Today the OERu international consortium of universities, polytechnics, colleges and agencies launches our first open strategic planning consultation to answer three questions: Where are we now?, Where are we going?, and How do we get there? We invite OERu partners and the open education community to help us plan more affordable, sustainable and scalable education futures for all students worldwide. 

"While good progress has been made on the launch of the OERu, it is important now for us to engage in a systematic process whereby our bold vision is clarified and codified in the form of strategic goals, and that we identify ways they can be achieved" said Alan Davis, Vice-Chancellor and President of Kwantlen Polytechnic University. "In this way our global partners can more clearly commit to their roles in OERu, and can better ensure that their efforts are coordinated and synergistic." 

The OERu is distinctively open and subscribes to open and transparent planning. The strategic planning consultation is hosted on the strategic planning portal on the WikiEducator website. The planning process will be divided into three phases: open consultation, synthesis and culminating in the approval of the plan by the OERu Council of Chief Executive Officers at their November 2014 meeting and finally the Board of Directors of the OER Foundation in December 2014. 

We are not starting from scratch. The first draft of the OERu proposed strategic goals and objectives was derived from the outputs and proposals for action generated at the second meeting of OERu partners in November 2013.  The OERu has established a number of working groups to coordinate progress with the 2014 operational priorities which will feed into the development of the strategic plan. 

All feedback is welcome and should be posted on the corresponding discussion pages in WikiEducator so that we have a public record of the consultation. During each session of the consultation process we will focus on different components of the draft strategic plan and corresponding questions. Readers who would like to receive announcements about the OERu strategic planning process should subscribe to the appropriate mailing list.   

Jim Taylor, a prominent thought leader in the OERu and convener of the Strategic Planning Working Group reminds us of the significance of this planning consultation for our philanthropic collaboration.  

Prof Jim Taylor, Board of Directors, OER Foundation

“In continuing our efforts to help those who are currently locked out of higher education, it is important for the OERu to develop a strategic plan, which will enable our international innovation partnership to provide authentic opportunities for students to gain academic credit across a variety of disciplines at a range of accredited institutions as a result of active student-centred participation in online education experiences of the highest quality. Given the collective DNA of our institutional  members, and as online technology becomes more accessible, there is no reason why the OERu cannot develop a systemic working model of the provision of affordable and sustainable higher education.”

Important links

Strategic planning portal | Strategic goals and objectives | OERu quicklinks | Email discussion lists

Image Credits

Alan Davis, sourced from BCcampus, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.

Jim Taylor, sourced from WikiEducator, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.