Arts and Humanities - OU Community Online

A gastronomic road trip begins tonight Tuesday 13 March as the Hairy Bikers return to BBC Two to seek out  the best baking in Europe.

A new eight-part series sees Si and Dave travelling through Norway, the Low Countries, Germany, Eastern Europe , Austria, Italy and France to Spain, meeting  a range of cooks from keen amateurs to professional bakers.

The Bikers have a knack for effective intercultural communication – something which is explored further on the OU's OpenLearn website. Here you can also explore culture and language across Europe through the theme of baking.

The Hairy Bikers' Bakeation starts at 8pm on Tuesday 13 March on BBC TWO. There may be regional variations, please check local press for details.

 

A project to "map" geographical locations referred to in classical texts has received a $50,000 boost from Google.

GAP (Google Ancient Places) is a web application which allows users to search a classical (500BC - 500AD) text for references to ancient places, and get the results in a user-friendly interface.

“A GAP user can not only see how an author’s narrative moves from place to place, but also how a town or city’s relative importance varies throughout a historical text," said Dr Leif Isaksen, Digital Humanities specialist at Southampton University. Southampton is a partner in GAP with The Open University.

GAP is part of a larger network of linked open data on antiquity called Pelagios. By integrating GAP with Pelagios, researchers hope to give users access to more types of data, such as archaeological artefacts or historical documents.

Open University classicist Dr Elton Barker says: "These projects will make it easier for online users to explore ancient texts and artefacts in their spatial, cultural and literary context.”

The grant is the second round of funding GAP has received via Google's Digital Humanities Awards Programme. 

More information

• OU leads project to create ancient world information superhighway

Classics at the OU

• BA Honour Humanities: Classical Studies pathway
• Exploring the classical world A219
• World Archaeology A251
• Reading classical Greek: language and literature A275
• Reading classical Latin A297
• Continuing classical Latin A397
• Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds A330 

 

Photo: Napoleon Vier

 

Jeremy Paxman traces the story of the British Empire in a major new five-part series produced by the BBC and The Open University.

The series, called Empire, will trace the British Empire's rise and fall and explore the complex effects it had on the modern world – political, technological and social – and equally the effects of the Empire on Britain. The first episode will be broadcast on Monday 27 February at 9pm on BBC One.

Travelling across the globe, Jeremy goes in search of the extraordinary characters, burning ambitions and surprising principles which created an empire that has so influenced the shape of the world we see today. From India to Canada, the Far East to Africa, he finds out how the Empire began as a pirates' treasure hunt and grew into the largest global financial network the world had ever seen; how the British created a particular idea of home wherever they conquered and settled; how Britain spread the gospel of sport, laying the foundations for almost all the major sports of today; and at the many different ways in which Britain took and held power in the Empire.

Karl Hack, Senior Lecturer in History at The Open University and academic consultant on the series, said: “This series tackles the really big themes of imperialism – power, trade, identity, settlement and culture. Yet it does this in a way that makes you feel you are there in person – talking to a settler; hearing the views of an old Mau Mau anti-colonial fighter who is still proud of her struggle; frequenting the clubs, trading floors and playing fields of Empire.”

The Open University is offering the chance to continue exploring the story of the Empire via OpenLearn, offering free courses, a free poster on with historical and contemporary maps, and the opportunity to create a personalised empire-themed party invite.

For those interested in taking the learning journey further, the OU offers a number modules that link to the series, including:

• Empire 1492 -1975
• Understanding global heritage
• Exploring history
• Voices and texts

 

Dr Karim Murji, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the Open University, reviews a groundbreaking book on multiculturalism by former Open University academic, Ali Rattansi

Is multiculturalism dead? It certainly had a very turbulent year in 2011, from Prime Minister David Cameron’s disavowal of it in the spring to a certain amount of backtracking from him after the riots in parts of England in August 2011. In between those events, on what is being called ‘22/7’ in Norway, Anders  Breivik  launched a murderous assault in the name of cleansing Europe against the spread of Islam. 

These incidents do not appear in this book, but readers will find in Ali Rattansi’s wide-ranging discussion an invaluable guide to understanding such debates and events. Although he ends up arguing for an alternative formulation —  interculturalism — in place of multiculturalism, it is clear that the latter is the term in public and political currency, and is still being argued about, sometimes for better, often for worse. 

Radical anti-racists see multiculturalism as an inadequate shallow response to discrimination. Alongside, there are people on the right and the left who see multiculturalism as too concerned with cultural separateness rather than national identity or community cohesion or class inequality. Yet there are also active campaigns that call for the defence of multiculturalism alongside an opposition to Islamophobia and racism. Thus, to paraphrase the title of Colin Crouch’s book on neoliberalism we might wonder about the ‘strange non-death of multiculturalism’. 

Rattansi comments, wryly, that multiculturalism ‘has had a bad press in recent years’. His argument is that much of this bad press is due to a ‘triple transition’: the recasting of the nation after devolution in the United Kingdom, the decline in industrialism and the restructuring of the welfare state. 

In this approach, multiculturalism and its discontents are more a symptom than a cause of the culture wars that appear from time to time. Broadly, this introductory text is located in the gap between what he sees as two diverging literatures—one based in political theory and concerned with issues about liberalism, and a more sociological approach concerned with culture and diversity. 

The book turns out to be based more in the latter than the former and readers more familiar with the debates around multiculturalism will find probably this a bit frustrating. Substantively, the main sections of the book are an overview of the meaning of multiculturalism, its relationship with gender issues and in particular the alleged oppression of women, the charge that it leads to segregated societies, the emphasis on integration and community cohesion and, finally, the vexed and increasingly prominent issue of religion — or Islam in particular. As even this brief list suggests, Rattansi packs a lot into a slim book.  

As far as the meaning of ‘multiculturalism’ goes, Rattansi begins by noting that it entails an acceptance of cultural diversity and pluralism along with some commitment to tackling inequality. There are, however, several complications to this.

One is the way that cultural diversity has been racialised through an explicit, and occasionally implicit, concern with racial difference; the failure to assimilate migrants from former colonies led to a stress on integration instead, perhaps most famously in Roy Jenkins’ powerful rejection of the former and embrace of the latter in 1966. 

The other issue is the claim to linguistic and cultural diversity of several sub-state minorities, such as the Scots, the Catalans and the Quebecois, largely white minorities who do not fit the conventional race template. 

To this it is possible to add the more recent claims for ‘super-diversity’ in cities such as London, following the expansion of the European Union and the arrival of newer migrants from the former Eastern European countries. 

Rattansi goes on to review the kinds of multiculturalism that are evident in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Perhaps most interesting is the latter, where Rattansi detects a ‘de facto’ multiculturalism in spite of the usual claims about a secular universalist republic that does not differentiate according to ethnicity or race; this public stance exists alongside minor steps to recognise cultural difference and diversity by the French state.     

The chapter on gender opens by challenging the idea that multiculturalism and women’s rights are fundamentally incompatible, not least because such views overlook the huge internal diversity of various racial and cultural minorities. Rattansi goes to cover issues of female genital mutilation, forced marriage and the headscarf controversy in France.  

On female mutilation Rattansi carefully differentiates different practices that go under that heading; nonetheless he argues that no multiculturalist supports such practices in the name of cultural relativism or the autonomy of cultural groups. On the headscarf, he again notes the contradictions in French policies which permit a degree of difference for Catholics and Jews, but deny that to Muslims in the name of a spurious universalism. 

The discussion moves on to the question of whether multiculturalism has created ethnic and racial ghettos, best expressed in the term ‘parallel lives’ which came out of the Cantle report into the 2001 riots in towns in northern England. Rattansi outlines the evidence that exposes terms such as ‘sleepwalking to segregation’ as myths. He also notes that a degree of segregation has been forced on minorities by governmental housing policies in Britain and in France. Much of this he attributes to socio-economic marginality and inequality, rather than race or culture; he also links it to the failures of top-down and half-hearted multiculturalism which has failed to address such inequalities. Nonetheless and paradoxically, politicians and commentators manage to place the blame on multiculturalism itself, even though it has never been properly implemented. 

The same story pertains to the 2005 rioters in the banlieues — famously denounced as racaille (scum) by Nicolas Sarkozy, then Interior Minister. Yet, once again, below the vituperative rhetoric and the tough policing, there were modest measures to tackle discrimination and inequality that impact most heavily on young people of Arab and Muslim origins. It is interesting to observe a parallel with the British Prime Minister’s initial and more considered responses to the 2011 English riots.  

Turning to the Netherlands, Rattansi observes the rise in anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hostility in that country expressed in the votes for Pim Fortuyn’s party. Yet looking at the profile of the killer of Theo van Gogh, Rattansi notes how he was someone who worked to help others stay in school despite the fact that he himself had been excluded and failed by the education system. In broad terms, readers will recognise similarities with the ‘9/11’ and ‘7/7’ bombers who also do not fit a simplistic ‘anti-Western’ profile in terms of their attitudes and behaviours. The vexed question of these actions as politics rather than fanaticism is still something that is largely silent in public debate.  

The penultimate chapter focuses on integration and community cohesion. It criticises the social capital theories associated with Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Simon & Schuster, 2000) as well as the claims that ‘too much diversity’ has undermined social solidarity. Rattansi also takes issue with the appeal to ‘British values’ repeated in statements by both Labour prime ministers between 1997 and 2010. Although David Cameron has indulged in some similar remarks, the climate after the 2011 riots has not been marked by an appeal to community cohesion, which may signal that, as a term, its time has passed.

Finally, Rattansi tackles the ‘Muslim question’  that has come to the top of arguments for and against multiculturalism. After 7/7, the emphasis on integration of Muslims—alongside the targeting of selected other Muslims for extreme law enforcement—reached a new pitch. This two-handed strategy would have merited some discussion. Taking a broader view, Rattansi notes the flowering of the ‘Arab Spring’ and the diversity of Islamic practices that exist around the world. Homogenising this, at home or aboard, is not helpful in understanding Islam or making progress in addressing the difficult issues that do exist.

Rattansi also draws attention to research that suggests that radicalism should be seen as a political rather than a religious response to events, including the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, though as noted, differentiating between fanaticism and radicalism is still at a basic level.    

Despite its defence of multiculturalism and the exposure of some myths surrounding it, the book concludes by arguing that the political climate has turned against multiculturalism. Instead there is an appeal for an alternative term: ‘interculturalism’. This entails a stress upon encounters and dialogues between faith and ethnic groups; a rejection of ideas that any group has strictly definable boundaries that demarcate it from others; and a refusal of the view that non-Western culture have little in common with the West, along with a recognition of their long and shared histories and futures. Combining all of this with an appeal to transnational and cosmopolitan cultures, and a call for proper recognition of the importance of local, regional and national/transnational spheres, the book ends on a positive note by seeking ways to acknowledge diversity alongside a framework for addressing and reducing socio-economic inequalities.

This overview suggests the extensive coverage that this book provides. Nonetheless, the wide debates on multiculturalism cannot be encompassed in any short book. The discussions of it that come out of political theory and liberalism, of matters of rights and recognition, of social justice as an alternative or parallel framework for multiculturalism, and of diversity and multicultural politics as struggles for the integration of minorities are either touched on lightly or left out.

In the same vein, there is an important argument about whether, or to what extent, religion (meaning Islam at the moment) can be captured under the rubric of race. While some critics see multiculturalism as containing too much of a stress upon cultural identities, Rattansi stakes a claim for it as a fusion of the cultural politics of diversity and tackling social and economic inequality. His advocacy of interculturalism is certainly valid as far as it goes. The difficulties with it are more intractable.  

For instance, dialogue may be a necessary way to address the conflicts over scarcer resources such as public or affordable housing, but it hard to see how it can be sufficient in itself. Similarly, there is a tension between social and economic policies to address the disadvantage of ethnic minorities that are perceived by others as preferential measures that disadvantage them in a zero sum game. 

Also at issue is the appeal to a human rights perspective, especially with regard to gender. This usually prioritises individual over group rights and it is certainly indisputable in areas such as female mutilation and forced marriage. But, Rattansi also calls for measures to tackle ethnic and racial inequalities; legally, these are pitched at group, not individual, level. And as is evident in continuing battles around affirmative action in higher education admissions in the United States, both historic and group level arguments are needed to maintain any case for such anti-discrimination policies.

Such asides and calls for further elaboration are probably inevitable with any book in the Short Introduction series. Within the constraints of the format, Rattansi has produced an admirably clear and comprehensive guide. Anyone seeking an introduction to why multiculturalism is likely to remain a hot topic—and for reasoned arguments about what it is and is not—need look no further than this book. 

© Karim Murji  22 February 2012 

Ali Rattansi chaired the University's influential course on race and education in the early 1990s: ED356, 'Race', Education and Society. 

Multiculturalism: A Very Short Introduction, by Ali Rattansi, is  published by Oxford University Press, 184 pp. £7.99

 

 

The Lumen and Camden Poetry competition 2011 has been won by OU BA Literature graduate Caroline Squire. Her poem was chosen from more than 1,000 entries by judge Carol Ann Duffy, and the prize was to have a short collection of poems published.

Caroline's collection was recently published. Platform caught up with her to find out more about her OU studies and her experiences as a result of winning the competition….

Caroline’s winning poem: An Apple Tree Spouts Philosophy in an office car park can be read on the Ward Wood Publishing website.

Her short collection An Apple Tree Spouts Philosophy is now on sale, with all £3 of the cover price going to raise funds for ‘The Cold Weather Shelters’, the same charity. The winner is chosen on the strength of just one poem, and as part of the prize they will be helped to complete a short paperback collection with 20 pages of poetry. Caroline has also had the opportunity to take part in a launch event and Open Mic night.

You gained a BA in Literature with the Open University? Why did you decide to study with the OU?
I’ve always loved books and literature but somehow I ended up studying accountancy and becoming an auditor. After spending several years in the corporate world, I became attracted to the idea of doing something different and I decided to study with the OU to give me a creative outlet. Getting a qualification wasn’t the most important thing for me though – I would have been quite happy just to go on with more courses really, but I suppose you have to stop somewhere? I’m fascinated by psychology, so maybe one day.

Have you been writing poetry long/When did your interest in writing poetry develop?
I’ve written some poetry in the past, but nothing much. I really started taking poetry more seriously when I first studied Creative Writing with the OU about four years ago. I completed both the level 2 and the level 3 Creative Writing courses. I remember feeling apprehensive about studying the subject at first, because I didn’t think I was particularly creative. But the courses were excellent for stimulating creativity and imagination, with techniques such as freewriting, and cluster diagrams.

How did you feel when you found out you had won the competition?
Quite shocked. I don’t think you ever expect to win something.

Can you share your experiences of :
Producing & getting An Apple Tree Sprouts Philosophy published?
This has been an exciting experience. I never felt time pressured to produce more poems for the pamphlet before I was ready. There was quite a lot of polishing and editing to do, even for such a small book. Adele Ward has been great - very helpful and encouraging all the way. It was a very valuable prize – far better than cash.

Doing a reading at Open Mic night?
I was quite nervous about the idea if I’m honest, but on the night I actually enjoyed myself. I suppose my worry was that people wouldn’t like the poems, and I would be faced with rows of stony faces. Of course it wasn’t like that at all. I attended poetry evenings leading up to the event, and took the opportunity to read at these whenever I could.

What you plan to achieve now after/alongside studying for you MA?
I would really love to publish a full collection when I’m ready. I have to produce poetry on a regular basis to take along to the MA workshops, which is a real incentive, so I’m building up a store. Not that I need the push, as writing poetry is something I always do. The only problem is that they all need more work after being critiqued at the workshops! It can take quite a lot of time and editing to get the poem to where it needs to be. It’s my aim to get up early and spend an hour or so editing before work. I managed it today for the first time.

Anything else you would like to share
One of the great things about studying for the MA is getting to read some fantastic poetry, from the classics to modern and contemporary poetry, some poets I’ve never even heard of before. Everyone says it, don’t they, but if you want to write poetry you have to be a reader of it first and foremost.

The poetry competition, judged by Carol Ann Duffy was introduced to raise funds for ‘The Cold Weather Shelters’ and organisers say they couldn’t survive without the contribution made by poetry. Events held and the competition are the brainchild of the poet Ruth O’Callaghan, who has been running the Lumen and Camden Poetry series of open mics and performances for five years.

Adele Ward of Ward Wood publishing said “I have no say in the judging of the competition, and I was delighted to see an OU student win because I also got back into studying by doing an MA in Literature with the OU and some of the Creative Writing courses. So the OU played a major part in the steps that led up to me starting Ward Wood Publishing.

Being able to publish an OU student felt especially rewarding, and I enjoyed working with Caroline on compiling her first short collection. Caroline won against incredibly tough competition, including published authors and poets from the best creative writing courses in the UK, Ireland, and around the world, so it’s interesting to see how the OU courses inspired and developed her skills.”

The competition is now open for the second year running and there are just a few days left to enter.

The prize is publication of a short collection, 50 copies and good promotion of the published collection including an invitation to read in the London venues if the poet wishes. The winner is chosen on the strength of one poem and will also be helped towards completing the short collection with free mentoring if needed. The entry fee is low to make it accessible to everybody (£2.50 per poem or £10 for 6) and all proceeds go to help the homeless in two London cold weather shelters. The judge is Carol Ann Duffy. No income is taken by any of the organisers or the judge from this competition.

The closing date is Tuesday 14 February and gives the author a foot in the door of publishing and a way to get their name widely known.

Find out more:

• Enter the competition with Ward Wood Publishing

• The open mic events are held in the two venues where the homeless sleep in the Cold Weather Shelters. 
   

 

To mark the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birthday on 7 February 1812, the OU is promoting a selection of its Dickens material on The Open University iTunes U site. 

You can access it here. 

Useful Links

• AA316 The nineteenth century novel 

Famous for writing The Commitments and a raft of other successful novels and films, Platform catches up with honorary graduate, Roddy Doyle.

Roddy has now been writing for a quarter of a century but getting his first book published was no easy task. After unsuccessful attempts Roddy financed The Commitments himself. He says “I had no family. I lived in a bedsit so I didn’t need to save, not a bother in the world. I went into the bank and I did a bit of homework with my agent. We figured out the printing wasn’t all that expensive, same as buying a second hand car. I lived by the train station so I didn’t need a car so did this instead. It was a great adventure”. The Commitments went on to become a hugely successful book and film and the first book in The Barry Town trilogy. The trilogy included The Snapper and The Van.

A career in writing adult and children’s books ensued as well as short stories and theatre as a script writer. The Commitments and other films are still shown on TV today. When he looks back at those who didn’t believe in his writing, Roddy doesn’t gloat but admits it does now amuse him sometimes when he thinks of those publishers who rejected his first book.

Roddy has recently indulged in his love of literature by setting up a creative writing centre in Dublin called Fighting words with his friend Sean Love, Executive Director of Amnesty Ireland. Roddy’s aim for the centre is to help students of all ages to develop their writing skills and to explore their love of writing.

The centre is based on a similar concept Roddy came across in America founded by writer Dave Aggers. Roddy describes it as “just a big room entirely devoted to writing, writing a story together”. To date the centre has welcomed six and a half thousand primary school children through its doors, three thousand secondary school children, as well as a variety of adult groups including groups with learning difficulties.

Following the centre’s opening in 2009 despite the early success, Roddy says “the big challenge now is trying to guarantee the long term future, to address the funding”. The centre is currently run by Roddy, Sean and some very keen volunteers.

The centre holds various writing groups. Roddy tells us, “We have a four part session which is finishing tonight on writing a mini-series for television. We have a teenage writer club”. In addition fellow writers such as Kevin Barry (who wrote The Boy in Striped Pyjamas) have come into classes to offer advice to the children as they write.

For those who are thinking about taking the OU course in Creative Writing, Roddy offers students the following tips for success:

1. Start writing as quickly as possible. Don’t think about it just start writing. Worry about the quality sometime later.
2. Don’t be too fussy at first. Write maybe twelve sentences knowing that only two of them are any good.
3. Just fool yourself, double spacing. Leave blank space so you can go back and rewrite. It’s not finished till it’s finished.
4. Make it a discipline if you can rather than wait for an ideal opportunity.
5. If you are thinking of dealing with publishers get a thick skin and if you are lucky enough to get a publisher cling to them!

Though Roddy has been continuously writing books, short stories or articles over the years, the centre had been a welcome distraction and different focus for Roddy. He has recently however just embarked on his first publicity book tour in about 6 years to promote The Dead Republic. He says “Six years ago I said I was never going to do it again. I was absolutely sick of hearing myself talk”. The benefits are clear though as Roddy found an appearance on a radio show in America increased his book sales. “Radio is brilliant, it’s very effective. Immediately afterwards the publishers looked at the Amazon chart, it went from something like sixteen hundred to two hundred and ninety because of one interview”. So perhaps his final lesson is, once you’ve got the right book, and the right publisher, the work doesn’t stop there!

Find out more:

• A215 Creative writing module
• Fighting words: the write to right
• OpenLearn: Literature and Creative writing

 

Lisa Whenham-Bossy chose to study with the Open University as she is registered disabled. She believes the support she received from the OU during her time as a student, enabled her to ‘spread her wings’ and achieve not only a First Class (Honours) Degree in Psychology, but go on to become a published author.

Why I chose to study with The Open University (OU)
I always regretted not being able to stay on for higher education after school, instead I ended up getting a job in a bank. It was years later when I was a house wife with two young children that The Open University adverts that I had seen in local media attracted me to send off for a prospectus.

I chose the OU as I am registered disabled, and I wanted to work at my own pace, fairly flexibly and to fit my studies in with my own personal circumstances. I also thought that the fees were reasonable, and the way the prospectus described the different levels and paths of subjects you could take to eventually achieve your goal, was easy and accessible.

Getting advice and support to study
The one thing that worried me was whether the demands the studying needed outweigh my own personal limits. I looked at the higher levels to see if it was a necessity to attend a residential school, as I knew that it would be inappropriate for my personal circumstances, although when I read the reviews I regretted that I would not be able to attend. My worries were not necessary as there was alternative learning experience (ALE) program in place, and I also read with interest the support that the OU was able to give to disabled students.

I was taken back with the friendly response, motivation and eagerness of the disability department to come out and visit me to talk about my personal requirements. I was very apprehensive, but was soon put at ease by the gentleman who visited me, and his advice was so valuable, I was also fortunate to receive financial help as well as an adaptation in my learning and studies to help suit my needs.

Successful studying
Initially I studied Understanding Health and Social Care (K100) as I was always interested in helping others and at one stage had wanted to work with the elderly or children. I realised that if I was to commit myself to study I wanted to achieve a significant goal such as a degree. I was able to work out that in my first course in Health and Social Care I could gain a Certificate after the first level which would be an achievement in itself, and if I wanted to continue I could count the level towards a degree.

As I could not attend tutorials the OU arranged telephone contact, from my tutors, and I was even told that I was eligible for a home exam. The Invigilator was a very kind and professional lady who I nicknamed in my head ‘The Sergeant Major” as we had to synchronise watches after her first visit. I should not have worried as in my very first course I managed to achieve a distinction, and was so proud of my achievement. This also spurred me on to enroll in the next course towards a degree.

A degree in psychology to focus on long-term writing ambitions
I decided to pursue psychology, as my son had dyslexia, and I had suffered from mental health problems and wanted to learn more about them. I was also trying to work hard on my book that was a true account of my past called ‘A Fine Line A Balance to Survive by Lisa WB'. I had suffered from extreme child abuse and was interested in learning more about psychology to not only improve my expertise but to also help with my writing.

As I studied with the OU my confidence increased, and each time I had to study a new course, I initially worried about whether the new tutor would understand that I couldn’t attend tutorials and be empathetic towards my needs as my illness is unpredictable. At some stages I would be unable to study for a few days or even weeks. I tried to combat this by working as hard as I could when able to keep ahead in case I was ill.

Once again I am still astonished at the response by the Open University staff, all my tutors were very friendly, understanding and supported my needs. At the ALE they even let me promote my book in one of the forums at the end of the course.

It was in December 2011 that I received my results and I was fortunate to have achieved a 1.1 First Class (Honours) Degree in Psychology.

I will always be grateful to the Open University, as I believe it was because of the University’s willingness to support my disability and the way they helped me manage my studies I was able to achieve what I did. One of the tutors even endorsed my book when it was published.

I was so sad when I took my final exam as I felt I was leaving a friend behind, although, through the Open University I have made many new friends.

Becoming a published author
The University helped me with my confidence to finish my book: A fine line, which has been praised by The British Psychology Society, and the ebook has been a best seller in many categories for over a year.

I am now writing a sequel called The Survival, and am hoping to include some of the expertise learnt from my psychology degree.

I hope if other people are thinking about studying, they give the Open University a chance, as it has been one of the best experiences in my life.

Find out more:
 

• Study psychology with the OU
• Services for disabled students
• Give to the OU