Open universities

Sharing data openly offers huge benefits for higher education and institutions must make the most of it, writes Ian Powling.

Although universities have begun to recognise the value of openly sharing data, they have yet to give its potential for advancing efficiency and effectiveness the attention it deserves.

As the volume of data expands rapidly and technologies to capture and manipulate it become more sophisticated, governments, businesses and public bodies have all begun to investigate how it could help them create new products and services. The higher education sector, data-rich and always keen to explore new horizons, is at the forefront of this activity.