Envisioning the process: Lessons from developing institutional OER repositories in Vietnam

Introduction. This study investigates the development of institutional open educational resources repositories (IOERs) in Vietnamese higher education. While OER adoption has been widely examined at the level of students and lecturers, little is known about institutional processes for developing repositories, particularly in resource-constrained contexts. Method. A qualitative approach was adopted, using semi-structured interviews with 20 participants, including IOER leaders, OER champions, university administrators, faculty members, and library administrators and staff from four major Vietnamese cities. Participants were identified through purposive and snowball sampling to ensure they had direct involvement in OER initiatives. Analysis. Interview transcripts were analysed using inductive content analysis supported by NVivo. Coding was data-driven, with emerging categories interpreted through Fullan’s educational change framework, focusing on the phases of initiation and implementation Results. The study identifies four campus stakeholder groups: project implementers, content producers and users, facilitators, and university leaders. Two phases are highlighted: initiation, centred on leadership approval, and implementation, involving management, awareness-raising, use, and content creation. Conclusions. IOER development in Vietnam should be understood as an educational change process rather than a technical initiative. Libraries play a central role, but success depends on cross-unit collaboration, visionary leadership, and strategies to build awareness and engagement.