Jisc Warns Technical Legacy is Compromising UK University Resilience and Stalling Innovation

Jisc has today published a new sector briefing highlighting technical legacy, the accumulation of outdated, disconnected and highly customised systems, as a critical, sector-wide issue that must be tackled to manage costs, enable effective digital transformation, strengthen security, and support the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI.

The briefing paper calls for coordinated action across higher education to address the growing challenge of legacy digital systems that are limiting innovation, resilience and long-term sustainability across UK universities.

Technical legacy: a strategic challenge for the HE sector

The analysis shows that technical legacy affects every area of university operations. It slows research productivity, undermines student experience, increases security risk, and makes it harder for institutions to deliver change at pace. Fragmented systems and proliferated workarounds are absorbing significant staff time, creating inefficiencies across professional services, research management, and student
support functions.

Tackling technical legacy collectively is essential to transform how universities and the wider sector delivers sustainable, innovative outcomes.

Significant financial impact, but only part of the story

While financial implications are not the sole driver for action, and technical legacy is hard to cost, the briefing paper includes estimates that technical legacy could be costing universities between £2bn to £4.7bn annually* through duplicated systems, maintenance of outdated technologies, and lost staff productivity.

However, the briefing emphasises that the bigger risk lies in missed opportunities: universities’ ability to innovate, collaborate and remain globally competitive is being constrained by technology that cannot keep pace with developments in research and innovation, or student expectations.

A widening gap between capability and ambition

The challenge is becoming more urgent as technology advances rapidly. Key government policy initiatives, including investment in digital research infrastructure, the Science and Technology Framework, the UK Compute Roadmap and the UK AI Opportunities Action Plan, require universities to operate with stable, modern and interoperable systems.

Without action, the sector risks falling further behind in its ability to deliver personalised student support, high quality digital research environments and secure, agile services.

Opportunities for sector collaboration

The briefing identifies opportunities for progress across three key groups:

Universities

• Recognising technical legacy as a strategic, executive level priority
• Developing long term digital, data and technology strategies
• Monitoring technical legacy as an organisational risk
• Improving centralised oversight of digital research infrastructure

Sector bodies

• Developing shared assessment models, legacy proofing plans, costing methodologies, and professional skills frameworks
• Coordinating strategic vendor management and collaborative solutions
• Aligning efforts across existing national initiatives

Policymakers, funders and regulators

• Creating the conditions for scalable, shared digital services
• Reducing policy and regulatory complexity
• Supporting momentum on flexible research funding and collaborative digital research infrastructure

Commenting in the briefing paper’s foreword, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President, City St George’s, University of London, remarks:

“Technical legacy is the result of accumulated decisions, it is not inevitable, and it can be addressed through focussed and purposeful action. Jisc has long played an important and distinctive role in enabling collective progress in UK higher education’s digital infrastructure. This report
continues that tradition by setting out both the problem and the opportunities for coordinated action.”

“Universities are working hard to innovate but are often held back by the significant barrier created by technical legacy” adds Dr Victoria Moody, Director of higher education and research, Jisc.

“Addressing this challenge is essential for resilience, security, and competitiveness. Through this briefing, Jisc is committed to helping universities shift to coordinated, sustainable solutions that can help unlock real transformation.”

To build shared solutions, Jisc are now convening roundtables with universities, government departments, funders and sector bodies. These discussions will help shape sector-wide recommendations that are practical, collaborative and aligned with broader national digital priorities.