OER policies: A global perspective on what works

The Webinar highlighted success factors of policy approaches adopted by different institutions and governments. Dr Atenas, Senior Lecturer at University of Suffolk, presented a study conducted by the Open Education Policy Lab, Open Education Policies: Guidelines for co-creation.

This study illustrates the heterogenous nature of OER policy, demonstrating that in parallel with existing stand-alone policies on OER, very often OER aspects are integrated into other governmental policies relating to ICT, education or labour markets. The document also provides an overview of key themes of OER policies in different regions. According to Dr Atenas, the success of OER policy depends on whether its development reflects the major characteristics of OER, such as collaboration and openness.

In the Sahel Region, UNESCO’s office in Dakar has developed the Sahel Action Plan on OER uptake at the governmental, higher education and school levels. Michel Kenmoe, UNESCO's Communication and Information Advisor in Dakar underscored the special case of Burkina Faso, where UNESCO has provided OER capacity building as part of its support for the establishment of a virtual university and national strategy on OER.

In the area of inclusive OER, through a collaborative process undertaken in Malaysia, a draft national inclusive OER policy has been presented to the government for review. This draft policy addresses OER that are accessible for persons with disabilities. This is one of the first initiatives in the area of accessible OER worldwide. 

Dr Catherine Cronin, Strategic Education Developer at the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Ireland pointed out the need to build on existing infrastructure for OER policies. She highlighted that while many institutions to date have policies for Open Access to Scientific Journals (OA), few have policies for OER.