Open Educational Resource university to be launched worldwide

Innovative education system to revolutionise tertiary learning
25 October, 2013

'''You can study world-class courses for free and count them towards real qualifications. This is the future of tertiary learning with the launch of the Open Educational Resource university (OERu), due to be unveiled on November 1, 2013.''' Register to attend our landmark launch online.

The OERu will provide more affordable ways for learners to gain academic credit towards qualifications from recognised institutions.

The OERu makes affordable education accessible to everyone. All you need is an internet connection and you can study independently from home, with access to world-class courses from recognised institutions around the world. It’s about sharing knowledge and the sustainability of education.



Former UNESCO Assistant Director General of Education and open learning visionary, Sir John Daniel, will be the guest of honour at the meeting of OERu anchor partners, and will officially launch the OERu website.

The OERu will reduce the cost of higher education dramatically. I believe that radical innovations in higher education must be accompanied by particularly robust frameworks of accreditation and credentialing in order to reassure the public. It's all very well for evangelists to promote do-it-yourself accreditation from the personal safety of CVs replete with reputable qualifications, but ordinary people want the 'beef' of proper recognition too.

Dr Mackintosh says the attendance of Sir John Daniel is a major coup. “In the world of open learning, Sir John is renowned. It will be a great honour to host him and he has his wealth of experience in the online learning sector. I’m sure we will all learn a great deal."

“This event is also a wonderful opportunity for like-minded professionals to network and explore new business opportunities open education could potentially generate.”

Home to the OER Foundation and anchoring partner to the OERu, New Zealand tertiary institution Otago Polytechnic has embraced the philosophy of sharing knowledge. It was the first tertiary institution in the world to adopt a creative commons open content intellectual property policy. The OERu is the means by which education at all levels can be more accessible, more affordable and more efficient. It’s no longer about building learning facilities and expecting students to come to us. We are taking it out to the world and investing in the sharing of knowledge on a global scale.

Courses on offer through the OERu include ‘Resourcing a Small Enterprise’, ‘Understanding Culture in Asia and the Pacific’, ‘Tourism in Asia and the Pacific’, ‘Developing a Business Plan’, and ‘Regional Economics in Asia and the Pacific’. The OERu will also support the UNESCO Paris 2012 OER Declaration, with courses focusing on building capacity in open educational practices.

Programmes can be distinguished between a Full Course and a micro Open Online Course (mOOC). “A micro-Course allows the user flexibility to manage learning around their personal commitments and learning interests,” says Dr Mackintosh.

“It represents a sub-component of a full course and is usually offered over a two to three week period. This can qualify individuals to gain full course credits through ‘recognition of prior learning’ systems available at a number of OERu partners.”

A Full Course can be anywhere between ten to 15 weeks in duration.

The OERu is a consortium of more than thirty universities, polytechnics and community colleges from five continents committed to widening access to educational opportunity.

OERu website go- live: Canada, British Columbia: Friday, November 1, 10:00am

For more information please contact: Wayne Mackintosh, OER Foundation Director and UNESCO-COL Chair in OER, Otago Polytechnic. [mailto:Wayne@oerfoundation.org email].

Irwin DeVries, Director, Curriculum Development, Thompson Rivers University. [mailto:idevries@tru.ca email].


 * View the OERu website
 * View the WikiEducator OER planning page
 * Tag: #OERu