A note on figures before starting
Spending on open educational materials is hard to measure. Money may be spread across education budgets, research grants and technology programs, and different countries count it differently. For that reason this article avoids quoting specific amounts. It describes the types of public funding that exist and what general patterns people have noticed, and it explains how to check any number you meet elsewhere.
Types of public funding
Grants for creation and adaptation
The most familiar type is a competitive grant. Teachers or institutions apply for money to write a new open textbook, adapt an existing one, translate it, or build a set of course materials. Grants are usually time-limited and often come with a condition that the result must carry an open license.
Strengths: they can start work quickly and let funders choose priorities, such as subjects with high enrollment. Weaknesses: they favor applicants who are good at writing proposals, and they often fund creation but not maintenance.
Program funding for shared infrastructure
Some governments fund a standing program or body that provides a repository, training, and support for many institutions. This can avoid every college building the same thing separately. It also gives a place where quality checks and advice on licensing can be gathered. The cost is a continuing commitment, and the program depends on political support remaining steady.
Funding through institutions
Governments often give money to universities and colleges as a block, and institutions then decide how much to put toward open materials. This is less visible, because open education competes with other priorities inside the institution. It can, however, be more stable than short grants if the institution adopts an open education policy and sets aside staff time.
Procurement and purchasing choices
Where a government or education authority buys learning materials in bulk, its purchasing terms can favor openly licensed content. This is not a grant, but it is public money shaping the market. It can work well for school systems that buy a single curriculum, though it may be less relevant where teachers choose their own.
Research and infrastructure funding
Public research funders sometimes require that publications resulting from their grants be openly accessible, and some also expect data sharing. This sits more in the open research area than in open education, but it contributes by making more scholarly material free to read and reuse in teaching.
Connectivity and equipment
Funding for broadband, devices and public access points is not education spending in a narrow sense, but it determines whether open materials can be used. This is covered in more detail in our article on how governments widen access.
Patterns people have noted
The following observations appear often in discussions of this subject. They are presented as tendencies, not as established facts for every country.
- Early funding has tended to emphasize creating new materials. Attention to adoption, training and upkeep has often come later.
- Short, project-based funding is common, and projects sometimes end before their output has been widely used.
- Funding for textbooks in large introductory courses is a frequent target, because the savings for students are easy to explain.
- There is growing interest in coordinating across regions, so that materials created in one place are reused in another.
- Evaluation is often thin. Many programs report what they produced, such as numbers of books or downloads, more readily than what changed for learners.
These patterns come with a caution. Where a source says that a particular country or program saved students a specific sum, ask how it was calculated. Estimates of savings often assume that every student would otherwise have bought a new copy at full price, which may overstate the real figure.
How to read a funding claim
A few questions help whenever you see a number about public money and open education.
- What exactly is counted? Grants only, or also staff time and infrastructure?
- Over what period, and in what currency and year?
- Is it money committed, or money actually spent?
- Who produced the figure, and could they gain from a larger or smaller number?
- Are the savings or benefits measured, or estimated from assumptions?
If a source does not answer these questions, treat its figures as illustrations rather than facts.
Trade-offs for policymakers
Public funding raises real questions. Should money go to creating new materials or to improving existing ones? Should funders support many small projects or a few large ones? How much should be spent on training and support compared with content? How long should funding last? There is no single right answer. Countries differ in size, language, school structure and existing resources, and what works in one setting may not in another.
There is also the matter of fairness to those who already produce educational materials, such as small publishers and independent authors. Some governments consider this in procurement and licensing choices. Others take the view that public funding should lead to public access without exception. Both positions are argued in good faith.
What follows
Public funding is one of several forces behind open education, alongside the efforts of teachers, libraries and institutions. It is most useful when it is clear about its goals, supports maintenance as well as creation, and measures what happens to learners. Readers who need current figures or rules for a particular country should consult official education department reports and published budget documents, not rely on secondhand summaries.