Government Survey
Governments play a major role in shaping the educational landscape in their country. It is a primary responsibility of the government to provide policy and strategic directions to education at all levels and ensure access to quality education for their citizens.
With the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the international community and the governments — where Goal 4 focuses on achieving quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030 — it is significant to understand governments’ preparedness and strategy to support the OER movement. The international community asserted also the role of OER to improve the quality of, and access to, textbooks and other forms of learning content in the Qingdao Declaration 2015, and committed to develop “sector-wide strategies and capacity building programmes to fully realise the potential of OERs to expand access to lifelong learning opportunities and achieve quality education” (UNESCO, 2015).
Therefore, the survey was timely and focused on: the presence of policies and strategies that support OER; activities around the creation, use, and sharing of OER; and barriers to mainstream OER as perceived by the government representatives. The survey was sent by COL and UNESCO to ministries responsible for education in all UNESCO and COL Member States. It was also made available to COL Focal Points and to National Delegations in UNESCO. In total, 102 responses were received from governments from the five regions.
Government responses by region:
With the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the international community and the governments — where Goal 4 focuses on achieving quality education and lifelong learning for all by 2030 — it is significant to understand governments’ preparedness and strategy to support the OER movement. The international community asserted also the role of OER to improve the quality of, and access to, textbooks and other forms of learning content in the Qingdao Declaration 2015, and committed to develop “sector-wide strategies and capacity building programmes to fully realise the potential of OERs to expand access to lifelong learning opportunities and achieve quality education” (UNESCO, 2015).
Therefore, the survey was timely and focused on: the presence of policies and strategies that support OER; activities around the creation, use, and sharing of OER; and barriers to mainstream OER as perceived by the government representatives. The survey was sent by COL and UNESCO to ministries responsible for education in all UNESCO and COL Member States. It was also made available to COL Focal Points and to National Delegations in UNESCO. In total, 102 responses were received from governments from the five regions.
Government responses by region:
REGION |
RESPONSES |
COUNTRIES |
AFRICA |
28 |
Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia |
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA |
12 |
Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria |
ASIA AND PACIFIC |
28 |
Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Nepal, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Island, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam |
EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA |
21 |
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United States of America |
LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN |
13 |
Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago |
Stakeholder Survey
The objective of the stakeholder survey was to understand levels of awareness and involvement of stakeholders in the use and adaptation of OER. In 2012, the survey was limited to government and no attempt was made to collect data from stakeholders. Therefore, the 2017 surveys were a step towards understanding the involvement of the OER community and the stakeholders in mainstreaming adoption and use of OER. The survey was posted online and publicised through social media and COL networks. In total, 759 responses were received. After a check and cleaning of the data, 638 valid stakeholder responses were used for the analysis.
As the survey was open to anyone who was keen to participate, the stakeholder sample is highly variable across regions (e.g., some countries have only one respondent; others have up to 72). Thus, data from stakeholder surveys provided only a snapshot of OER activities across the regions from the perspective of the stakeholders, and can be treated as a population survey.
Stakeholder responses by region:
As the survey was open to anyone who was keen to participate, the stakeholder sample is highly variable across regions (e.g., some countries have only one respondent; others have up to 72). Thus, data from stakeholder surveys provided only a snapshot of OER activities across the regions from the perspective of the stakeholders, and can be treated as a population survey.
Stakeholder responses by region:
REGION |
RESPONSES |
COUNTRIES |
Africa |
144 |
Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
Middle East and North Africa |
26 |
Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia |
Asia and Pacific |
253 |
Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vietnam |
Europe and North America |
145 |
Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America |
Latin America and Caribbean |
70 |
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, St Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela |
