OU graduate representative on Senate: Dr Petrina Stevens, reports from the latest meeting......
'Can't we can make more use of our Alumni?' was the question asked by a Senate member in this week's meeting. The topic being discussed was our Postgraduate Strategy, but to arrive at the point where this question was asked I need to take you through the preceding issues which lead to this question.
It seems that application enquiries for the academic year 2012/13 will reach our 500,000 target which is encouraging. Contrary to newspaper reports the university application rates for England have only fallen by 1 per cent but they remain the same for the rest of the UK. The applications for full-time degrees by older people however is down, but this may be because many have turned to part-time study, which in turn may be because of the change in retirement age which means older people are still working. There is an opportunity here for the OU to attract people who may now prefer part-time courses due to their change of circumstances.
Our postgraduate numbers however, are not what they might be as many students move on to other universities for their postgraduate work, although most of the postgraduate students in the OU are in fact from other universities. Senate sees it as a worrying trend that we are not able to retain our own students to progress them into their postgraduate work.
A number of possible reasons were suggested:
- The lack of personal communication with an academic faculty and tutor was a possible problem.
- Postgraduate tutors often introduce their students to their field of expertise and all their established networking opportunities, which is useful to any student who wants to develop within their field. This could be seen as deeply problematic for the OU, as it is difficult to offer those opportunities in distance learning
- Most postgraduates wish to enter a Master's programme, and we have had our successes, especially with our MBA and M.A. in Education, which have a vocational base. Other postgraduate courses however, have not done as well in attracting students in great numbers. Senate was assured that this is being addressed, by looking at ways in which tutors interact with students, and the development of greater student and tutor interaction through technologies such as podcasts and conferences.
This is how we came to the initial question, 'Can't we can make more use of our Alumni?'. Professional Alumni opportunities and networking were suggested by a member as a possible way forward, although marketing shows that this is not particularly highly valued. As Alumni and Graduates, do you feel that you can make any contribution to encouraging students into postgraduate work in your field? If so, by what means do you think it would be possible for Alumni and Graduates to contribute?
I leave it to you to inwardly digest as I would be interested in your suggestions. Please comment on this article below. However I do have further reports from today's Senate meeting, which will be posted in separate postings in the days to come.
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