APNUMAQ project "Supporting the consolidation of national digital transformation policies to improve the quality of training and university governance in the Asia-Pacific region".
The digital transformation of universities is part of a worldwide drive to modernize higher education, in which Open Educational Resources (OER) play a key role in facilitating access to knowledge and helping to improve the quality of teaching.
As part of a global drive for digital education and open access to knowledge, the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie has set up the APNUMAQ project to support higher education players in Southeast Asia and the Pacific in their digital transformation strategies.
The project involved partner universities in four countries (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Vanuatu), offering them support in deploying and evolving their strategies for developing open educational resources.
In particular, the APNUMAQ project aimed to achieve the following objectives:
- Assess the current state of OER in universities in the four countries.
- Identify constraints and challenges to their adoption and use.
- Propose recommendations for integrating OER into national strategies for university digital transformation.
- Propose recommendations to partner universities to strengthen their national, regional and international cooperation on OER.
The project's final report, due in December 2024, was drawn up using the following approach:
- Semi-structured on-site interviews with some 50 university stakeholders (lecturers, administrative managers, librarians) in the four countries.
- Analysis of the scientific and technical literature available online, and of national legal documents relating to OER and digital education.
- Analysis of the data collected to establish country-specific diagnoses and formulate strategic and practical recommendations to strengthen existing initiatives and bring them into line with international standards.
Results
General elements
- Analysis of the study data reveals a consensus among university stakeholders on the strategic role of Open Educational Resources (OER) in university governance. However, their adoption remains irregular and faced with several obstacles:
- Insufficient legal frameworks: absence of clear national policies on open licenses (Creative Commons).
- Heterogeneous digital infrastructures: low average Internet connectivity and inter-institutional networking, large ICT gaps between urban and rural or island areas.
- Low digital skills due to lack of targeted training: low awareness of OER and digital education tools among teachers.
- Cultural resistance: strong reluctance to openly share resources.
- Little knowledge of copyright and free licenses.
Download the Expert report on the current situation and prospects for the development of Open Educational Resources (OER) in the Francophonie scientific community in Asia-Pacific to find out more.
Source: www.auf.org/
