The article describes the experience of organizing the Russian Open Education Centre at Siberian Federal University with the support of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation by giving the brief overview of the most common approaches to defining the term “open education”,  pointing out the structural and target differences of the centres for open education and distant learning found in some Russian universities, presenting a detailed description of the conceptual grounds and  the prospects for the development of the Russian Open Education Centre at Siberian Federal University as well as the courses, workshops and cultural events held in October and November