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Strategy in open education is the creation of a unique and valuable position on openness involving different sets of activities.

Openness is a vital component of an institution's policy. It is integral to the institution’s mission and its relationship to and inter-dependence with other aspects of the wider institutional policy should be clearly articulated. Including openness in an institution's education strategy can enhance and enrich the conceptual, operational and financial aspects of the educational offer.

Integrated institutional Policy

Including openness within an institution's education strategy can enhance and enrich the conceptual, operational and financial aspects of the educational offer. The open education strategy and the institution's overall strategy should not be treated as separate, but instead it should form a unique educational strategy for the institution. This means that a current institutional strategy may need to be revised to operate from openness. HEIs activities such as research, teaching and learning, and community services could all benefit from open practices.

Funding

In making opening up education an integral part of the institution's mission and goals, HEIs will also need to have a strategy on how to make these activities financially sustainable throughout their duration and deliver, where appropriate, return on the investment. The latter can be direct (e.g. revenue by commercialising specific parts of the open education offer to specific types of audiences, such as assessment or credentials, or more registrations for paid-for courses) or indirect (e.g. increased reputation and enhanced internationalisation). HEIs can explore internal funding to be used to consolidate the institution's strategy which includes openness, and/or explore how external funding, from governments or other bodies, can help them achieve their opening-up education goals.