People

The OU community were given exclusive live access to the 'Disability employment conference - working together' online event, which took place on 18 July.  If you missed the event a recording will appear here soon.

During the conference  Government, employers, stakeholders and disabled people will come together to share good practice and information around disability employment.

This conference is a unique opportunity for business and government to come together and identify the challenges that others are facing and provide innovative solutions to be able to tap into this underemployed pool of talent and reap the benefits that this can bring
 

Confirmed Speakers

• Ashok Vaswani CEO Barclays
• Sir Andrew Witty CEO Glaxo Smith Kline
• Secretary of State for Department for Work and Pensions RT Hon Iain Duncan Smith
• Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable
• Ruby McGregor Smith CEO MITIE
• Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyGroup
• David Abraham Channel 4

The conference will be co-hosted by the Minister for Disabled People, Esther McVey and Frank Gardner, BBC and entertainment by Chicken Shed and Abnormally Funny People.

Find out more:

• Conference details and agenda
• Watch the webinar
• Getting ready for the webinar
  To ensure you are ready to view the webinar online please make sure:
  - You have the latest Adobe Flash Player installed. Download the latest version of Adobe Flash.
  - Test your connection. A pop up window will appear displaying a motion graphic with accompanying music.
   

 

Will Swann, the OU’s recently retired Director of Students has been awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Will, who retired from the OU in December last year after more than 35 years with the University, becomes a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his services to higher education.

Will’s career at The Open University spans a lifetime of commitment beginning first as a student, then academic and later Dean and since 2004 as Director, Students where he had responsibility for more than 250,000 students in the UK and overseas.

Since 2004, Will led the University’s strategy and programme in widening participation – to promote and protect the needs of all students whatever their background. In this regard Will made a significant contribution to the achievement of national policy objectives designed to expand educational opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The improvements in the numbers of such students signing up to OU modules followed the development and implementation, under his direction, of a highly-focused approach not just for recruitment but for retention and attainment.

Will’s other achievements during this period include expanding the OU’s outreach service, development of services to the disabled and an enhancement of the University’s work within a prison setting.

With the introduction of the new Higher Education funding environment in the UK, Will proposed the introduction of the Access to Success Route as a way of maintaining the University’s commitment to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This pathway provides a low-risk, low-cost route into Higher Education for students with low income or low self-esteem in studying at HE level.

Congratulating Will on his MBE, Martin Bean, Open University Vice-Chancellor, said: “Will is an exceptional individual who made an outstanding contribution to The Open University and its students during his 35 years with us. As both a friend and a colleague, I am delighted that he has been recognised with this richly deserved honour.”

On receiving his MBE Will said: “I am honoured and delighted by the award. In the eight years I was Director, Students at the OU, my role was to make it possible for our inspiring OU staff to do their best for hundreds of thousands of students, and so to offer them opportunities that would otherwise be denied to them. It was a joy to be able to do that.”
 

An Open University Business School PhD student who graduated in May found that voluntary organisations face considerable barriers in securing European funding.

Rebecca Rumbul, who received her OU PhD in Business at the Cardiff graduation ceremony on 27 April, looked at how money filters down to grassroots voluntary organisations. She found that the way that government bodies administer European monies can dictate what kinds of organisations are able to access funding, often to the detriment of others.

Rebecca’s thesis examines the process of a European Union funding programme in Wales and its implementation within a network context, and asks how institutional and network factors influence which organisations acquire funding. It focuses on one European programme and one project partnership that was successful in gaining funds, and details the processes and influences that determined the way in which such programmes are developed and funds are distributed.

“I found that there are certain voluntary organisations that will get funding due to how they have orientated themselves”, said Rebecca. “My call to Government as a result of my research is that they need to take into account that not all organisations are geared up in a way that will secure funding, but that doesn't mean that they can't deliver high quality outcomes. There is a huge pool of talent that Governments can use to reduce economic disadvantage, but right now the process is so complex that many organisations cannot benefit.”

When Rebecca started her research, she had been working in grant-making for the Big Lottery Fund, and previously the Arts Council of Wales. She now manages the Wales Governance Centre in Cardiff University; a job she got just before she finished her PhD which she believes was a direct result of her studies.

• Find out more about Rebecca