Organizational Membership 

There are two ways that organizations may become formally involved in OCW Consortium activities:

Consortium Institutions

Accredited higher education institutions may become members of the Consortium by committing via the online membership form (link below) to the publication of at least ten original courses in the OpenCourseWare format and under the institution's name (see our Use page for examples). An officer of the institution able to authorize such use of the institution name should complete the online OCW Consortium Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) for member institutions. A particular technology/system is not required for your OCW, though we highly recommend a system called eduCommons, if you feel that it is appropriate for your institution's needs.

Consortium Affiliates

NGO's, commercial entities, and other non-higher education organizations who have valuable course materials or expertise they share in the OpenCourseWare format may also join the Consortium as affiliate members. Other organizations and institutions that do not publish their own materials, but whose activities further Consortium goals, may also be invited to participate in Consortium activities; non-publishing affiliate candidates must have a formal written agreement with at least one Consortium Institution to translate or distribute content, or otherwise further project goals, prior to consideration as Consortium Affiliates. A senior officer of the invited organization will be asked to complete the OCW Consortium Memorandum of Cooperation for affiliate organizations.

If your organization decides to join the OCWC, the electronic application will require some profile information in order to list and create a link to your organization on the OCWC web site:

• A brief (two to three sentences at most) description of your institution and its mission
• A link to your institution 's top-level page
• A link to the top-level page of the institution's OCW project (if and when it is published on the Web)
• The institution's seal , or equivalent thereof. The seal can be full-color or black-and-white. Should be scalable to 1 inch by 1 inch, if it is a horizontal seal, it should scale to 1.5 inch wide at most. If possible, please upload two versions of the seal:At 300 dpi for print use .JPG or .PSD files are acceptable, and at 150 dpi for Web use .JPG or .GIF files are acceptable.
• The name, title, phone number, and email address for the lead contact person for your institution's OCW project

Finally, please recognize that the OpenCourseWare Consortium's commitment to the free and open digital publication of high quality educational materials may result from time to time in the denial of membership for reasons of course quality or site format.  If you have concerns regarding your organization's eligibility please feel free to consult with us prior to submitting your application.

Thanks again for your interest in joining the OCW Consortium! We look forward to hearing from you!