In Swaziland, the training of healthcare professional isn’t keeping pace with the region’s needs. However, the cost of learning materials can make training nurses prohibitively expensive. Professor Cisco Magagula, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Swaziland (UNISWA), became familiar with open educational resources (OER) through the activities of the Virtual University of Small States of the Commonwealth and motivated his faculty to identify suitable OER and adapt them to their context.

Since 2015, a significant volume of new learning materials have been created at the university using OER. The cost has proven significantly lower than it would have been if they had created materials from scratch.

This approach has also extended to the development of a Masters in Educational Leadership, based on a VUSSC-developed programme, which the UNISWA Faculty of Education is repurposing for delivery in Swaziland, as well as a draft OER policy.