A while ago there was an announcement about the Virtual Universities forum held by IIEP (part of UNESCO). That forum has now finished. However there had been enough people interested in the software (free and open) to help the education, so a new forum is being setup. Following is the notice with the details.

International Institute for Educational Planning
An Invitation to participate in a Internet discussion forum Free and Open Source Software for E-learning

This forum is being organized in response to interest expressed during the first discussion forum associated with the IIEP study on the virtual university and e-learning. At the conclusion of the forum Virtual universities and e-learning Policy issues – What are they? and Whose are they? in February 2004, many participants asked IIEP to maintain its support for the community of interest that was building around the topic of e-learning.