A Decade of Digital Development: Celebrating 10 years of Jisc’s Leadership Survey  

Ahead of Jisc’s 2026 leadership survey opening in February, Robin Ghurbhurun takes a look at what’s been keeping FE leaders awake at night during the last decade. 

Since 2016, the FE sector has witnessed a shift from digital curiosity to wider adoption, ranging from the evolution of administration to EdTech innovations, and spanning the workshop to the boardroom against a backdrop of challenges. 

From pandemic experimentation to financial sustainability, programme and policy reform to talent acquisition, and from the rise of cyber security threats to generative AI, the sector has shown extreme resilience in turbulent times. 

For the last ten years, Jisc’s leadership survey has gathered insight into what’s keeping leaders awake at night and the innovations helping them thrive. 

As we prepare to launch this year’s survey, I have been reflecting on how far the sector has progressed on its digital journey, the challenges and opportunities we have faced and overcome together and the factors that have influenced the collective direction of travel.  

From ‘more with less’ to digital by design 

Looking back to 2016, we can clearly see how digital priorities have evolved. What started in the mid‑2010s as a drive to use technology to “do more with less” has matured into a digitally confident sector tackling cyber threats, modernising infrastructure, and, most recently, grappling with the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI). 

In our earliest surveys, FE leaders consistently highlighted financial sustainability, productivity, and organisational agility as their main priorities. The focus was simple: keep institutions viable, flexible, and responsive amid tightening budgets and shifting policy contexts, whilst remaining laser‑focused on the services colleges truly needed.  

This foundational approach continued through 2019 with FE providers requesting increasing levels of institutional data to inform decision-making and enhance skill development.  

Survey insights at this time led to the creation of Jisc’s dedicated FE and Skills directorate underpinned by an ambitious further education and skills strategy developed in collaboration with members.  

Pandemic shock and digital poverty 

The rapid onset of the COVID‑19 pandemic accelerated digital adoption at an unprecedented scale. The response from the education sector was inspiring with FE institutions pivoting quickly, transforming short‑term crisis measures into sustainable investment in cloud-based video communication and virtual learning platforms, devices, training, connectivity and support models that could flex between online and on‑site learning.  

The move from majority in-person to fully online learning also exposed gaps. FE leaders confronted (and continue to confront) digital and data poverty, supporting students and staff that lacked appropriate devices, connectivity, digital skills and adequate spaces for online learning. 

Engagement with the leadership survey surged during this period.  

Early survey responses predominantly came from IT, library, and organisational leaders. While this core group has continued to provide valued contributions, since the emergence of the pandemic we’ve seen growing engagement from a broader range of strategic roles spanning areas such as learning and teaching, finance, governance and professional services.  

This diversification has enriched our understanding of member organisations interactions with digital and has helped Jisc support the alignment of technology decisions with whole-institution strategies across the sector. 

A shift in priorities and a focus on talent 

In our 2022 survey, cyber security emerged as the top challenge for FE respondents, driven by the rise in sophisticated attacks across education, increased reliance on cloud services, and the expanding data footprint of digital learning.  

IT infrastructure (hardware, software, and cloud), digital capability and skills also moved up the ranks as core priorities, as did staff recruitment and retention as colleges sought to secure the talent required to operate and safeguard modern digital estates.   

FE was juggling several competing challenges relating to staffing that had the potential to deeply impact the sustainability of the sector. A shortage of prospective staff meant that those already working in colleges were operating above capacity. Added to this was the need to continuously upskill to ensure digital capabilities matched investment in tech infrastructure. 

Thankfully, help would come from a rather unexpected source that would land globally at the end of the year. 

The emergence of generative AI  

The launch of ChatGPT3 at the end of 2022 signaled a potential step change for teaching, learning and assessment not witnessed since the early adoption of the internet in the mid-90’s. Although still in its infancy at this time, the risk to academic integrity was seen by many educators as a significant disruptor. 

While cyber security was still cited as the number one challenge by respondents of the leadership survey in 2023, generative AI was creeping up the ranks, and by 2024 it shared the top spot. The enduring presence of IT infrastructure and digital skills on the list of challenges also underscored that AI readiness still depended on the fundamentals: resilient networks, data management, effective and accessible devices, and digital literacy and confidence among staff and students. 

After the initial uncertainty surrounding its emergence, digital leaders now needed to balance the opportunity and risk of using generative AI in education, i.e. how to harness AI tools for learner and staff support, assessment and business operations, while ensuring robust governance, ethical use, and secure data handling.  

Teachers were also finding unexpected benefits to using generative AI in the classroom, as tools such as Teachermatic, Graide and Learnwise helped reduce unnecessary administration tasks, streamlined classroom activities and supported the student experience.  

However, some students and staff were still struggling with what was considered acceptable AI use, and leaders requested support to develop clearer institutional guidance.   

The road ahead 

The next chapter for FE will be defined byagentic AI alongside emerging technologies such as quantum computing, expediting the transition from copilot to autopilot, proactively personalising learning and offering intelligent tutoring and data‑informed decision‑making.  

As the rapid acceleration of technology continues across the educational landscape, digital leadership will remain critical in championing the learner and staff experience through collaboration, assessment of outcomes, and building trust.  

By working together to empower staff, safeguard learners, and to deliver the skills needed to succeed, the sector will not just adapt to change; it will shape it. 

As the adoption of digital across education continues to evolve, we look forward to receiving further key insights from this year’s leadership survey as we continue to work in partnership with our members to successfully secure sector opportunities and overcome challenges throughout the next decade and beyond. 

By Robin Ghurbhurun, managing director for FE and skills at Jisc