This thesis describes the Top Level Quality Project (jingpin kecheng, 精品课程), a large project in Chinese higher education which uses the production of Open Educational Resources to improve the quality of undergraduate education. The thesis first introduces the concept of Open Educational Resources, and the frameworks of world institutionalism, and policy borrowing. It then gives the historical background from the project, before it describes the project in detail, using interviews and secondary material. Divided into university-level, provincial-level and national-level, the program has produced more than 12,000 open courses involving more than 700 universities. Finally, the possible relationship between the Top Level Courses Project and MIT OpenCourseWare, and how the Western world has misunderstood this project is discussed. The thesis ends with a discussion of what North American universities can learn from the Chinese Top Level Courses Project.