Uses of open data in higher education governance - University World News

"There has been phenomenal growth in government data on the internet, with an estimated more than a million datasets posted online by governments. The boom has major implications for university governance – but different types of data have varying degrees of impact on diverse levels of governance. The open data boom – driven by advocacy groups, and public funding agencies, as well as hackers and developers – opens up opportunities for improving the transparency of higher education governance and providing evidence to inform policy, says Francois van Schalkwyk, a researcher at the Centre for Higher Education Transformation, or CHET, in Cape Town. Van Schalkwyk, in a presentation drawing on in-progress research into open data usage in South African higher education governance governance, was speaking at a Carnegie Corporation of New York-sponsored convening in Nairobi on 'Higher Education Policy, Leadership and Governance', before an audience of African vice-chancellors, heads of commissions and think-tanks. (See the Open Data in Developing Countries Project website.) The objectives of the convening were to share research, practices and findings on how grantees are influencing higher education policy and leadership, to identify gaps, develop a common vision and map the future. Van Schalkwyk said little was known about the actual uses and impacts of open data, especially in the developing world. Research tended to focus on open data supply-side issues such as technical platforms and standards, and to be based on cases from the developed world ..."