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This website provides a background to the 2nd World OER Congress and articulates the context of organizing the Open Seminar and Accompanying Events and provides information on the Regional Consultations which act as key inputs to the Congress.

The theme of the Congress is OER for Inclusive and Equitable Quality Education: From Commitment to Action  with the result in a commitment to adopt OER policy and to identify concrete actions and recommendations for Governments that would be implemented within a specific time framework.

Since the 1st World OER Congress 2012, two significant developments were had taken place:

• The world had moved from the Millennium Development Goals to the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a standalone goal on education (Goal 4) which aims to ensure “inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” As Member States review their education policies and strategies, this would be an appropriate time to integrate the role of OER in achieving the targets by 2030.
• The second development was that Member States had committed to adopting OER in the Paris Declaration in 2012. However, this commitment hasn’t fully translated into action.

These two key issues determine the overall theme of the World OER Congress and the six Regional Consultations.

While the 1st World OER Congress focused on advocacy and awareness generation,  the 2nd World OER Congress will  emphasise the  transition from commitment to action. Member States are encouraged to make a commitment to adopt OER at the policy level and to identify concrete actions which could be implemented within a specific time frame.

Following a proposal by the Government of Slovenia to the 199th Executive Board of UNESCO, the 2nd World OER Congress is scheduled to be held in Ljubljana on September 18-20, 2017 hosted by the Government of Slovenia in cooperation with UNESCO. In the year leading up to this event, COL, in partnership with UNESCO and the Government of Slovenia, aims to conduct follow up surveys of world governments/key stakeholders and Regional Consultations with the following objectives:

• Identify the current status vis-à-vis the recommendations made at the 1st World OER
  Congress among key stakeholders namely governments, policy makers, the OER
  community and the wider education community;
• Initiate discussions among the key stakeholders regarding the identified challenges to
  mainstreaming OER as highlighted in the outcome report of the OER Road Map meeting;
• Build awareness among key stakeholders about the objectives of the World OER
  Congress 2 and make recommendations for consideration;
• Encourage more governments to commit to the adoption of open licensing policies for
  teaching and learning materials developed with public funds.