As you can see, this paper is a product of collaboration between COL and UNESCO and each of the authors brings a different perspective to the subject of this address, which is eLearning and Free Open Source Software: The Key to Global Mass Higher Education? Our aim is to address a major challenge of the 21st century. Can we give billions of poor people access to post-secondary education? Can we connect technology to teaching and learning for their benefit? We shall explore eLearning in a global context through a wide-angle international lens.