Digital preservation in the tertiary education sector: management implications

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the future of long-term curation and preservation of digital assets with particular reference to Further Education (FE) in the UK. Design/methodology/approach - Reviews current requirements of digital preservation and the efforts underway to support them. Drawing on other recent work and the author's experience in a recent development project it subsequently comments on these efforts in the context of FE. Findings - Argues that the long-term curation and preservation of digital assets produced by further education colleges should not be the responsibility of those colleges. Research limitations/implications - Written with direct reference to the UK; how the suggested solution would be applied elsewhere remains undeveloped. Practical implications - National memory institutions should strive to establish collaborative curatorial practices with the FE sector. Originality/value - Suggests that the preservation of digital assets in the FE sector requires a different approach than the HE sector.