Starting in September, the Distributed e-Learning programme will establish links between schools, colleges and universities to encourage progression into higher education, supporting Government targets for widening participation.

The new programme will also exploit and reinforce the increasingly regional dimension of Higher Education as Government-sponsored activities encourage closer working between schools, colleges, universities and the business sector across the regions of the UK.

Regional projects will allow learners to build and access their own learning portfolios, informing and supporting their learning and career decisions, while teachers will benefit from a range of tools to support their use of e-learning systems, including the sharing of teaching materials.

Strong funding and political agendas are increasingly requiring that learning and teaching practice should be fully informed by the benefits of e-learning. To support this, the HEFCE Infrastructure Fund in 2004 made available funds totalling £12m to support regional and subject communities to exploit the possibilities of technology.

Sir Howard Newby, Chief Executive of HEFCE, welcomed the new programme, saying: 'This programme will help student progression and promote life long learning in the regions by sharing on-line resources and better informing student choice'.

Professor Diana Laurillard, Head of the DfES eLearning Strategy Unit, also welcomed the announcement, saying: 'E-learning is not effective in isolation. Education leaders need to create networked partnerships with other organisations, so that it becomes easier to share resources and to develop and adopt good practice. The JISC Distributed eLearning Programme fits well with the DfES aim of a unified learner experience.'

Dr Malcolm Read, Executive Secretary of JISC: 'This builds on the already substantial work that JISC has undertaken in the development of learning environments to support learning and teaching. JISC is delighted to be taking forward this initiative which will bring a wide range of benefits to learners and teachers.'

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Joint Information Systems Committee [1]