The partnership has a well-established and successful track record: thousands of UNISON members have studied with us since the partnership was established in 1997.

• Many UNISON members have studied with the OU as part of employer-sponsored, work-based groups, which have been organised and supported by UNISON Education Officers and/or Learning Reps.
• Others have joined us on the back of UNISON initiatives; such as the 700+ UNISON members who began studying OU Openings courses in November 2008 as a result of a UNISON offer open to its entire membership.
• Numerous others have studied with the OU as individual members who were either new to higher education, or returning after a significant break, and were striving to enhance their careers or pursue new career paths. You can hear a number of these members telling their stories throughout this website.

In particular in health and social care …

Between 1997 (when the partnership was established) and January 2009, over 2,000 individual UNISON members studied OU Health & Social Care courses. By using their 10% UNISON members’ discount they have saved over £90,000 on their OU course costs.

Thousands of UNISON members have studied the Level 1 course An introduction to health and social care (K101 – previously Understanding health and social care K100). Many of these students have then gone on to study for Foundation Degrees, Undergraduate Degrees or, indeed, embarked on one of the OU’s professional programmes in nursing or social work.