Launched during the closing conference of the Erasmus without Paper (EWP) project, the Open Source University Alliance is a spin-off initiative of EWP that aims to promote the forthcoming EWP code repository among all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Europe.
As HEIs invest and/or create their own student information systems, the Alliance invites them to donate their codes to partner institutions through the EWP code repository so that the partners can use existing codes to further develop and connect their digital infrastructure.
The Alliance was initiated by the EUF and brings together the Coimbra Group, UNICA, SGroup, Compostela group, YERUN and the Groningen Declaration (the Steering Committee), which will challenge HEIs to share and donate open source solutions/code developed by their own teams. This will greatly help academia to face the challenges of the information society in a cost efficient way and speed up the modernisation of the European Higher Education Area.
Timeline of the initiative:
- From the 26th of September 2017: The promotion of the Open Source University Alliance towards software developers and the invitation of HEIs to sign the pledge of support
- November/December 2017: The first meeting of steering committee
- December 2018: The launch of the open source repository