Welcome

Congratulations! You have accepted a place as a postgraduate research student at the OU, and will be joining us to study on the University's campus in Milton Keynes. A very big welcome to you from all of us in the Research School. Our Living in Milton Keynes website is here to help in your preparations for starting here in October, and to assist you in making your move here run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

(If you are not a new postgraduate student, that's OK. The website will also be useful for anyone else who is moving to the city over the next few months – or for potential students wanting to find out what the city has to offer).

Using this website means that you should be only a click or so away from the information you need.

As you can see, the site is divided up into a number of sections. What they are about is pretty self-explanatory, so do just browse, using the links on the left and the right of the page, to find out the things you need. Most are of general interest to you all. They include information and advice from students already living here, together with lots of links to local MK sites as well as general sites for things like rail and bus timetables.

There are also two specific sections – one for students coming here from abroad, and the other for students planning to bring their families with them. If either or both apply to you, there are extra things you'll need to do. These two sections provide advice, information and some key links (for example, to visa and immigration requirements) to help you tackle these jobs.

You'll find that by far the biggest section (Accommodation) is about getting somewhere to live. There's a good reason for this. Unlike other UK Universities, the OU has no student accommodation on campus. This means you'll need to find accommodation to rent privately. So, unless you already live here, you'll need to start sorting this out soon. The Accommodation section gives lots of advice and information to help you do this, and links to sources of support, including the OU's Student Accommodation Advisors. Good luck!

Please note: any suggestions made on this site regarding particular services or companies are for information purposes only.  The Open University takes no responsibility for the actions of any external company listed. We strongly suggest that you undertake thorough research before making any decision.