Both the teaching institution running the collborative course and the Open University (OU) need to know if you study a collaborative course and want to count it towards an OU qualification.
You apply directly to the partner institution for a place on one of their collaborative courses. At the start of your collaborative course, you must inform the teaching institution that you intend to count it into an OU qualification. Most of them ask you on their application form whether you want to do this but, if not, you need to let them know.
The contacts provided for each collaborative partner institution can provide you with further details about their application procedures (arrangements vary from institution to institution).
Before your collaborative course begins, you must inform the institution teaching your collaborative course that you are intending to use that course-credit towards an OU qualification. This is because, in some cases, their courses are different depending on whether you want to earn academic credit or not (for example, if you don’t want to be awarded any credit, you might not have to take the course examination, but you cannot then claim credit transfer).
Please note: the number of students on these courses is limited, and decisions on admission are taken by the teaching institution/university itself (not by the OU).
The teaching institution will need to be satisfied that you have the background knowledge to participate successfully in their course. Full details of any such prerequisites for each collaborative course are available from the institution concerned.
You do not need to complete a Credit Transfer Application Form to apply for collaborative credit. Providing you have informed the institution at which you are studying your collaborative course that you intend counting the course-credit towards an OU qualification, they will send us your official course registration details. We will then add this information onto your OU student record.
If you intend to count collaborative course credit towards an OU qualification, you must ensure that your OU record shows this course registration (you are strongly advised to check this before the course starts). You can do this by checking your StudentHome page
When we add your collaborative registration to your OU record, we check your study record and the University regulations to ensure that you will be able to count collaborative credit towards your chosen OU qualfication.
Please note that the Open University regulations state that students should study no more than 120 credits per academic year (the equivalent to full-time study). This maximum of 120 credits includes any collaborative courses.
All collaborative courses are given an OU module code that will be different to the course code used by the partner institution.
An OU collaborative module code has four letters and three numbers:
For example: COXR305 represents a collaborative course from Oxford University (Department of Continuing Education), which is at Level 3.
Once we hear from the institution/university at which you are studying, we will send you a letter of registration confirming that you are studying a collaborative course, and which OU degree you want to count this course towards.
If you have not received a letter of registration by the dates given above, you should contact The Open University’s Credit Transfer Centre (www.open.ac.uk/credit-transfer/contact.shtm or phone +44 (0)1908 653077).
If you do not have a letter from the Credit Transfer Centre before beginning your collaborative course, you may not be able to receive credit for that study.
You will receive official notification of your results for your collaborative course study from the teaching institution at which you did the study.
As part of the collaborative arrangements, they will also send these results to us and we will can add them to your OU record.
You will then receive an official letter from the OU confirming your collaborative course result and that it counts to your chosen OU qualification. Your class of course result will be explained in the course information provided by the teaching institution.
Please note: there may be a delay between the teaching institution informing you of your result and that result showing on your OU record. Due to quality assurance requirements, we can usually confirm your final collaborative course result a couple of months after the partner institution releases them to students.
