An important change that comes with the new century is the devolution to Scotland of the funding for the OU’s Scottish students. Earlier this month we made a presentation in Edinburgh to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) to introduce its members to the OU in Scotland. It’s an account that we can tell with pride. Virtually every postcode in Scotland contains OU students who number 12,000 and account for half of all part-time study in Scottish universities.
These figures are a tribute to the work of colleagues in Scotland over thirty years. They and OU staff throughout the UK have tried to ensure that we serve Scotland in a distinctive manner so that people can talk not just about the OU in Scotland but, to a degree, about the OU of Scotland. Devolution of funding heightens both the opportunity and the challenge to go further down this road. A direct relationship with SHEFC and full membership of the Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals will give us more influence on the evolution of events.
This will be important. The divergence on fees policy for full-time students that has already occurred between Scotland and the rest of the UK is an indication of further differences in approach to come. Encouraging such differences is, after all, the purpose of devolving power. Devolution will affect our Faculties and Schools in different ways. In fields like, Education, Health and Social Welfare, where part of our curriculum relates to local frameworks of legislation and provision, the impact will be considerable and growing. In areas like Business and Computing it will be less marked.
A topical example of a development that may play differently north and south of the border is the government’s newly announced policy of encouraging the offering of Foundation Degrees in England and Wales. These awards seem designed to play to the OU’s strengths. Aimed at part-time students, they will be equivalent to the first 240 points of study towards a Bachelor’s degree and will be linked explicitly to vocational competence and key skills. This focus fits very well with the OU’s mission of serving working adults. It will also exploit the expertise we built up over the 1990s, in Validation Services, at Walton Hall and in the Regions, of integrating occupational and academic study.
When the OU began thirty years ago it had to develop its curriculum within award structures that were already established. This did not prevent innovation – indeed it allowed the OU to bring some of the principles of Scottish higher education to the rest of the UK. However, we had to be aware of the danger of introducing novelty on too many fronts at once. To be able to shape the development of a new type of degree is a unique opportunity. I hope that in February both the Validation Board and the Academic Board will encourage the University and its accredited institutions to develop Foundation Degrees, using various modes of delivery and developing partnerships with a range of employers and local bodies.