating services. It is being managed by Stuart Graves, from the University’s IT Department.
Mr Graves said: “Sharing services and the expertise available within the University is one of way we can help others locally. It’s also in line with the University’s broader aim of widening participation. Portsmouth, historically, has a low rate of people going on to study at higher education.
“This project is particularly important following the withdrawal of the Building Schools for the Future programme which left many schools in difficulty with their ICT.”
The University is working in collaboration with Portsmouth City Council on the project.
The Council’s head of ICT, Mel Burns, said: “This collaboration between the University and the city for the benefit of education and schools in Portsmouth is a rare and exciting thing. When such key but autonomous influencers come together to try and make a tangible difference, I believe that there is a real commitment to make things happen. Making that difference in educational ICT is a very worthwhile and necessary thing to do.”
The project will begin with research to identify which local schools and colleges have IT problems or needs the University can help with. The University hopes to be able to employ some students to help, for example, by giving tailored IT training and support, which has the added benefit of helping students boost their CVs.
As part of the research with schools and colleges we will complete two pilot studies: The provision of Google Apps for Education within a school, showcasing its enhanced teaching and learning possibilities, and the trial of a Wifi in a Box solution, allowing increased wifi infrastructure and minimal support requirements for the target school or college.
Mr Graves said: “There are a number of challenges with this type of project, including the short timescale, as well as the challenge of identifying shared services for such a wide range of educational institutions, each with their own IT pressures and requirements, some of whom may be in competition with each other.
“Our key deliverable is to produce a feasibility report by next February detailing the appropriate company structure and business model for a cost sharing group that will provide world class Information Technology (IT) for educational institutions in and around Portsmouth.”
