Software vendors

About Chest

For more than 30 years, Chest has worked with suppliers of software to deliver pricing and licence terms and conditions that meet the specific needs of UK and Irish universities, colleges and research organisations. 

In 1988, a group of universities formed the Combined Higher Education Software Team, or Chest. The team, based at the University of Bath, negotiated the first ever agreement to license software to the university sector. The team soon extended their activity to include further education. The licence contracts became known as ‘Chest agreements’.

In 1999, Eduserv was established as a charity to provide Chest, OpenAthens and a variety of web services. In January 2019,  Eduserv merged with Jisc and Chest became a Jisc Enterprise. Chest agreements are now known as Jisc agreements on the Chest platform.

Simplify your route into the academic market

An agreement with Jisc is a contract between a supplier and Jisc. It fixes terms and conditions and pricing centrally, allowing Jisc to promote a supplier's products to UK universities, colleges, research councils and other eligible organisations. 

By working with Jisc you can: 

• Reach every UK university, further education college and research institute - and more besides
• Simplify engagement by negotiating centrally with Jisc, allowing discussions with customers to focus on business development rather than time-consuming contractual minutiae
• Streamline the procurement process thanks to our centralised ordering and invoicing service
• Leverage Jisc's proven expertise in creating agreements that best fit the needs of our members
• Use model licences with clear, accessible licensing terms and conditions that are fully compliant and ready for immediate implementation
• Amplify your message with our bespoke audience through targeted communications via newsletters, announcements and the Chest platform

Access the UK education market with Jisc

 Some views from Chest suppliers:

• "The Chest agreement is widely used and very well understood in the sector, it makes procurement in a complex world, much more simple" Kirk Bellerby, education lead, Tanium.
• "Proactive, efficient" Dan Ahlskog, content online

What universities and colleges say:

• “Chest provides good value. Not just on pricing but on T&Cs. They are  also an accepted route to market, so they save on procurement effort.” Kevin Hopkins, software licensing manager,  University of Nottingham
• “The Chest team is knowledgeable about products and licensing so is always easy to deal with.” Brian Smillie, West Lothian College

Interested?  Please get in touch: help@chest.ac.uk