17 December 2010
BUSINESS & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The JISC Legal team, based at Strathclyde University, provides the post-16 education sector with information that should prevent legal issues from becoming a barrier to the adoption of information and communications technologies in across their activities. The law is continually under review, particularly in the area of new technologies and electronic data. JISC Legal monitors all such developments and reports back to the academic community via its website, printed publications, face to face workshops, an email newsletter and help-desk service.
JISC Legal - The Law of Engagement By Caroline Ingram
The Challenge for BCE Compliance, confidence and opportunity are all buzzwords when it comes to the relationship between the law and the partnerships that institutions develop though their business and community engagement activities. This stream of activity is different for most institutions since it involves a relationship with an external partner. This has legal implications for the institution since licences and exceptions may not apply. Further there may be a loss of control, in particular over intellectual property. JISC Legal has detailed advice covering these aspects, all of which has been gathered together for BCE practitioners in one part of their website. Institutions also need to be aware of their Data Protection and Freedom of Information duties with regard to any knowledge transfer or partnership arrangement. Confidentiality is a further concern regarding data and information management.
We own consultants output where they have worked for us. JISC Legal aims to dispel misunderstandings such as these. The resources they produce have been widely used, by staff in all roles, including those working directly in business and community engagement, to instil confidence and promote compliance with the law. JISC legal provides general advice and guidance to institutions about legal matters, some of which can be sensitive, and affect the business of the institution. JISC Legal also has a help desk service to answer queries about legal issues, including those which affect business and community engagement. Apart from its role as a hub of information for legal issues, JISC Legal also supports the community through the development of accessible audiovisual resources. In late 2009 JISC Legal worked with the Research and Knowledge Exchange Services team at Strathclyde University to develop a series of BCE videos for general dissemination to both FE and HE institutions. Covering topics such as handling of confidential information and the legal implications of data sharing, the videos, which have been available online since February 2010, portray first hand experience that
Facilitating Engagement Legal myths are common everywhere, and, with regard to BCE, those most often repeated by universities and colleges are: We can’t let external partners have access to our systems… We can only share data and research findings internally…
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is directly related to the issues conveyed by them. Individuals from the RKES team, who are making essential decisions and dealing with BCE related legal matters on a daily basis supplemented the factual information given with relevant practical examples and invaluable guidance. The RKES staff were able to draw on their extensive experience to share crucial considerations that are required to be made at different stages in a project, as well as advice on how to make this type of venture a success. Jackie Milne, who led on the work for JISC Legal, said, “I found my working with the RKES department a very positive experience. I think it’s fair to say that JISC Legal has a good solid relationship with key staff based there and I have already followed up the project by attending a breakfast event, hosted by the institution, for private enterprises interested in learning more about ‘knowledge transfer’ within HE.” JISC Legal has already identified potential areas in which they could work with the RKES team in the future, and there are obviously various ways for this and similar partnerships to move forward in relation to the JISC BCE programme. http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk
www.jisc.ac.uk/bce