What is the bursary?
The bursary is intended to support students who are under represented at The Open University. There are 50 bursaries per year, awarding a maximum of £3,000 towards the costs associated with study. The bursary isn’t intended to pay fees, it’s to help with study costs, for example, study materials, travel to tutorials, or the cost of purchasing a computer.
Our bursary donors
We'll award a selection of successful applicants a named bursary, in honour of some of our bursary donors.
The Frank Neale Bursary
Education in its many forms has been a significant part of Frank Neale’s life and career. He’s earned a BA in Economics from Cambridge; an MBA from Manchester Business School; and a BA in Social Studies and a Certificate of Higher Education in Natural Sciences from The Open University. An accredited business coach, non-executive director of FutureLearn, and former OU Finance Committee member, Frank recognises the transformative power of education. To help individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds on their educational journey, Frank’s provided a generous donation to launch the Frank Neale Bursaries, providing much-needed financial support.
The Penny Crooks Bursary
Penny Crooks worked as an associate lecturer for The Open University for 28 years and sadly passed away on Sunday 28 January 2018. She was passionate about teaching and learning, and seeing adults reach their full potential. She truly believed in life-long learning and felt that a student’s background and their financial status should not be a barrier. The Undergraduate Bursary Scheme would have had her full support and backing if she were still alive. The fact that The Penny Crooks Bursary is there to help underrepresented students at the OU will be a wonderful legacy of her lifelong commitment to learning.