National Consultation on OER Policy for Higher Education in India

New Delhi, March 06, 2017: On the request of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi, organized a National Consultation on Open Educational Resource (OER) Policy for Higher Education in India. The consultation took place at Hotel Oodles in Chattarpur New Delhi on Friday, 3^rd March, 2017. The objectives of the National Consultation on OER policy for Higher education in India were:

• Sharing experiences of OER practice and policy of other countries;

• Sharing experiences of OER practice and policy of Open Universities in India; and

• Developing insights and strategies for drafting OER policy for Higher Education in India.

The National consultation was conducted under the Chairmanship of Prof Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University, for drafting OER policy. CEMCA, with support from COL, also invited an international expert, to share the international experience on OER Policies & Practices. Forty Five Academic Leaders, Vice-Chancellors of Indian Open Universities, Directors of Directorates of Distance Education, teachers from Central Universities, State Universities, National institutions, Civil Societies and all the members of the Advisory Cum Consultative Committee participated in the National Consultation.

The consultation commenced with the key note address by Prof. V.S. Prasad, Former Director, National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC); followed by a presentation on ‘OER Policy Development and International Practices’ by Mr. Neil Butcher, South Africa. This was followed by the sharing of experiences on OER practice and policy in India by Prof. Ravindra Kumar, Vice Chancellor for IGNOU, Prof. Mangala Sunder Krishnan for National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) and Prof. J. Prabhakar Rao for University of Hyderabad, which set the scene for the subsequent group discussions.  The presentations highlighted various examples of OER in practice, both in India and internationally. It was encouraging to note that there were already good examples of developing and sharing OER in India that might be emulated by others.

Building on the introductory presentations, participants were divided into five group viz. (1) Goals, Mission, Vision, (2) Copyrights and Licencing (3) Curriculum Development, Teaching and learning (4) Capacity Building (5) Infrastructure, Connectivity and Quality Assurance, to deliberate on key aspects of a national OER policy for higher education in India. After the discussion, the moderator of each group presented their issues and challenges to be considered in policy development.

The proceedings of the consultative meeting and minutes of the Advisory Cum Consultative Committee meeting was considered for drafting of OER policy for Higher Education in India.