Members of Senate, Graduates, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It has been a pleasure to celebrate the success of our graduates this afternoon. I bring greetings to you all from our Chancellor, Betty Boothroyd. She would have liked to be here with you as she was at our ceremony in Cardiff last weekend. Sadly, her duties as Speaker of the House of Commons made it impossible . But she is here in spirit and sends her warm congratulations to the graduates, to their families and friends, and to all the OU staff and tutors.
Since we held our degree ceremonies in London last year Londoners have voted for an assembly and a mayor. This are further expressions of the growing consciousness of London's distinctiveness. The Open University is proud of its presence in London. We are proud also that the gradual OU take-over of the other London universities continues. Already former OU colleagues run Thames Valley University - Dr Mike Fitzgerald - and Royal Holloway College - Professor Norman Gower. This year they have been joined by Professor Tim O'Shea, who took over as Master of Birkbeck College earlier this year. We wish him every success.
It is a pleasure to meet regularly with these former colleagues as the Government Office for London, aided by the organisation London First, work to create a higher profile for higher education London and stronger links between universities and business.
Meanwhile, in the context of the wider Open University, London continues to be our largest region, with 17,000 students, 750 associate lecturers and 850 teaching groups this year. Like all regions of the OU our London office is changing its operating practices so as to take advantage of the ways in which new computer systems allow us to give our students better and more personal service. Our staff in here are rising to the challenge magnificently - determined to make the OU an international benchmark of quality for support to students.
Most OU students in London are aware of our Regional Centre in the Finchley Road. We are also very proud of the activities that take place at our building in the Gray's Inn Road which is home to Open University Validation Services, an increasingly important OU contribution to this age of lifelong learning.
Geoff Peters and I have enjoyed meeting our new graduates. You said that an OU degree is hard work but most of you seemed to enjoy it. That inspires me to give you a final test before we release you from OU study. It's like a CMA - that's a Computer Marked Assignment - but correction will be immediate.
Each question is a short quotation. You have to identify the source.
If you are ready for number 1 the quotation is:
"The Open University is one of the UK's great education success stories"
Where do you think that quotation came from?
The correct answer is number two. Last month the Secretary of State, David Blunkett, published an important consultative paper with the title: The Learning Age: A renaissance for a new Britain. It says that the whole country must now espouse the goal of lifelong learning that has motivated the OU for thirty years.
The paper includes a number of case studies to illustrate its vision of the future and none is more glowing than its account of your University. You should be proud because the accomplishments that the Government praises are your accomplishments.
Let's move to question 2. The quote is:
"The revolution in distance learning MBA courses has been brought about, almost single-handed, by the Open Business School, which is part of the Open University"
Which newspaper do you think published that comment?
In fact it's the Wall Street Journal. We are pleased that our Business School is having a global impact for good. This year saw new groups of OU Business School Students in India and Africa. Next year we shall have a presence in the United States.
But onto my next question. The quote is:
"Forget the old image of middle-aged housewives watching anoraks teaching thermo-dynamics at 3am. The OU is now dead cool, with the largest number of students aged 25-45. Whatever the stuffed shirts said in the 1960s, no-one doubts the excellent of its degree courses today. Its reputation is global".
Who could have linked us to 'Cool Britannia' in that fashion:
This one was in the Independent in April. This newspaper is so impressed with the OU that it is now publishing a monthly supplement specially for the OU community. But I'll come back to that.
First, the next question. Who gave this advice?
"If ministers want more adults to return to studying at the least cost to the taxpayer, a big expansion of the OU seems an obvious and desirable solution."
That was the advice given by The Economist newspaper in February when the government announced that it wants to get an extra 500,000 people into universities and further education colleges by the year 2002. In the article The Economist noted that the OU is the most cost-effective provider of university education in Britain.
And so to the last question in this quick version of University challenge. My final quotation:
"From a lifetime's experience as a businessman, and from my wife's experience as a student of the Open University, I have to say that the Open University is one of the most efficient and customer-sensitive enterprises I have come across... It is a tremendous UK export. Its professionalism, its capacity to continually add value, and the reliability of its systems in delivering learning on a huge scale all distinguish the Open University as a world leader... The Open University is simply the best."
Who is speaking?
That was Lord Simon, Minister for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe, speaking at the most recent Labour Party conference. Lord Simon is one of the hundreds of thousands or people with an OU student as a spouse.
Today's graduates know that success in the Open University depends on the tolerance and support of others. I know there are many people to whom they feel grateful. It is wonderful to see so many of the graduates' family members, relatives and friends in the Cathedral today. We're delighted you are here.
You are all aware of the impact of OU study on family and social life and I expect that you are now helping your graduate rediscover forgotten aspects of real life.
Help is now at hand for redecorating the house and cleaning the car! More frequent family outings may now be possible. But before you dream up chores or excursions I know that the graduates would like to thank those who have supported them through their studies. Let's have a round of applause for the support of your families, friends, and colleagues?
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This year the OU will award its 200,000th Bachelor's degree and it has made some 50,000 postgraduate awards. As graduates you are part of a huge global OU community that is a force in the world. We want you to keep in touch with the OU. You can join the Association of Open University Graduates which held its tenth anniversary celebrations in Cambridge recently with Lord Archer as guest speaker.
This year we are introducing extra ways for you to stay in contact.
You can read the special OU supplement, Open Eye, that is now published with the Independent on the first Thursday of every month. The second issue appeared this week.
Or you can join the OU On-line community which went live last month. It can provide you with a free personalised home page on the Web and an e-mail address for life. We want the OU to be at the heart of the most interesting and diverse community of thinking people in cyberspace.
Please take advantage of the special links that we are creating for the graduates of a special University.
Just how special is made clear in a best selling book about Britain written by an American. On the last page of Bill Bryson's "Notes from a Small Island" he writes:
"What other nation in the world could have given us William Shakespeare, pork pies, Christopher Wren, Windsor Great Park, the Open University, Gardeners' Question Time and the chocolate digestive biscuit? None of course."
I wish you all success as graduates and I thank you for being part of the Open University.