Vignette The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC): OER within a Transnational Qualifications Framework John T. Lesperance
Background The Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) is a network of small nations in the Caribbean, Pacific, Mediterranean and Africa committed to the collaborative development, adaptation and sharing of high-quality courses and learning materials. These materials are intended to be open educational resources (OER) and readily adaptable for use in a variety of courses in specific country contexts. The VUSSC is not a new tertiary institution. Rather, it is a collaborative mechanism for institutions in small Commonwealth countries to develop, adapt and share courses and learning materials. It is also a forum for institutions to build capacity and expertise in online collaboration, eLearning, and information and communication technologies (ICT) in general. The VUSSC was originally conceived by Commonwealth Ministers of Education at their triennial conference in 2000, in Halifax, Canada. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is facilitating the process of developing a workable model, to assist with implementation of the VUSSC. In the course of developing the model, it became clear that it was necessary to create conditions in the various small states to ensure that the courses produced in the VUSSC could be readily used and transferred to other countries and institutions. This led to the creation of a mechanism that supported the development, international recognition, comparability and easy understanding of qualifications, in order to encourage the transfer of courses, qualifications and learners between countries — now known as the Transnational Qualifications Framework.
VUSSC Open Educational Resources Model VUSSC incorporates all modes of delivery, including classroom teaching, eLearning and blended learning, and cuts across qualifications from level one certification up to doctoral degrees.
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