Unlocking our treasure chest : the strategic implications of open access for the University of South Africa

Abstract

A university as an educational institution can be seen as the keeper of intellectual riches and as holding the key to virtually unlimited knowledge resources. Within Africa, Unisa is one of the major gateways to potential intellectual wealth for its students. In 2011, Unisa announced that it was becoming an open access institution which would make all its study materials available for free to all members of the public. Our treasure chest of knowledge has now been unlocked, and its effects and strategic potential are ground-breaking for this university. It is crucial that the university manages this resource to its optimal potential, to ensure that the financial investment made in this wealth creation ultimately yields growth for the university as well as for the rest of Africa and its people. This paper is aimed at making observations and practical suggestions regarding the potential developments needed to utilise the open access resources of a distance education institution optimally. The aim is not to scrutinise in detail any specific section of Unisa. Suggestions are made from the perspective of electronic resource management and teaching and publishing within a global arena, with a view to global benchmarking and aligning with international trends and partners.