Michigan Tech just launched opensource.mtu.edu, a virtual one-stop free shop for all things open source on campus. According to their site, Tech Today:

"With the majority of big companies now contributing to open source projects it is clearly a major trend. All [major] supercomputers (including our own supercomputer: Superior), 90% of cloud servers, 82% of smartphones, and 62% of embedded systems run on open source operating systems. More than 70% of ‘internet of things’ devices also use open source software. 90% of the Fortune Global 500 pay for the open source Linux operating system from Red Hat, a company that makes billions of dollars a year for the service they provide on top of the product that can be downloaded for free."

The publication also says that "the open source hardware movement is roughly 15 years behind its software counterpart," but it appears to be catching up quickly. Given their mandate to "attract students that are excited about technical freedom and open source," many universities have started a new front in the battle for educational supremacy.

Unlike conventional warfare, this is a battle that benefits the public. The more universities share using the open source paradigm, the faster technology moves forward with all of its concomitant benefits. The resources available through opensource.mtu.edu include:

Michigan Tech is hardly alone with major initiatives across a broad swath of academia. Open access databases like Academia, OSF preprints, ResearchGate, PrePrints, and Science Open swell with millions of free, open access, peer-reviewed articles. The Center for Open Science supports the Open Science Framework, which is a "free and open source project management tool that supports researchers throughout their entire project" lifecycle, including storing Gigabytes of data:

You can choose from a wide variety of course options at other institutions as well, and are generally able to take these courses at your own pace:

Rochester Institute of Technology students can earn a minor in free and open source software and free culture.

Many of the world’s most renowned colleges and universities offer free courses to self-learners through OpenCourseWare (OCW). None of the courses offered through OCW award credit, though. For that, you need to pay.

Schools like MIT, the University of Notre Dame, Yale, Carnegie Mellon, Delft, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, University of California Berkeley and the Open University (among many more) offer free academic content, such as syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, and examinations.

Universities using open source in higher education

Many universities also contribute to free and open source software (FOSS) and free and open source hardware (FOSH). In fact, many universities—including American International University West Africa, Brandeis University, Indiana University, and the University of Southern Queensland—are Open Source Initiative (OSI) Affiliates . The University of Texas even has formal policies in place for contributing to open source.

In addition, the vast majority of universities use FOSS. PortalProgramas ranked Tufts University as the top higher education user of FOSS. Even more representative is Apereo, which is a network of universities actively supporting the use of open source in higher education. This network includes a long list of member institutions:

American Public University System

Beijing Open-mindness Technology Co., Ltd.

Blindside Networks

Boston University Questrom School of Business

Brigham Young University

Brock University

Brown University

California Community Colleges Technology Center

California State University, Sacramento

Cirrus Identity

Claremont Colleges

Clark County School District

Duke University

Edalex

Educational Service Unit Coordinating Council

ELAN e.V.

Entornos de Formación S.L (EDF)

ETH Zürich

Gert Sibande TVET College

HEC Montreal

Hosei University

Hotelschool the Hague

IlliniCloud

Instructional Media & Magic

JISC

Kyoto University

LAMP

Learning Experiences

Longsight. Inc.

MPL, Ltda.

Nagoya University

New York University

North-West University

Oakland University

OPENCOLLAB

Oxford University

Pepperdine University

Princeton University

Rice University

Roger Williams University

Rutgers University

Sinclair Community College

SWITCH

Texas State University, San Marcos

Unicon

Universidad Politecnica de Valencia

Universidad Publica de Navarra

Universitat de Lleida

Universite de Rennes 1

Universite de Valenciennes

University of Amsterdam

University of California, Berkeley

University of Cape Town

University of Edinburgh

University of Illinois

University of Kansas

University of Manchester

University of Michigan

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

University of Notre Dame

University of South Africa UNISA

University of Virginia

University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Witwatersrand

Western University

Whitman College



Another popular organization is Kuali, which is a nonprofit that produces open source administrative software for higher education institutions. Their members include:

Boston University

California State University, Office of the Chancellor

Colorado State University

Cornell University

Drexel University

Indiana University

Marist College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Michigan State University

North-West University, South Africa

Research Foundation of The City University of New York

Stevens Institute of Technology

Strathmore University

Tufts University

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

Universidad del Sagrado Corazon

University of Arizona

University of California, Davis

University of California, Irvine

University of Connecticut

University of Hawaii

University of Illinois

University of Maryland, Baltimore

University of Maryland, College Park

University of Toronto

West Virginia University

Didn't see your favorite university on the list? If that school has been involved in open source, please leave a comment below telling me what your school is doing in open source. If you want to see your favorite school on the list and they aren't doing much in open source, you can encourage them by sending a letter asking the program heads to: