Open Universtity

History of the Open University

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The open university was founded in 1963 by the a politician called Harrold Wilson. He was the Labour Party Leader at the time and he was the person who imposed his vision about having a 'University of the Air'. Not long after this he wrote a report on Labour's higher education policy and without cabinet consultation he pushed his ideas out in speeches even though it was not party policy. This idea had been opposed by the civil service, BBC, his shadow cabinet and after time even his own cabinet but despite this he persevered with his idea. The Open University (OU) was actually opened in 1969, and did not resemble what Mr. Wilson first planned nonetheless it was still a great deal to him. Harold has always said that he felt that the OU was one of his greatest achievements.


Why it is Different from other Universities
'Through academic research, pedagogic innovation and collaborative partnership we seek to be a world leader in the design, content and delivery of supported open learning.' This was quoted from the OU website: http://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/the-ou-explained/the-ous-mission. This demonstrates and explains exactly what the Open University does. With supported open learning it allows people studying at the OU to be able to study for their degree whilst also fitting it around their normal life, this could be around their job or even for their job. It also specifies on a different page how they have always supported open learning, they tend to have online forum that you can refer to if you need help with a certain part of the degree study and there are always OU tutors at hand to help. They deliver supported open learning by providing high quality teaching materials and use professional logistics to deliver it to the students, there is also a locally based support centre in most towns and cities in the UK.

Students that The Open University has Taught
They claim to be the largest academic institution in the whole of the UK, they support their argument by saying they currently have around 240,000 students currently studying at the OU and to support these students there are 7,000 tutors, 1,100 full time academic staff accompanied by more that 3,500 support staff. The OU has 16,125 students that are studying directly with them oversees and they have 15 curriculum partnerships in 23 countries. 45% of students had one A level or lower at entry level. 31,000 students are under the age of 25 and they claim to be the largest provider of higher education for people with disabilities, the figure being around 17,000. Over 71% of OU students work full-time or part-time during their study time. No wonder they are so successful!