The Guardian seems to have the open education news bug today. OpenCourseWare Consortium President Anka Mulder announces a new OpenCourseWare STEM effort by European members:
Can OpenCourseWare widen Europe’s science and technology skills-base?
Technology is reshaping how we communicate, but too few European students are opting to study it, says Anka Mulder
Technology is fundamentally reshaping how we work, socialise and communicate, but too few European students are opting to study the subjects that will give them the skills to work in our innovation-led economy. This is a particular problem for women, minorities and other non-traditional student groups.
STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects are declining in popularity at a rapid rate across all European countries, signalling a macro-crisis for future economic competitiveness and more personal micro-crisis among Europe’s engineering and technology universities.
Declining student numbers and increased overseas competition pose the risk of a dwindling European research footprint. This reality has prompted 55 universities from 31 EU countries to work together to harness the ‘open education’ movement to widen scientific learning in Europe’s universities and improve the uptake and quality of technology and scientific education. This collaboration has seen the development of the OpenCourseWare for STEM (OCW4STEM) project.
