The open data (OD) initiative fosters open access to public information in an organization.In order to get a better understanding of open data (OD) in higher education, we conducted a systematic literature review.Finally, the largest number of OD initiatives reported in the context of higher educations have been applied in European countries.However, some issues have been reported in the moment of adopting OD initiatives, mainly related to intellectual property, standardization, legal and operation aspects.