Athabasca U among proponents of "OER university"

Universities in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are looking to achieve a "quantum shift" in open educational resources (OERs) by founding an "OER university." Alberta-based Athabasca University, the University of Southern Queensland in Australia, and New Zealand's Otago Polytechnic plan to draw together existing free online learning material from across the globe and develop new OERs to create whole degree programs that can be studied online for free. It is hoped the degrees could cost up to 90% less than a traditional qualification gained through on-campus education. The director of the Open Education Resource Foundation says an OER university would help widen PSE access in the developing word, and help students in developed countries faced with rising tuition fees. Times Higher Education