About SWERN
The South West of England Regional Network connects the Universities of Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Bath and the West of England and provides connections for other South West HEIs and some 40+ FE Colleges and institutions. SWERN serves approximately 500,000 users.
The web site is intended to help the running of SWERN. A number of groups contribute to the site. The left hand navigation menu points to various areas which are used to share information amongst SWERN's members. The site contains both public and restricted areas.
Key Objectives
- The development of the South West region, in the broadest sense relies heavily on the quality of the communications infrastructure. At the lowest level this provides access for individuals; at the highest level the sharing of expertise, applications and resources.
- SWERN has become a major regional network not only for Higher and Further Education, but for other public bodies and complementary organisations and sites involved with learning, teaching, research and consultancy.
- JANET UK (JUK) works closely with SWERN to provide funds to meet the costs of the telecommunications circuits and equipment as well as the technical and operational staff needed to run the service.
- The five founding members of the SWERN have each appointed one director to the SWERN board of directors. A policy and planning committee advises the Board; membership includes the founder members (5), HEIs (2), FEIs (3), RDA (1), User Group (1). The SWERN User Group is open to all user organisations throughout the region.
- Improved links between all consortium members leads to greater collaboration in a number of teaching and research activities.
- Improved support for technology based teaching and learning and support for all forms of distance learning also results.
- Real opportunities now exist for the pooling of expertise across the region with staff working with colleagues at other institutions.
- Strategically, SWERN is of vital importance for the provision of networking to HE, FE and other public sector organisations in the South West Region; the generation of profit is not a primary aim of the SWERN.
- The South West Regional Development Agency
 (RDA) and the Regional Support Centre for FE in the South West (SW FE RSC) both have strong interests which the SWERN can help to deliver.
Use of the site
The web site runs on a Confluence wiki engine hosted at the University of Bath. Members of SWERN can request accounts if they require access to areas of the site which are not publicly accessible.
Some useful links for users of the site below.
Why you may want to use the site
- Collaboration
- Information Sharing
- See Hints and Tips page for more reasons
Publications
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Connected Institutons
HEI Connected Sites
FE Connected Sites
Other Institutions
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