Jisc DEI retirement: the September data-access deadline has passed

Updated Sep 07, 2026

Update, 7 September 2026: Jisc's Digital Experience Insights service has closed and the export deadline has passed. Its closure FAQ specified midday on 4 September 2026 as the final point for customers to download their data. The FAQ explicitly says the subsequent backup period does not support individual retrieval requests.

This follows our April retirement briefing. The original July follow-up covered the export window; the current version distinguishes that historical advice from what can be done now.

The published closure timetable

Existing contracts ended on 31 July 2026, followed by temporary data access until the September deadline. Jisc says user accounts and survey data would then be deleted from the service. Its subscription page now confirms that DEI is closed.

The FAQ specifies backups from 4 September to 4 December 2026 for exceptional circumstances, requiring a full restore. That retention period must not be presented as an extension of the download window or a promise that Jisc can recover an individual institution's missing export.

The final-cycle survey page lists 1 May 2026 as the student/learner closing date and 3 July 2026 for teaching and professional-services staff surveys. These dates are separate from the service and data-access closure dates. The page also describes international participation with potentially different survey schedules; the listed UK cycle dates should not be assumed to cover every international arrangement.

What was planned to continue

The FAQ describes plans to make existing question sets available as self-service templates for Online Surveys project or organisation subscriptions, without updating them for 2026/27. It also describes an expression of interest in top-level benchmarking for an additional fee. This review has not confirmed delivery or availability of those proposed options.

Jisc says existing reports remain accessible through its repository and commits to reporting on the 2025/26 cycle, with timings to be advised. Public sector reports and an institution's own response data are different resources: one cannot recreate the other.

Check the current product documentation and applicable reuse terms before planning around a template. The closure FAQ's plans should not be treated as a confirmed replacement for the whole managed service.

What institutions can do now

Check which authorised exports, question sets and benchmark documentation your institution already retained. Record the source, cycle, population and any missing files. Where material was not retained, document the gap accurately rather than assuming backups remain available on request.

For a future survey, identify the decision it will inform, the audience and the responsible team. If questions, recruitment, timing or platform change, assess what that means for comparisons before presenting a trend. Keeping similar theme labels does not automatically preserve measurement or benchmark continuity.

The role of comment analysis

Comments may help identify respondents' concerns about digital learning and services. A documented review can make the interpretation easier to inspect, but it cannot recover deleted responses or reconstruct missing sector benchmarks.

Our governance checklist and NSS open-text methodology offer general considerations about access, interpretation and follow-up. A digital-experience survey still needs its own appropriate questions, context and permissions.

FAQ

Can customers still use the September export window?

No. The published deadline was midday on 4 September 2026 and has passed.

Do backups through December allow individual data recovery?

No. Jisc explicitly says they are not retrievable for individual user requests.

Are replacement templates and paid benchmarks confirmed here as live?

No. They are plans described in the FAQ; delivery has not been verified in this review.

Correction, 7 September 2026: Updated the expired export advice, added the limits on backup retrieval and qualified template and benchmark availability. Removed the implication that software-supported analysis preserves comparability after a platform change.

References

Jisc Digital Experience Insights: Service closure FAQs, final-cycle surveys and subscription status, undated pages checked 7 September 2026.