‘App generation’ offered access to key student data

"Next week, the University of Southampton will launch a new data website in a move inspired by two of its staff, Nigel Shadbolt, professor of artificial intelligence, and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the professor of computer science who is credited with inventing the World Wide Web. They jointly led the development of the website www.data.gov.uk, which was set up to allow a single point of access to government data. Southampton's new website, http://data.southampton.ac.uk, will initially carry information on the university's courses, procurement and estate, but more data will be added over time....Universities will soon have to publish standard data - the Key Information Set - for every course, which will include details of teaching methods and graduate earnings. But Professor Humphris said that there was "a far greater opportunity" to be seized. "For the past 10 years, Southampton has been a pioneer in open access to research. Now we believe it is time for open access to data," she said...."