In the article “Digital Resilience in Higher Education” Weller and Anderson argues that the higher education will change substantially in the future due to digital revolution [1]. A key factor in the change Weller and Anderson see is the development and sharing of open education resources in teaching. The enabling factor behind this sharing of open education resources is that the cost of copy and distribute many kinds of education resources is very low.

However, even if the cost of copy and distribute education resources is low there is still a cost of creating the education resources that not necessarily decrease the production cost of the education resources. The production cost might even be larger when the education material not only needs to be produces in a conventional way, but also be prepared for easy coping and distribution.

In an article Fröman summarize a report from the Swedish labor union Sveriges universitetslärare och forskare. [2] The report states that the cost for the universities to provide education on bachelor and master level has doubled since the academic year 1994/1995, but the payment from the government haven’t increase in the same pace. [2]  (In Sweden nearly all higher education is free and for European citizens, because it is paid by the Swedish government.) The main reason is that the government apply a flat-rate efficiency deduction on their payment to the universities and this efficiency deduction have reduced the increased payment with seven billion Swedish krona (SEK) in all areas except humanities, social sciences, law and theology. Most areas therefore have 30 – 50 % lesser resources today than the academic year 1994/1995. [2]

The main reason to the efficiency deduction is that it is assumed that new technology can decrease the cost for delivering higher education, however the report states this has not been the case, because the students still needs good contact with their teachers. [2] Instead there have been an increase in the contact needs because the higher proportion of students from families without prior experience of higher education. [2]

One interesting consideration is therefore if the government will continue to pay for higher education in the same way as the government is doing, even if the universities starts to copy and distribute their education material between each other. The cost for the universities to create educational material will decrease when they share their material and the cost for providing the education would therefore also decrease. However, that decrease of costs is already adjusted for in the existing efficiency deduction? Or do the government see it another way?

[1] Weller, M., & Anderson, T. (2013). Digital resilience in higher education. European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning, 16(1), 53, http://www.eurodl.org/index.php?p=archives&year=2013&halfyear=1&article=559 .

[2] Fröman, J. (2018). Sju miljarder fattas för högre utbildning [Seven billion are missing for higher education]. Ingenjören. September 14, 2018. http://www.ingenjoren.se/2018/09/14/sju-miljarder-fattas-for-hogre-utbildning/ .