As societies move towards increasing openness, higher education is also showing increasing interest in and commitment to releasing information and knowledge. This paper describes some of the common ways in which the term open is used and discussed in relation to open initiatives. It considers how open practices affects teaching and learning as well as research in higher education, highlighting the importance for higher education providers to grapple with the challenges and opportunities provided by openness to make them more relevant to society today. Finally, the paper considers how rapidly evolving developments in openness impacts on higher education policy, and provides some policy considerations which may useful to deliberate over.