Impact of International Organizations on Governmental OER Policies is a PhD research study registered at the Open University Netherlands under the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The primary objective of this longitudinal study is to find out to what extent International Organizations (IOs) are influencing governments around the world in their OER policy approaches. The IOs in the study include Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) and several Foundations.
The following three main research questions are central to the study:
1. What OER policy instruments can be identified with different IOs?
2. What impact do IO OER policy instruments have on provincial, state and national governmental OER policies?
3. What recommendations, if implemented, would lead to IO OER policies and policy instruments more effectively supporting governmental OER policies?
The aim of this presentation is twofold. First, it will provide an overview of the overall PhD research study including its justification, objectives, research design as well as current and upcoming research activities. Furthermore, in 2014 the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) at OECD embarked on a new initiative with the aim of updating its knowledge base on OER. As part of this initiative CERI carried out a new survey with governments from OECD member countries about their OER policies. Results from this survey will be published within CERI/OECD’s new comprehensive report on OER. The governmental survey created an opportunity for inclusion of two questions relevant for this PhD research study into the survey. The questions asked about the influence of IOs on governmental OER policies and the types of influence. The findings and lessons learnt from the survey with respect to the influence of IOs will also be discussed during the presentation.
This PhD research study is made possible with support of the Global OER Graduate Network and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.