Diversity in Practice
The final degree ceremonies of the summer season took place in Croydon on one of the hottest days of the year. Croydon was a new venue - chosen in response to the high demand for places at ceremonies in the London area. The two Croydon events were the last of 23 UK ceremonies this year. I hope that the thousands of graduates who attended these ceremonies found them to be worthwhile occasions and that the many relatives and friends who were their guests appreciated them too.
This is a good time to express my gratitude to the many OU staff who work so hard to make these events dignified, enjoyable and well-organised. Special thanks also go to the Chancellor, Betty Boothroyd and the Pro-Chancellor, Bryan Nicholson, our senior lay officers, who share enthusiastically, with the Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Regional Directors, and myself, the exacting but pleasant duty of officiating at these ceremonies. The Open University is extraordinarily fortunate in the quality of the individuals who serve it in a voluntary capacity as lay officers and members of Council. I know that they enjoy taking part in celebrations of our graduates’ success.
Several people remarked to me that the Croydon ceremonies were special – and they were not referring to the 30·C temperature in the hall. They were struck by the great diversity of the graduates who were presented; diverse in both age and ethnic background. I imagine this partly reflected the richly varied population of the surrounding area of south London but it must also demonstrate the gradually changing composition of the OU student body.
The OU has always attracted people of all ages. At the morning ceremony in Croydon the oldest graduate was 84; the youngest 24. In recent years the proportion of students at both ends of the range has been increasing. There are many thousands of OU students over 50 and they are some of the most successful. But the numbers under 25 have also risen sharply, for reasons I do not fully understand. We know that the average age of OU students in the countries of continental Europe is somewhat less than the average in the UK but there are also more young people studying with the OU in the UK as well.
It was also gratifying to meet numerous graduates from Britain’s ethnic communities. For most of this decade the University has been making special efforts, organised by our regional centres, to explain to ethnic community leaders the opportunities the OU offers. The enthusiasm of the graduates from these communities at the Croydon ceremonies encourages me to think that we are making progress.
The increasing diversity of OU students, both in the UK and overseas, helps to improve the quality of our courses. Course teams are aware that their materials will be studied by people with a great variety of backgrounds and experience. That variety will increase further when the United States Open University begins teaching in the autumn.