Small and medium-sized companies appear sceptical of Government’s hopes that they will be the engine of job creation which will lift the UK economy, according to the Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain, produced by The Open University Business School (www.open.ac.uk/quarterly-survey) with support from ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and Barclays Business.
Most SMEs (64%) do not report any change in the number of people employed over the past year. Where there have been changes, the numbers recruiting is almost balanced by those reporting reductions, resulting in an employment balance of +1%....
Acclaimed human rights lawyer Cherie Booth QC, a visiting professor at The Open University Law School, has delivered her inaugural lecture entitled ‘The Importance of Law in the Modern World.’
Professor Booth has supported the Law School since its inception and attended the launch of Law at the OU in 1997 just before moving into Downing Street.
At last Thursday’s (29 September) lecture at the Commonwealth Club, Central London, she said: “I came to share the first tentative footsteps of that extraordinary idea that law could be taught at a distance. I have since seen the Law School grow and triumph and seen it become the largest law school in the country.
“What makes the OU particularly special is that it is...
The Open University on iTunes U has today hit 40 million downloads, nearly doubling the numbers in just over a year. The rate of iTunes U downloads straight to iOS devices also soared. In September 2010, 30 per cent of visitors to OU on iTunes U were downloading onto iOS devices and by July 2011 this had risen to 70 per cent of users. Learning may even be a part of the drive to 'post personal computing' platforms such as iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. In July 2011, iPad users alone constituted 18.3 per cent of visits to OU on iTunes U.
The OU is one of the biggest and most popular contributors to iTunes U, averaging 275,000 downloads a week. It regularly appears on the iTunes U Top Charts and has one of the widest ranging...
The Open University has joined forces with Waitrose to help employees achieve their career aspirations. PartnerLearn, a new tool designed to provide personal and team development, was launched by the Waitrose Learning & Development Team in partnership with The Open University and Ashridge Business School.
Employees can access the site from work or outside the workplace, fitting professional development around their lifestyles. The tool provides content from four of The Open University’s professional development courses on personal and team development. This is in addition to more than 100 20-minute bite-sized modules covering a wide range of topics from Maximising your Potential to Leading your Team and Achieving...
Younger students are continuing to see The Open University (OU) as an alternative to traditional university. Figures announced this week show course reservations for 2011/12 made by new students aged 25 and under increased by 18% compared to last year.
Students aged 25 and under now make up almost 17% of The Open University’s total student population, a rise of 10% from 2010, but the fastest growing group of new students reserving courses is the 18 and 19 year old whose numbers have increased by 30% compared to 2010/11. Career progression is one of the most common motivations for studying with the OU and four in ten OU graduates in this age group earn more than £20,000 within six months of graduating.
Christina...
The Open University (OU) has been rated third for student satisfaction, behind Brighton and Sussex Medical School and the University of Cambridge, in the latest National Student Satisfaction survey from HEFCE.
The top ten Higher Education Institutions for satisfaction in the survey were:
BRIGHTON AND SUSSEX MEDICAL SCHOOL 95%
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE 94%
OPEN UNIVERSITY (THE) 93%
OXFORD UNIVERSITY 93%
THE UNIVERSITY OF BUCKINGHAM 93%
UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS 93%
ST MARY'S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE (BELFAST) 93%
CENTRAL SCHOOL OF SPEECH AND DRAMA(THE) 92%
HARPER ADAMS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE 91%
UNIVERSITY OF...
The Open University has appointed Cherie Blair QC as Visiting Professor in Law.
In her role as Visiting Professor, Cherie will support The Open University’s mission to widen participation in legal education and to extend the Law School’s global reach through her experience as a human rights lawyer. She will present occasional lectures on themes relating to human rights and public law.
Cherie Blair's inaugural lecture as a Visiting Professor of Law at The Open University is on 29th September at the Commonwealth Club in London, and is entitled The Importance of Law in the Modern World.
Professor Gary Slapper, Director of the Law School said, “We are delighted to have Cherie Blair QC as a...
The UK government provides significant financial support to the bio-pharma sector in the form of research and development tax credits and is targeting the pharmaceutical industry as a key driver of UK economic prosperity. But how does the bio-pharma industry operate and how has the industry been affected by the financial crisis?
Dr Pauline Gleadle of The Open University Business School along with Professor Colin Haslam and Dr Nick Tsitsianis (both from the University of Hertfordshire) have been investigating the UK SME bio-pharma sector. Their recently ...
MBA Alumnus, Peter Cook was profiled by BusinessBecause.com in their MBA Entrepreneur series. Cook worked for a pharmaceutical company throughout his MBA studies, but since graduating he has authored the critically-acclaimed ‘Sex, Leadership and Rock N’ Roll’ – and set up two consultancies, Human Dynamics and the Academy of Rock and Roll, all of which draw on the ability of music to bring people together. Cook believes that he could not have achieved this if it wasn’t for his OU MBA. “It gave me the confidence to quit a very well-paid job and do something no-one in my family had done: run a business,” he states, simply, “It gave me the confidence to make the move to something...
Congratulations to Willie Chinyamurindi, a research student, received the award for best international presentation at the recent Southern African Students' Psychology conference at the University of South Africa (UNISA).
Willie presented on 'Re-imagining psychology - a reflection on methods used in career psychology research in South Africa'. UNISA has recommended Willie to attend the International Congress of Psychology conference next year. If successful, he will join the International Emerging Scholars programme at the conference.
Willie's current research explores career...
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