Open education has grown through wider access, resource sharing, and collaboration, but the governance structures needed to sustain these practices remain insufficiently addressed. As a result, open values such as participation, equity, and reuse are not translated into organizational action.
The International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) addresses this gap through a participatory policy process that moves from needs assessment and collaborative drafting in Small Working Groups to review, democratic adoption, implementation, and renewal. Through this process, policy documents become practical tools that guide student advocacy, learning, and action thus functioning as an open educational infrastructure.
In this session, attendees will explore how open policy making can be used to build sustainable educational and advocacy frameworks in their own contexts, helping them strengthen student organizing, guide initiatives, and support long term open education practices.
Attendees of this session will be able to:- By the end of this session, at least 80% of participants will apply the session’s methodologies to:.
- Describe IFMSA’s open policy-making process and its key steps, from needs assessment ,collaborative drafting to adoption, implementation, and renewal.
- Understand the three dimensions of open policy-making and how, when used as a framework, they can transform policy documents into open educational resources.
- Analyze how policy documents can guide diverse forms of implementation across thematic areas, including workshops, conferences, campaigns, partnerships, webinars, small working groups, and educational resources.
- Adapt strategies of open policy-making approaches within their own organizations, institutions, or cities to strengthen advocacy, student organizing, sustainability, and open education.
