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The paper introduces the UK Open Textbook project and discusses its success factors with regards to promoting open practice and open pedagogy. Textbooks remain a core part of educational provision in science. Open Textbooks are openly licensed academic textbooks, wherein the digital version is available freely, and the print version at reduced cost. They are a form of Open Educational Resource (OER). In recent years a number of openly-licensed textbooks have demonstrated high impact in countries including the USA, Canada and South Africa. The UK Open Textbooks project piloted several established approaches to the use and promotion open textbooks (focusing on STEM subjects) in a UK context between 2017 and 2018. The project had two main aims: to promote the adoption of open textbooks in the UK; and to investigate the transferability of the successful models of adoption that have emerged in North America. Through a number of workshops at a range of higher education institutions and targeted promotion at specific education conferences, the project successfully raised the profile of open textbooks within the UK. Several case studies report existing examples of open textbook use in UK science were recorded. There was considerable interest and appetite for open textbooks amongst UK academics. This was partly related to cost savings for students, but more significant factors were the freedom to adapt and develop textbooks and OER. This is consistent with a range of research that has taken place in other countries and suggests the potential for impact on UK science education is high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of international human resource management, a widely held assumption identifies expatriation as a completely enriching experience which provides employees with knowledge of high value and contributes to enhancing general management capacity [24]. This research investigates the effect of expatriation on knowledge transfer as a driver for innovation and performance. The study uses the case of international faculty in a higher education institution to shed light on the interplay between sharing international experiences, facilitating knowledge transfer, and generating value. Following a thorough literature review, research on knowledge transfer processes within the education sector remains limited. We still have little guidance on the mechanisms enabling knowledge transfer inside universities, particularly when promoting faculty mobility or hiring international faculty and researchers. This research adopts a single case study method while using Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, an international higher education institution, as a context of investigation. The study involved international faculty from the schools of engineering, business, and humanities and also Moroccan faculty who received their education abroad to explore the processes of experience and knowledge sharing among diverse workforce and how such processes could lead to creating a space for knowledge transfer that enables in turn better innovation and performance. The findings of this research show the limited knowledge transfer dynamics inside internationally-oriented higher education institutions and demonstrate the importance of adopting human resource development practices as facilitating mechanisms to support knowledge transfer while involving and benefitting various stakeholders. The study suggests different developmental venues for universities to support knowledge transfer from international faculty including teamwork, training and faculty orientation, collaborative research projects, resources and incentives, and industry-oriented educational and consulting programs. This research has the potential to lay the foundations of a theoretical framework integrating knowledge transfer and value generation dynamics within the context of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]