A New University for Cumbria
Company Profile
Cumbria and the Lake District may have inspired generations of visitors and creative minds, but every-day life in Cumbria has become challenging as the county is practically in economic recession. Faced with limited provision of higher education opportunities, many of the county's youth have been forced to seek a graduate education – and ultimately, success and prosperity – elsewhere.
Sir Martin Harris was commissioned by HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) to report on the future of higher education in Cumbria and with the help of the North West Regional Development Agency and other stakeholders a University was planned to tackle this challenge . This institution would provide a catalyst for wider regeneration and the increasing prosperity of Cumbrian residents.
The University of Cumbria was formed from a merger of St. Martins College, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, and the Cumbrian campuses of the University of Central Lancashire . Having originally suggested a deadline of 2008 for the opening of the University, such was the momentum surrounding the project that those involved agreed that the new institution should admit its first students in August 2007. Time was most certainly of the essence.
Customer's Business Issues
The newly amalgamated University spans numerous sites across the region, with its headquarters in Carlisle . In his original proposal, as well as giving shape to the new physical institution, Sir Martin Harris also laid out plans for what has now become Cumbria Higher Learning, a distributed network of universities and further education colleges, which aims to increase HE and vocational skills development in Cumbria .
The scheme, which sees a number of FE and HE partners working together to widen access to education, will use an internet based system, requiring its own IT network infrastructure.
Led by the new University of Cumbria, the network should connect all of the region's Higher and Further Education providers – as well as alumni, potential students and employers – to provide ongoing support and to encourage more students to further progress their education than may previously have been expected. This would also enable flexible, distance and part time learning, providing increased participation opportunities to those who might otherwise have missed out.
Technology therefore became a top priority. Not only must the Lifelong Learning Network be created and deployed, but those behind the University's creation were determined that all students and staff would be suitably connected and supported by an umbrella IT system, despite the vastness and disparity of the geographical area. With students from around the world already fighting for places at the UK's top Universities, the University of Cumbria would need to offer something that its competition could not. Technology was to be its greatest USP.
The Logicalis Solution
The marketing team set a precedent at its first UCAS fair, where a revolutionary Bluetooth text-messaging campaign, accompanied by a prominent stand and consistent branding, encouraged more than ten percent of the sixth formers present to visit the stand and collect a prospectus in the first four hours of the day.
The IT team was not going to let the side down. “It has always been an extremely ambitious project,” commented Phil Molyneux, head of ICTS at University of Cumbria , “but we want our new University to be recognised for excellence in all areas – and we certainly are not interested in mediocre IT solutions.”
Knowing that the stakes were high and that time was tight, it was Phil's task to create an IT environment and solution which could not only bring together the different institutions, and more than fifteen geographical locations in time for the grand opening, but which could also be built upon in the future. It needed to be transformational, to have growth potential, and to be instantly resilient and cutting edge. It had to be appropriate for a twenty-first century university – one in which students would expect around-the-clock access to IT systems and networks. And with past and present students and staff storing vital coursework and educational materials within the system, and given every 21st Century University's reliance on IT, security, disaster recovery and business continuity were all key priorities.
Phil's team of twenty found themselves working far beyond their individual capabilities, but found the support they needed in Logicalis, an international solutions provider with a proven track record in the delivery of ICT solutions to further and higher education establishments. Together with HP, Logicalis has enabled the team to put in place an IT infrastructure which will not only support and secure University activities, but will also enhance the students' experience.
Students and staff across each of the University's sites – and throughout its extended online network – will be producing vast amounts of data. Email traffic is obviously a major consideration, but administration details, lecture and seminar materials, and crucial study documents, such as essays and assignments, will all be continually written and rewritten and need to be securely stored and instantly accessable. The critical IT infrastructure deployed by Logicalis will ensure that data can be stored, backed-up, migrated, recalled and updated across each and every element of the network to ensure failsafe access to both learning and administrative materials.
Another key element of the project was the University's environmental impact. The IT team recognised that its role in this area was huge – the IT industry has the same impact on the environment as the aviation industry – but that there was plenty that could be done to ensure that it enabled greener working practices, rather than hindering them.
With virtual servers and VMware virtualisation technologies at the project's core, there is comparatively little hardware to house, and the University's environmental impact will be kept to an absolute minimum. In this way the University has a green foundation upon which to base its continued and sustained success and growth, and a key selling point to attract students, who are increasingly looking to commit to institutions which are demonstrating responsible and intelligent working practices.
The University of Cumbria is also one of the first Universities in the UK to deploy HP StorageWorks' Integrated Archive Platform (IAP). Widely perceived to be the ‘Rolls Royce' of archiving and compliance technology, IAP is an active-archiving solution, which intelligently turns data into information, compressing and encrypting it to ensure it is securely archived with the smallest possible data footprint. Data is also stored in a way that assists customers that need to comply with data retention regulations, and IT operational costs are minimised, via automated data migration policies and end user initiated information retrievals.
“The teams working to bring this new University to fruition originally took on an immense challenge,” commented Stewart Dalziel, client director at Logicalis. “It's incredibly brave, but they're flying the flag for Cumbria – and for its regeneration, its transformation and for the future success of its residents.”
Realising the importance of the deadline and the crucial role that IT systems play in the success of the University's launch, Logicalis went above and beyond the call of duty, working in partnership with Phil Molyneux and his team, to ensure that everything ran on time and to budget.
Why Logicalis?
Logicalis and HP will continue to support the University. While the current IT mix will provide twenty-four hour support, wherever the student may be – a quality that many more established educational institutions are unable to boast – the IT team has big plans ahead of it.
Determined to enhance the Cumbrian student's experience, Phil and his team want there to be WiFi hotspots all over campus, networking throughout the halls of residence, and an MLearning Programme. This is “mobile learning”, which will enable access to University materials – such as revolutionary podcasts and video-streamed lectures – via PDAs and mobile telephones.
“We are going to revolutionise the way that people teach and learn,” said Phil. “There are some very exciting times ahead for Cumbria .”
