The study will research the impact of OER adoption in emerging economies within Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, with particular focus on costs, teaching and educational practices, student performance, quality of materials, and policy.

The study can cover formal education and informal or non-formal learning at all levels. This includes primary, secondary, or tertiary, including life-long learning, especially in sustainable development, agriculture, and health.

North-South or South-South collaboration and interdisciplinary research are encouraged.

The call for proposals closes on 31 August. The study will begin no later than January 2015 and continue for eighteen months.

About the Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) programme

The Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) programme is supported by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Department for International Development, United Kingdom.

The programme supports researchers in the Global South to conduct research on the adoption and use of OER and encourages researchers worldwide to investigate the impact of OER on education and training in the developing world. It aims at building an empirical knowledge base on the use and impact of OER; developing capacity of OER researchers; building a network of OER scholars; and communicating research findings to inform education policy and practice. An international Advisory Group acts as peer reviewers to the programme.

The ROER4D programme is implemented by two universities. The University of Cape Town administers the component on research into OER adoption and use and ICDE member the Wawasan Open University, Malaysia, administers the component on OER impact studies.