Open Educational Resources in India’s national development

Abstract

As India marches rapidly towards an ambitious agenda of economic and social advancement, one of the greatest challenges it faces is to provide extensive access to quality higher education opportunities. An evident and expanding Open Education Resources movement offers great promise for meeting this challenge through initiatives that make quality tools, content and practice widely available. Accordingly, India’s National Knowledge Commission launched a process to explore and leverage these initiatives for adoption and adaptation, as well as to serve as a model for further indigenous efforts. This paper outlines issues and recommendations that address organisational considerations and infrastructure readiness as part of a systemic and sustainable strategy to make effective use of Open Educational Resources for scaling educational opportunity and excellence in the Indian context. © 2009, The Open University.