This document summarizes some national and institutional initiatives regarding open education in Brazil and Australia. It outlines key statistics about the higher education sectors in both countries and discusses how some public universities in each country are embracing open educational practices (OEP) to increase access for remote learners, while balancing public and commercial interests. The University of Tasmania (UTAS) and Federal University of Parana (UFPR) are highlighted as having online offerings and OEP in their strategies, but predominantly offering face-to-face education. UTAS rewards academics for adopting OEP and has open policies, while UFPR partners on an open educational resources initiative. Challenges remaining include developing collaboration cultures and understanding of open licenses.

1. Open Education Down Under: Some national and
institutional initiatives.
Dr Carina Bossu & Dr Marineli Meier
carina.bossu@utas.edu.au
mmarineli@ufpr.br

3. https://pixabay.com/

4. Higher education sector in Brazil and Australia
Brazil
203,2 million people
2,368 higher education institutions
301 public universities (free)
7,8 million students
Australia
24,3 million people
43 accredited universities
40 public universities (fee)
1.3 million students

5. OEP in higher education Brazil and Australia
Public universities
Pockets of innovation
Increase access to education to rural
and remote learners
Public good X marketing opportunities
https://pixabay.com/

6. University of Tasmania & Federal University of Parana
UFPR
Public university (federal)
24 state universities
4 study centres/academic units
28,000 students
Online offering through UAB
But predominantly f2f
UTAS
Public university
State university
3 main campuses
34,000 students
Online presence for all units
But predominantly f2f

7. OEP the University of Tasmania
http://www.teaching-learning.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/439013/Technology-
Enhanced-Learning-and-Teaching-White-Paper-Academic-Senate-15-November-2013.pdf

8. UTAS Institutional Strategies
– The adoption of Open Educational
Practices is encouraged in the Deputy
Students and Education Divisional
Planning.
– Embracing Open Educational Practices is
a UTAS curriculum principle.
http://www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_
file/0006/567744/7825_A3_Curriculum-
Principles1.pdf
By obsidianphotography (2014). Licensed as CC0 Public Domain
- pixabay.com/en/chess-intelligence-game-strategy-581110/

9. Using Open Educational Practices
counts towards teaching performance
expectations.
http://www.utas.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf
_file/0008/447443/7815A-Revised-
Teaching-Performance.pdf
Reward and Recognition
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license by
Sean MacEntee (2012) at
http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0091009/photos/smemon/7118787133/

11. OER Parana – REA Parana
Initiative in partnership with the Federal University of Paraná - UFPR and the
Federal Technological University of Paraná - UTFPR, was officialised in 2014

12. OER Institutional
Repository

13. Reward and Recognition

14. Other similar activities
– Online resources
– Participation and dissemination in
national and international events
– Capacity building of academics
and public servants
By Lotte Grønkjær (2009) - CC BY NC SA 2.0 Generic

15. Despite the developments…
many challenges remain
– Create a culture of collaboration
and sharing among educators
– Lack of understanding of open
licenses
– Development of additional
institutional policies
– We need better informed senior
leaders in HE
Geralt (2014) – CC0 Public Domian

16. Points for discussion
– Institutional policies
– Recognition and reward – similar
– UTAS alignment with curriculum and learning and teaching strategies
– Open repositories
– Similar technological approaches
– UFPR push for OER being added into the repository
– State universities X state representation through REA Parana
– Lack of evidence regarding the existing policies

17. https://pixabay.com/