In a keynote address at the OEBootcamp, Dr. Glenda Cox, UNESCO Chair at the University of Cape Town, traced the trajectory of open education from the 2007 Cape Town Open Education Declaration to the present, and offered directions for the future as the 20-year anniversary approaches in 2027.
Dr. Cox revisited the ten directions outlined at the declaration's 10-year anniversary in 2017, examining progress and ongoing challenges. She highlighted the 2015 student protests calling for decolonization of curricula in South Africa, and assessed where higher education stands a decade later. The talk posed critical questions: What have we achieved in open education? What new directions must be added? And what will higher education look like by 2035?
"Many of us will be happily retired, but the students in the room will be the academics of the future," Dr. Cox noted, urging current educators to take concrete steps toward transforming the neoliberal, competitive higher education system.
Key themes included the need to involve students in decolonizing curricula and to integrate open education as a tool for equity and access. The presentation is part of the UROpenEd Program's ongoing series exploring open educational practices.
The full slides are available online for those seeking deeper insights into the data and frameworks discussed.