The OU’s service to distance and part-time students is at least the equal of the best offered by conventional campus-based institutions.
| The OU is among the top five UK universities for teaching quality. | OU students remain the happiest with their university throughout the UK. | OU students are high achievers. |
| Eighteen of the OU’s 25 subject areas (72%) assessed by the external Quality Assurance Agency in the most recent teaching quality assessment were ranked ‘Excellent’. | In the most recent national survey, 94% of OU students said they were satisfied with their experience, earning the University second place from the 259 higher and further education institutions whose students were surveyed. | During 2007/8 the OU made academic awards to a total of 29,756 students - representing a huge number of personal successes - of which some are award winning (eg Jackie Moore (nursing), Bart Knols (business) and Ian Jamison (religious studies). |
The OU’s research is world-class.
| The OU has climbed 23 places to 43rd in the UK’s latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), securing a place in the UK’s top 50 higher education institutions, making the OU one of the UK’s fastest rising research universities. | Research funding from grants and income generation increased by 14% over 2007/8 to total £14.4 million. |
The OU makes a major contribution to UK industry.
| The OU responds to market and government priorities, which aim to improve the skillbase of the UK workforce in order to compete in the 21st century. | The OU is a partner of choice for employers. | Professional partnerships allow the OU to produce curriculum in new and exciting areas. |
| The OU’s PGCE programme is making a major contribution to addressing teacher shortages in key areas such as science. | Over 75% of FTSE 100 companies sponsor Open University students (which equates to more than 50,000 organisations, including BT, Lloyds Pharmacy and RBS). | In 2007 the OU created an alliance with the Royal College of Nursing to offer flexible progression for healthcare workers from unqualified to… …highly skilled and qualified professional status. |
| The OU has developed a suite of short health courses, aimed at both healthcare workers and patients and the general public, and addressing some of the most serious health issues of our time, including diabetes care and challenging obesity. | OU graduates are among the most employable in the UK, according to data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Association of Graduate Recruiters’ (AGR) survey. 81% of OU graduates and 91% of postgraduate students were found to be in employment six months after graduating. | In a new partnership with CISCO Systems, a worldwide leader in supplying networking equipment for the internet, the OU is encouraging all IT professionals to enhance their skills and knowledge to ensure employability in a volatile employment market. |
| Over 70% of Open University students are working full or part time during their studies | 1 in 5 MBA students in the UK studies with The Open University. |
The OU continues to act as a beacon in the global open access movement, exploiting a wide range of new media in delivering its mission of making high-quality educational resources
| In 2008, the OU was the first UK university to join iTunes U, the area of Apple’s iTunes store that offers easily downloadable educational content that can be watched or listened to on a Mac, PC, iPod or iPhone. | A wide range of free online courses is available from OpenLearn, the OU’s award-winning open educational resource website. | Also in 2008, the OU launched its own channel online video community site YouTube. |
| 50,000 OU tracks are downloaded from iTunes U each week. | During OpenLearn’s first two years 1,899,726 unique visitors used the OpenLearn website. | Since launch, the 3 OU branded channels have received 62,346 views. Across the three channels, total video views are currently at 889,121. |
| More than 250,000 students interact with the Open University online. |
| £2.9 million has been spent over the last two years on the latest e-learning technologies to ensure that the curriculum keeps pace with today’s rapidly changing world. |
| In a world first, The Open University launched a ‘free university course’ iGoogle Gadget that offers people a downloadable link to OpenLearn via their iGoogle homepage. |
| The Open University has its own Facebook page and a presence in Second Life ‘Open Life’. |
| 8,000 research publications are freely available to view and consult via Open Research which is on of the largest collections in the UK (http://oro.open.ac.uk/). |
The OU promotes educational opportunity and social justice…
| … financially… | … academically… | …. and by breaking down social, location and professional barriers… |
| In 2007/8 42,000 OU students received financial support towards their course fees. | The Openings programme provides a suite of short, introductory courses designed for people who need to build confidence and skills before tackling larger chunks of learning. | The OU provides opportunities for inmates in the UK and Republic of Ireland prisons and secure hospitals to study OU courses. |
| People from disadvantaged communities make up 15.5% of the OU’s student population. | In 2007/08 almost 16,500 students registered on Openings courses. | The Open University’s Pre-Registration Nursing Programme allows Health Care Assistants to become registered nurses while they continue to work for the healthcare trust in which they study. |
| Thanks to a partnership between the OU and Tesco, Clubcard tokens can be used as full or part payment for modules at all levels of OU undergraduate programmes. | The first naval pilots to achieve an OU-validated foundation degree in Military Aviation Studies celebrated achieving their award at the Barbican in April 2008. | |
| 17% of new Open University students qualify for financial support | Nearly 21,000 Open University students study outside the UK |
Some general fast facts…
| In 2008 the Open University held 25 degree ceremonies in 17 different locations including Dublin, Glasgow, London and Versailles |
| Presently over 200,000 people enrol to study with the Open each year |
| More than 22,000 Open University students are studying postgraduate level |
| With more than 180,000 students enrolled, including more than 25,000 students studying overseas, the Open University is the largest academic institution in the UK by student number, and qualifies as one of the world's largest universities |
| Since its opening in 1969 the Open University has taught over 2 million students |
| The Open University teaches a third of all part-time undergraduates in the UK |
| 90,560 postgraduate qualifications have been awarded since the Open University was established in 1969 including 17,390 masters degrees |
| Over 70% of Open University students are working full or part time during their studies. |
Download this as a word document below:
