An update from Jisc regarding membership for FE organisations in England

In March, the Department for Education asked us to introduce a membership charge for further education organisations in England.

Since then, we’ve been talking with every college affected, listening to feedback, and working on solutions that offer our members the long term stability they need. A clear message from colleges was that a subscription longer than a year would be beneficial.

We are pleased to be in a position to offer all colleges one or two-year memberships. We understand the daily pressures faced by FE organisations and are conscious of a membership subscription adding to these challenges.

The criteria for calculating each membership subscription is the same for all organisations. 

Colleges signing a two-year agreement will be safe in the knowledge that the cost will remain fixed during that period. Even if our costs increase during the second year, membership will remain the same. There’s more detail about options here. 

As a not-for-profit charity, collective membership helps us to empower the sector to provide transformative, technology enhanced learning. We want to deal with current challenges in partnership with FE and to work together to make education in our country the best it can be, for students and subsequently for the future of the UK.

We want to keep the conversation going so I’d encourage you to come along to the upcoming regional forums where we can discuss this together, as well as Jisc’s vision for further education.

Paul Feldman, Chief Executive, Jisc